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Handel: Concerto Grosso No. 12 in B Minor (HWV 330)
Georg Friedrich Händel (1741): Concerto Grosso No. 12 in B Minor, HWV 330, Op. 6
I. Largo
This is the opening movement of Handel's Concerto Grosso No. 12, reduced to a mandolin quartet.
My arrangement is based on an arrangement for string quartet by Mike Magatagan, available from Musescore:
https://musescore.com/mike_magatagan/scores/1805001
1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin
Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin
Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
Martin
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Re: Handel: Concerto Grosso No. 12 in B Minor (HWV 330)
A very rich sound for a quartet- sounds much bigger than that. Nicely done.Cheers!
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Re: Handel: Concerto Grosso No. 12 in B Minor (HWV 330)
Georg Friedrich Händel (1741): Concerto Grosso No. 12, HWV 330, Op. 6
III. Aria: Larghetto, e piano - 0:00
IV. Largo - 4:06
This is the third and fourth movement of this Concerto Grosso: the famous aria (larghetto, e piano) and the subsequent short largo. Although the Concerto is nominally in B Minor, the aria is actually in E major -- which is (literally) a pain to play on mandocello, because of the stretches from first to sixth fret...
You know a piece of music has some high-culture pedigree if it has a Wikipedia page (Link). The Wikipedia description of the three movements I have recorded is:
"The arresting dotted rhythms of the opening largo recall the dramatic style of the French overture, although the movement also serves to contrast the full orchestra with the quieter ripieno strings.
(...)
The central third movement, marked Larghetto e piano, contains one of the most beautiful melodies written by Handel. With its quiet gravity, it is similar to the andante larghetto, sometimes referred to as the "minuet", in the overture to the opera Berenice, which Charles Burney described as "one of the most graceful and pleasing movements that has ever been composed". The melody in 3/4 time and E major is simple and regular with a wide range with a chaconne-like bass. After its statement, it is varied twice, the first time with a quaver walking bass, then with the melody itself played in quavers.
The fourth movement is a brief largo, like an accompanied recitative."
I have recorded the aria and largo with the same line-up as the opening movement, i.e. as a mandolin quartet. However, the first and second mandolin parts or the aria are identical (except for the placement of the trills), so the two mandolins simply double each other for a richer sound.
Martin
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Re: Handel: Concerto Grosso No. 12 in B Minor (HWV 330)
Georg Friedrich Händel (1741): Concerto Grosso No. 12 in B Minor, HWV 330, Op. 6
III. Aria: Larghetto, e piano (in E Major, transposed to D Major)
We have been playing the Aria movement of this Concerto Grosso with our group for a few years now, and it's great fun. I've revisited my old 2018 recording of this movement, in the way we play it now -- transposed from E major to D major, and reduced to a trio of mandolin, OM/mandola and mandocello (Handel's second violin part is identical to the first).
I attach the parts, with the mandocello part in bass clef and alternatively in octave treble clef for guitar. Based on Mike Magatagan's string quartet arrangement as linked in my earlier post. The old Musescore link doesn't work anymore.
As for the recording, I've been playing around with the picture-in-picture features in FFMPEG so that I can include video of me playing all three of the instrumental parts.
1915 Luigi Embergher mandolin
Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello
https://youtu.be/zclD8gbcoeY
Martin
Last edited by Martin Jonas; Jul-30-2023 at 7:21am.
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