Only a few of the current recordings of Handel’s ever-fresh Op. 6 Concerti grossi are on period instruments, and of these only Pinnock’s includes the oboe parts that Handel later added to Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6: so it is with that highly praised set that this must be compared. Simon Standage has nothing to fear from the comparison: though it is a close thing, I feel that the new recording is even better. The performances are brimful of vitality – the sheer sense of enjoyment in the penultimate Allegro of No. 5, for example, is irresistible – and the clean articulation and light, predominantly detached style give the music buoyancy and help to bring out Handel’s often mischievous twinkle in the eye. In the final movement of No. 2 the crisp detache bowing is effectively contrasted with the gently throbbing second thematic idea. Speeds are generally brisk, with boldly vigorous playing in, for example, the Allegro in No. 3 and the fugue in No. 4, but Standage’s team (in which he and Micaela Comberti are admirably matched violinists in the concertino) can also spin a tranquil broad line in No. 4’s Largo. There is solidity in the E minor’s fugue and a proper pomposity in the opening of the Fifth Concerto (borrowed from the Ode for St Cecilia’s Day).
Dynamics, throughout, are subtly graded and natural-sounding, and except in one final cadence ornamentation is confined to small cadential trills. My one reservation concerns the Polonaise of No. 3: the heavy prominence of the drones, though emphasizing the rustic flavour, seems excessive and forces the movement to lumber. Otherwise, though, this is an immensely enjoyable disc, and I look forward to the completion of the Op. 6 set from this musicianly ensemble.'