HANDEL: Oboe Concertos Nos 1-3, Concerti a due Cori, Arrival of the Queen of Sheba and more - Marriner, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (2 CDs)

While Handel’s Concerti Grossi are much performed and recorded, the exquisite Oboe Concertos and the grand Concerti a due cori are unfairly neglected. Bringing together both these sets of concerti, this generous 2CD set presents Neville Marriner’s Decca recordings of the former (one of his first) and Philips recordings of the latter. Included too, are the Overture in D and the Concerto Grosso in C which acts as a curtain-raiser to ‘Alexander’s Feast’. Other curtain-raisers are the ubiquitous ‘Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’ and the tri-partite ‘Berenice’ overture. But of immense interest to the collector will be Marriner’s Argo disc of ‘ballet music’ – overtures and orchestral interludes from ‘Alcina’, ‘Ariodante’ and ‘Il pastor fido’, appearing complete for the first time on CD.

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
CD1
Oboe Concerto No. 1 in B flat major, HWV 301
Oboe Concerto No. 2a in B flat major, HWV 302a
Oboe Concerto No. 3 in G minor, HWV 387
Largo in F major (Fragment from Oboe Concerto Op. 3 No. 2b)
Alcina: Overture and Ballet Music
Ariodante: Overture and Ballet Music
Il pastor fido: Pour les Chasseurs I & II

CD2
Berenice: Overture, Menuet, Gigue
Solomon: Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
Concerto a due cori No. 1, HWV 332
Concerto a due cori No. 2, HWV 333
Concerto a due cori No. 3, HWV 334
Overture in D, HWV 337/338
Concerto grosso in C, HWV 318 ‘Alexander’s Feast’

Roger Lord, oboe
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Neville Marriner