The Bore-oque
My dad is right: most music from the Baroque that wasn’t composed by Bach is simply boring.
Now I haven’t warmed up to his operas, but Handel was certainly a master of oratorio; Messiah and Israel in Egypt are a testament to that. The Music for the Royal Fireworks is good, too, but most of the Water Music I could go either way on. His organ concertos (Opp. 4 and 6) have their moments. But the Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 mostly bore my ears off. The Op. 3 are better, but just.
This afternoon I put on a disc I have had for a while containing Handel’s concerto grosso Alexander’s Feast, plus three sonatas for oboe and strings, and I’ve got to tell you, they were pretty boring. I cannot fault the performances; the music simply wasn’t inspired.
If Handel (or for that matter, Telemann, Vivaldi, Rameau, the Scarlattis, Giminiani, Tartini, Albinoni, Pergolesi, Couperin, Corelli, Lully or Charpentier) ever wrote any orchestral music as good as this, I’ll eat my hat:
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Filed under: Music, WAYLTL on July 23rd, 2007 | No Comments »