Händel or not Händel

[mehdi_caps]

Saturday, I listened for the first time to the "Marian Cantatas & Arias", a CD with sacred works by Händel. This is a gorgeous recording. Swedish mezzosoprano Anne Sofie von Otter is at her best, and is wonderfully accompanied by the Musica Antiqua Köln, conducted by Reinhard Goebel. It was released in 1994.

One of the four works is Il pianto di

Comments

[cinnamontwist]

as far as I know, a mediocre composer is very rarely struck by genius just for the necessary time to write one work.

I wholeheartedly agree that classical artists are not prone to the "one-hot-wonders" prevalent in modern popular music today. There is a much clearer and tangible progression in their works and style. I wonder what has made these musicologists reassess the attributions of these works to other composers?

[mehdi_caps]

I don't know much details about that, alas. I love reading pages and pages about this kind of things. For example, the article Did Purcell set The Tempest? by Margaret Laurie fascinates me. She gives us as many details as possible, and we're able to make our own opinion about the reattribution to John Weldon.

Il pianto di Maria and Johannes Passion are too opposite cases.

Il pianto has always(*) been regarded as a work by Händel, and it's only recently (just before ASvO's recording) that musicologists discovered "things" that tend to prove (but don't prove definitely, I believe) that it was composed by Ferrandini around 1735. I've listened again to that work several times, and I'm now ready to accept that it's not by Händel. Oddly enough, the beginning sounds like late 17th-century music, and the last aria, the very beautiful "Pari all'amor immenso", sounds like the Händel of the operas. It's a strange work. Its author was certainly not deprived of genius. I've read that Ferrandini was mediocre, but he actually had a very decent

[cinnamontwist]

You have me curious. I think I shall have to have a listen to Il Pianto myself now and hopefully find Catone in Utica to make a comparison of the style and quality.

[mehdi_caps]

14 euros, ouch!

According to deutschegrammophon.com, it's also available on two online stores in the UK: Crotchet and Presto Classical. Looks like shipping outside of the UK only costs about £2.

Sounds like a beautiful album. I'm listening to excerpts.

[mehdi_caps]

I usually check the label's website to learn as much as I can about a recording, especially when it's new like this one. Also, the labels' websites often have better quality excerpts than the online stores, and sometimes a complete track (like Hyperion Records).