Handel - Allemande / 阿雷曼德 - (3rd movt from Suite No. 8 in F minor, HWV 433)

1) Prelude: • Handel - Prelude, Fugu...
2) Fugue: • Handel - Prelude, Fugu...
3) Allemande
4) Courante: • Handel - Courante / 庫蘭...
5) Gigue: • Handel - Gigue / 吉格舞曲 ...
Handel HWV 433, suite No 8 in F minor reminds us that just as E major, being the sharpest major key in common use, was considered heavenly, so F minor, the flattest minor key in common use, was deemed apposite to infernal matters. Handel’s F minor Suite is not, however, overtly hellish and begins with a prelude in French dotted rhythm which is ‘pathetic’ rather than scary. He ballasts its pathos with a massive fugue on a rising-scale subject in symmetrical rhythm. Often he adds weight by ‘filling in’ the mounting octaves in the left hand, a corruption of linearity that Bach would not have countenanced. The open energy and ‘drive’ of this music mirror eighteenth-century man’s courage in confronting life’s threats; but the Allemande and Courante temper gravity with grace rather than with power. Handel does not risk an F minor Sarabande, whether of the ‘grave’ or the ‘pathetic’ type, but concludes with a contrapuntal Gigue in three voices, with canonic imitations to discipline the theme’s spikiness.
韓德爾/亨德尔 - 鍵盤大組曲
「大組曲」是一種融合當時法國宮廷舞曲、義大利聲樂抒情路線、德式對位以及英式協調風格的獨特創意類型。巴哈的鍵盤組曲是以傳統形式，也就是以阿雷曼德、庫蘭舞曲、薩拉邦德和吉格舞曲順序組成的法國舞曲，但是同樣的東西放到韓德爾身上就是另一個模樣了，你無法預測韓德爾的想法：無論是樂章數目和順序，都不會找到兩首相同的組曲。說起來你不得不佩服韓德爾的創意，他不僅在裡面放入賦格、帶有變奏的小曲、義大利風奏鳴曲的樂章，甚至是帕薩卡利牙舞曲。如果說巴哈的組曲呈現他的心思縝密，韓德爾就是隨性所至，經常把即興發揮寫在樂譜上，特別是幻想曲風的前奏曲，韓德爾總是有辦法即興天外一筆，也為演奏者留下諸多發揮的想像空間。