Organ Concerto Nos. 12-15 CD9

Abstract

Only two movements of this work survive; they seem to have been written in 1746-1747, then revised in 1749 for performance during one of Handel's oratorios. The movements are based on an unfinished Sinfonia in B flat, so some performers interpolate that sinfonia's slow movement into the middle of this concerto. Other organists cull pieces from various other Handel works to fill the "gaps" the composer left. (He improvised these sections in performance and died before the concerto was ready for publication.) The initial movement is marked Pomposo, which aptly describes the opening orchestral bars. But the organist bursts in, throwing pomp and caution to the wind with rapid, noodling passagework. Through the first two-thirds of the movement, these antagonistic ideas alternate, but toward the end the orchestra picks up and takes possession of the organ's scurrying figure. The other surviving movement is an Air marked A tempo ordinario. It's a gentle, almost pastoral movement, the organ playing an entirely subsidiary, continuo-like role for the first two-thirds of the piece, then coming forward for only three fragmentary solo statements.