The Handel Project: Handel-Suites & Brahms-Variations

Featuring

Seong-Jin Cho
George Frideric Handel
Johannes Brahms

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Critical Reception

Even Richard Wagner, who was famously not close to Brahms, held Brahms's Handel Variations in very high regard.

Performer Biography

Seong-Jin Cho, a 28-year-old Korean pianist, typically plays music from the Classical period onwards but felt the need to record Baroque music for this album.

Compositional Technique

Handel's harpsichord suites are structured along less rigorous and complex lines than Bach's, making them more playful and often exuding a radiant joie de vivre.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Unlike Bach, Handel often eschewed the traditional sequence of dance movements in his harpsichord suites, frequently adding other elements like preludes, airs, and minuets.

Interpretation

Seong-Jin Cho tried to maintain different colors in Handel's harpsichord pieces, imagining a concerto grosso where the left hand might sound like a bassoon and the right hand like a violin.