Luogo e data di registrazione		St. Mark's Church, Munich (Germany) - May & July 1958
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer		-
	Prima Edizione LP		Decca - LXT 20 001-03 - (3 LP) - durata 2h 35' 25" - (p) 1959 - Analogico
	Edizione "Reference" CD		Tedec - 8.44007 ZS - (1 CD) - LC 3706 - durata 45' 38" - (c) 1988 - AAD
	Cover		"Cellospieler" aus der Serie der "Musiksoli", Porzellan. Modell von J. Chr. Beyer, Ludwigsburg, um 1765/66, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg.
	Note		The Karl Richter edition of these organ concertos by Handel published in 1959 is here reproduced on three compact discs by TELDEC in the "reference" series. Oddly enough, the first volume (blue series) contains Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 of Op. 4 and Op. 7; the second volume (brown series) contains Concertos Nos. 3 and 4 of Op. 4 and Op. 7; the third volume (green series) contains the Concerts Nos., 5 and 6 of Op, 4 and Op. 7. The multiple editions published instead contain the 6 Concertos of Op. 4 and to follow the 6 Concertos of the Op. 7.

Georg Friedrich Handel was the cosmopolitan figure among the great composers of the high Baroque; he was buried in Westminster Abbey, London, like a statesman. His father came from an artisan family, but had advanced to become physician to the nobility. He earmarked his son Georg Friedrich, born as the ninth child on 24th February 1685, for the legal profession, but the young Handel was drawn to music early on.  The intervention of the Duke of Weißenfels enabled him to take lessons in composition and organ with Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow in his native Halle. In 1702 he began to study law in Halle in accordance with paternal wishes, but he paid less attention to legal matters than to his position as organist and the “Hautboisten-Companie” in Halle, for whom he probably composed parts of the Trio Sonatas with two oboes. The limited possibilities of the organist’s post were soon inadequate for him, and in 1703 he started as a violinist in the orchestra of Hamburg’s Oper am Gansemarkt, the forerunner of the present Staatsoper. In the space of two years he had worked his way up to the position of harpsichordist, which was the equivalent of a modern conductor. From 1706 to 1710 he travelled through Italy in order to familiarize himself with Italian music. Almost the entire spectrum of his works - operas, oratorios, orchestral and chamber music - was influenced by the impressions gathered in these years, and Handel was also successful in Italy as a composer in his own right. He only needed the initial stimulus to make him go his own way, full of ideas and creative energy. After a short visit to London, he entered the employment of the Hanoverian court, and when the Elector became King George I of England, Handel travelled to London with him. He remained attached to the court, but was attracted by the public musical life of the English capital. As impresario, composer and conductor “rolled into one” he directed the operatic venture known as the Royal Academy of Music; in 1728, however, and again in 1734 his theatre was forced to close by pressure from  rival houses, and Handel subsequently turned to the dramatic oratorio. The enterprising publisher Walsh urged him to supply him with compositions, and in 1734 the Concerti grossi op. 3 appeared - popular works in the best sense of the word, with colourful instrumentation such as audiences were used to hearing only at the opera. The second set of Concerti grossi op. 6 (1739) are also important. Taking the Corelli model as his starting-point, Handel treated the genre freely, incorporating dance movements and episodes for a group of soloists. Like the Trio Sonatas op. 2 and op. 5, they seem to be a glance back from the artist’s maturity at the years spent in Italy. This is pleasant music, but without technical finesse or harmonic subtleties. In 1737 Handel composed “Alexander’s Feast or the Power of Music“ for 22nd November, the Feast of St Cecilia, patron saint of music. The allegoric oratorio, in which a singer subdues the wrath of Alexander the Great and awakens human feelings with music, is in the English tradition of St Cecilia works. Handel’s oratorios, which he performed at his own risk with the help of choirs composed of London citizens, made him the founder of the oratorio choir tradition. Between the sections of the oratorios he played his organ concerti, in which he improvised some movements at the keyboard. Handel’s instrumental works and oratorios are among the most important compositions of their kind. TELDEC has helped to evolve a new understanding of Handel’s music for years with recordings that lead the field, and the unrivalled DAS ALTE WERK catalogue reflects this. Nikolaus Harnoncourt writes in his stimulating book “Musik als Klangrede”: “The original sound only interests me in that it seems to me to be the best of the many ways to present one piece of music or another today”. Gerhard Schuhmacher Translation: Clive R. Williams