Trio Sonatas

Handel's Op. 2 trio sonatas are intimate chamber works: two oboes weaving contrapuntal lines over a continuo of bassoon, harpsichord and contrabass, with slow movements of dignified poise set against brisk, good-humoured allegros. This Denon LP pairs the B-flat and F major sonatas with the F major sonata for oboe, bassoon and contrabass (whose attribution is now doubted), a short Rigaudon, Bourée and March, and the G minor Op. 2 No. 5.

Heinz Holliger, the Swiss oboe virtuoso and composer who recorded prolifically for Philips and Denon through the 1970s and 80s, leads a small ensemble of international specialists: Maurice Bourgue on second oboe, Klaus Thunemann on bassoon, Christiane Jaccottet on harpsichord and Yoshio Nagashima on contrabass. The sessions took place in Tokyo in October 1981, and the album appeared on Denon in 1983.

Tower Records Japan's catalogue entry notes that the original LP received a semi-recommendation (準推薦) from the Japanese classical magazine Record Geijutsu. Denon, under Nippon Columbia, made the world's first commercial digital recording in 1972 and remained an early PCM pioneer, so this Japanese pressing carries real digital pedigree. Beyond that, little is documented in English about this particular release.