Chandos
2007
Flaming Rose: Handel German Arias And Trio Sonatas
About This Album
The music on this disc, among the least-known of Handel's mature productions, shows that the popular perception of him as excelling in big, public works (oratorios, operas, the Water Music) is mistaken; he was equally effective in genres that, because of the course of his musical career, he rarely touched. The program here consists of nine German-language sacred arias for soprano and instrumental ensemble, broken into three groups of three by a pair of trio sonatas. No choir is involved, nor are any Lutheran chorales, but the music has affinities with the arias in Bach's cantatas: it is contemplative, lyrical-spiritual, and modest in dimension. The texts are by Heinrich Brockes, who wrote a version of the Passion story that Handel had set in 1716; Telemann and many other composers made their own Brockes-Passion settings later, and it was adapted for use in Bach's St. John Passion. The arias date from around 1725, by which time Handel was well ensconced in England and composing music primarily in Italian and English; he appears to have written these German pieces because of the success of the earlier setting, which led to a chain of events that, in an age tragically bereft of instant-messenger services, stretched out over 10 years.
Track List

Das Zitternde Glänzen (German Aria No.2), Hymn, For Soprano & Continuo, HWV 203
1.
Künft' Ger Zeiten Eitler Kummer (German Aria No.1), Hymn For Soprano & Continuo, HWV 202
2.
Meine Seele Hört Im Sehen (German Aria No.6), Hymn For Soprano & Continuo, HWV 207
3.
Trio sonata for 2 violins & continuo in F major, Op. 2/4, HWV 389
4.
5.
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8.
Süsser Blumen Ambraflocken (German Aria No.3), Hymn For Soprano & Continuo, HWV 204
9.
Die Ihr Aus Dunkeln Grüften (German Aria No.7), Hymn For Soprano & Continuo, HWV 208
10.
In Den Angenehmen Büschen (German Aria No.8), Hymn For Soprano & Continuo, HWV 209
11.
Trio sonata for flute/violin, violin & continuo in B minor, Op. 2/1, HWV 386b
12.
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15.
Flammende Rose, Zierde Der Erden (German Aria No.9), Hymn For Soprano & Continuo, HWV 210
16.
Singe, Seele, Gott Zum Preise (German Aria No.5), Hymn, For Soprano & Continuo, HWV 206
17.
Süsse Stille, Sanfte Quelle (German Aria No.4), Hymn For Soprano & Continuo, HWV 205
18.