Organist Beth Zucchino

FRESH AND LIVELY HANDEL ORGAN CONCERTOS IN AGO ARTIST RECITAL

Organist Beth Zucchino played a delightful recital of three Handel concertos August 21 at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Rosa. This was the third in a series of summer Sunday recitals featuring organists of the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO).

The program was three of the Op. 4 Concertos, HWV 289 – 294, composed between 1735 and 1736. These were the F Major (No. 1), the No. 4 in B Flat Major, and the G Minor. Ms. Zucchino played these works with consummate skill, recreating the likely effect of the original scoring for small organ and instruments in a concert hall.

Handel wrote 21 organ concertos for chamber organ and small orchestra to be played in dialogue on stage between the participants. These organs used were usually only one manual and with no independent pedal voice, and were designed to be played at intermission in the performance of his large oratorios. Later published editions of these compositions permitted performance of both the orchestra and organ parts played on alternate manuals of large organs with a pedal part provided for the orchestra’s score.

Ms. Zucchino chose to play these three concertos authentically with the original sounds of the small chamber organ, cleverly using the foundation stops of the church’s antiphonal organ and very soft typical Baroque registrations from the chancel organ. The effect was surprisingly light but lively. She played the program delicately and with clarity and precision. Her Baroque touch in the running lines of the cadenzas and her accuracy in the perilous jumps between the manuals were noteworthy. It was a joy to hear Handel in rest and quietness rather than in overbearing power.

A large and appreciative audience listened attentively to the recitals many subtle musical details, most likely not like the usually noisy attendees at intermission in London’s Covent Garden of Handel’s day.

The four-event series is underwritten by the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Rosa, and ends August 28 with a recital at 2 p.m. in the same church by Paul Blanchard.