• Tracks

This new release is a great celebration of Handel in the first decades of the eighteenth century in London. One can almost imagine the musical global citizen at the harpsichord, surrounded by friends and colleagues. Works by this famous Saxon are performed, but also compositions from the pens of his by no means less distinguished orchestral musicians please the ears of excited listeners. Sometimes a movement from a favorite opus is heard, or an arrangement of a currently popular aria from an opera, and sometimes a freshly composed sonata. Mr. Handel's Musicians- this doesn't refer to just anyone: several of Europe's most sought-after musicians performed among the ranks of the opera company at the Haymarket Opera House. The brothers Castrucci, John Loeillet of London, Johann Ernst Galliard, and Giuseppe Sammartini played under Handel's direction at the King's Theatre, and thereby contributed to the overwhelming success of his works. Benoit Laurent studied recorder, baroque oboe, and modern oboe in Belgium. In 2008 he was a prizewinner in the renowned competition Musica Antiqua in Bruges. He currently serves as Professor of Baroque oboe at the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels.