This important new recording revisits George Frideric Handel’s monumental Suites de Pièces pour le Clavecin – subsequently known as the Eight Great Harpsichord Suites as well as his Chaconne in G major and some world première recordings of Handel’s superb arrangements of operatic arias and ouvertures which were specially reworked and ornamented by Handel for the harpsichord. The album celebrates the 300th anniversary of the first publication of these works on 14 November 1720.
Bridget Cunningham is an international conductor, prizewinning harpsichordist and musicologist who trained at the Royal College of Music and was awarded a Junior Fellowship to work in the Centre for Performance History and coach singers in the baroque style. Cunningham is also Artistic Director of London Early Opera with a number of critically-acclaimed recordings out on Signum Classics.
★★★★★ Performance, ★★★★ Recording “In short, they are unashamedly intended to please the senses and, in the hands of stylistically informed players they never fail to do so. Bridget Cunningham is just such a player…Her feeling for dance rhythms is infectious and her ability to entertain unassailable” – BBC Music Magazine
★★★★★“At once magisterial and engaging, harpsichordist Bridget Cunningham brings a dynamic imagination to bear on Handel’s still relatively neglected keyboard works” -Planet Hugill
“Sometimes one hears a recording for the first time, and immediately knows that it will be remarkable… Bridget Cunningham’s is one that stands out as a well-crafted and musically deeply committed performance. Above all, her playing conveys to the listener her love of these brilliant and astonishing pieces, and the recording does full justice to the music” – Harpsichord and Fortepiano Magazine