La Scena Online is the digital magazine of La Scene Musicale.Contents: News, Concert reviews, CD reviews, Interviews, Obituaries, etc; Editor: Wah Keung Chan; Assistant Editor: Andreanne Venne
ISSN: 1206-9973
George Frideric Handel in a painting by Denner. Photo : Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library / Alamy
I had high hopes of this album, an attempt by period musicians to recreate the kind of stuff that might – repeat, might – have been performed in London pubs during the early 18th century. Henry Purcell, who hung out far too much in London hostelries, was recently dead. Handel, who went in for heavy eating rather than heavy drinking, was newly arrived from Germany and still finding his way around the city’s entertainment venues. Match their music with the rougher folk trade that, then as now, played at esoteric drinking holes and the collusion promised possible enlightenment. The first…
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