The Age of Elegance
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Joseph Haydn, George Frideric Handel
Label: Herald
Magazine Review Date: 4/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 60
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: HAVPCD181
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Radamisto, Movement: Overture |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord George Frideric Handel, Composer |
| Chaconne |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord George Frideric Handel, Composer |
| (7) Suites for Keyboard, Set II, Movement: Suite No. 5 in E minor, HWV438 |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord George Frideric Handel, Composer |
| (7) Suites for Keyboard, Set II, Movement: Suite No. 7 in B flat, HWV440 |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord George Frideric Handel, Composer |
| Sonata for Keyboard No. 15 |
Joseph Haydn, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord Joseph Haydn, Composer |
| Sonata for Keyboard No. 9 (Divertimento) |
Joseph Haydn, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord Joseph Haydn, Composer |
| Sonata for Keyboard No. 7 (Divertimento) |
Joseph Haydn, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord Joseph Haydn, Composer |
Composer or Director: Joseph Haydn, George Frideric Handel
Label: Herald
Magazine Review Date: 4/1996
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: HAVPC181
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Radamisto, Movement: Overture |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord George Frideric Handel, Composer |
| Chaconne |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord George Frideric Handel, Composer |
| (7) Suites for Keyboard, Set II, Movement: Suite No. 5 in E minor, HWV438 |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord George Frideric Handel, Composer |
| (7) Suites for Keyboard, Set II, Movement: Suite No. 7 in B flat, HWV440 |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord George Frideric Handel, Composer |
| Sonata for Keyboard No. 15 |
Joseph Haydn, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord Joseph Haydn, Composer |
| Sonata for Keyboard No. 9 (Divertimento) |
Joseph Haydn, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord Joseph Haydn, Composer |
| Sonata for Keyboard No. 7 (Divertimento) |
Joseph Haydn, Composer
Anthony Noble, Harpsichord Joseph Haydn, Composer |
Author: Lionel Salter
I had an uneasy premonition the moment I saw the title of this disc. To lump together, as belonging to any one age, composers of utterly different generations such as Handel and Haydn is dubious enough, but to call the era of Handel – the time of Hogarth and the low-life of The beggar’s opera (which struck at Handel’s hold on London) – the “age of elegance” is plain nonsense. However, as I put the disc on I hoped instead for elegance in Anthony Noble’s playing. An hour later, alas, my charitable instinct had foundered. The Haydn pieces emerge as prosaic in the extreme rather than elegant, played (on a one-manual harpsichord rather than a fortepiano) in a stiffly mechanical way, woodenly metronomic – except for consistently shaving the crotchet rests in the first movement of the E major Sonata (a work of doubtful authenticity) and applying ill-judged rubatos in its Minuet.
The Handel selections are no better. The Radamisto Overture has neither grandeur in the initial Grave nor verve later on; but these are minor failings compared with those in the suites (from Walsh’s 1733 publication). The E minor Allmand is merely irregular, with the least convincing inegalites I have heard; the Saraband’s exaggerated non-synchronism of hands recalls the slushiest nineteenth-century pianists. Things look up momentarily at the start of the B flat Suite, with an acceptable unmeasured prelude and a nimble so-called sonata, but it was inappropriate for Noble to add extensive embellishments of his own to repeats of the Aria (the one Brahms borrowed) when Handel’s own variations follow, and Var. 2 is overfree. Worst of all is the G major Chaconne (the one with 21 variations): the original statement is wildly unrhythmic, with extra beats and half-beats thrown in, and the minor-key variants are pulled about (in an attempt at ‘expressiveness’) in a most unstylish way.'
The Handel selections are no better. The Radamisto Overture has neither grandeur in the initial Grave nor verve later on; but these are minor failings compared with those in the suites (from Walsh’s 1733 publication). The E minor Allmand is merely irregular, with the least convincing inegalites I have heard; the Saraband’s exaggerated non-synchronism of hands recalls the slushiest nineteenth-century pianists. Things look up momentarily at the start of the B flat Suite, with an acceptable unmeasured prelude and a nimble so-called sonata, but it was inappropriate for Noble to add extensive embellishments of his own to repeats of the Aria (the one Brahms borrowed) when Handel’s own variations follow, and Var. 2 is overfree. Worst of all is the G major Chaconne (the one with 21 variations): the original statement is wildly unrhythmic, with extra beats and half-beats thrown in, and the minor-key variants are pulled about (in an attempt at ‘expressiveness’) in a most unstylish way.'
The Age of Elegance
The Age of Elegance
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