PBO Explores Handel’s “Private Passions”

The performers of the recital being discussed (clockwise from upper-left): Carla Moore, Anthony Martin, Paul Hale, Maria Caswell, Kristin Zoernig, and Jory Vinikour (courtesy of PBO)

Last night the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (PBO) & Chorale presented the first program in the new year in its PBO/VIRTUAL Salon Series (formerly known as the 2020/VIRTUAL Salon Series). The title of the recital was HANDEL: Private Passions. It involved only six musicians: violinists Carla Moore and Anthony Martin, violist Maria Caswell, cellist Paul Hale, bassist Kristin Zoernig, and harpsichordist Jory Vinikour. The harpsichord was made by John Phillips in Berkeley in 2010, based on a 1722 instrument by Johann Heinrich Gräbner as a model. Phillips’ instrument was generously lent by Peter and Cynthia Hibbard.

The program was organized around three of George Frideric Handel’s trio sonatas, HWV 391 in G minor, HWV 397 in D major, and HWV 399 in F major. These were performed by Moore, Martin, Hale, and Vinikour. PBO Music Director Richard Egarr added a viola part to HWV 399, allowing the full ensemble to present the work as a “grand finale.” Egarr also provided string quartet transcriptions of two fugues from the 1735 publication Six Fugues or Voluntarys for the Organ or Harpsichord, played by Moore, Martin, Caswell, and Hale.

HWV 391 was composed during Handel’s time in Rome in his early twenties, and one can appreciate his debt to the repertoire of earlier trio sonatas. HWV 397, on the other hand, is a later work in which Handel departs from the conventional four sections (slow-fast-slow-fast) that established trio sonata structure. HWV 397 is more of an extended suite than a conventional trio sonata, including da capo content, as well as both a march and a gavotte. HWV 399, which, like HWV 397, is from Handel’s Opus 5 publication, is equally adventurous, featuring a passacaglia as its central movement. HWV 399 also repurposes music from both the HWV 52 oratorio Athalia and the HWV 73 celebratory serenata Parnasso in Festa, composed for the marriage of Anne, Princess Royal and Prince William of Orange.

The performance itself took place on the stage of Herbst Theatre in the Veterans Building of the San Francisco War Memorial. The entire recording was made on March 9, 2021 in accordance with the Order of the Health Officer of the City and County of San Francisco. The video was produced by Tal Skloot of Tritone Media, using just the right camera angles to facilitate appreciation of the polyphonic fabrics of both the trio sonatas and the fugues. The audio was produced by Michael Demeyer. The entire performance lasted about 45 minutes and has now been uploaded to a YouTube Web page for further viewing.

This is the sort of offering that deserves multiple viewings. As Scholar-in-Residence Bruce Lamott observed in his program notes, Handel is best known for his operas and oratorios. His chamber music offerings are relatively modest. Nevertheless, there is much to be gained from listening to the selections on this video, and Skloot’s video direction guides the attentive listener through those features of Handel’s technique that make the music such a satisfying experience.