Handel - Harpsichord Suites Nos. 1-5 [FLAC] (Alan Cuckston)

http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.550415

HANDEL: Harpsichord Suites Nos. 1- 5

Handel, George Frideric
Keyboard Suite No. 1 in A Major, HWV 426
1. I. Prelude 00:01:44
2. II. Allemande 00:02:59
3. III. Courante 00:02:45
4. IV. Gigue 00:01:57
Keyboard Suite No. 2 in F Major, HWV 427
5. I. Adagio 00:02:22
6. II. Allegro 00:01:31
7. III. Adagio 00:01:28
8. IV. Allegro 00:02:44
Keyboard Suite No. 3 in D Minor, HWV 428
9. I. Prelude 00:01:01
10. II. Allegro 00:02:35
11. III. Allemande 00:04:09
12. IV. Courante 00:02:07
13. V. Air 00:02:50
14. VI. Variations 00:03:44
15. VII. Presto 00:02:38
Keyboard Suite No. 4 in E Minor, HWV 429
16. I. Allegro 00:04:25
17. II. Allemande 00:02:30
18. III. Courante 00:02:08
19. IV. Sarabande 00:03:05
20. V. Gigue 00:02:00
Keyboard Suite No. 5 in E Major, HWV 430
21. I. Prelude 00:01:39
22. II. Allemande 00:03:13
23. III. Courante 00:01:47
24. IV. Air and Variations 00:04:39

Total Playing Time: 01:02:00

If you are wishing to explore Handel's keyboard suites, this album is a great place to start. Handel was a consummate professional keyboardist himself, and his compositions for the keyboard provide evidence both of his theoretical and applied understanding of the instrument. These pieces are beautiful, richly intoned, and highly detailed, yet are never "bogged down" with the complexity hidden in the score. It takes an expert to play these in the way Handel intended to play them (that is, someone who can meet the technical accuracy demanded by the pieces while keeping fluidity of play), and Cuckston has mastered both. His playing is highly accurate, yet smooth enough to allow the pieces to "flow," and his tempo is slow enough to appreciate the complexity yet fast enough to keep the forward motion steady. These pieces require much of the listener, just as they do the performer (and the composer), but they are richly rewarding.

Some of the pieces within this set are simply treasures of baroque music. Some have found their way into movies. Others were picked up by Beethoven and used as the basis for "variations." Others are so powerfully emotional that it seems difficult to argue that they are 100% in the baroque tradition. But they are simply gems among Handel's greater body of work.

The recording here by Naxos has extremely high dynamic range, nearly no noise, and high technical accuracy. There is a lot of high-frequency content, and some listeners may wish to reduce the treble setting a bit during playback, but that's more a personal choice. There is little to argue about with the recording quality.