Credits:

Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Description:

Harnoncourt marshals an outsized Concentus Musicus and chorus for a splendid, opulent evening of music celebrating the bicentenary of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien.Handel arr. Mozart: Alexander’s Feast (Timotheus, oder Die Gewalt der Musik K.591) / Nikolaus Harnoncourt- Harnoncourt’s eagerly awaited new recording is Handel’s Alexander’s Feast in Mozart’s arrangement (Timotheus, oder Die Gewalt der Musik K.591), taped live in Vienna in November 2012. Handel’s oratorio of 1736 was arranged by Mozart at the request of Baron Gottfried van Swieten, in an overture and two parts. Van Swieten, an Austrian diplomat who served as prefect of the Imperial Library and head of the book censorship commission, had a particular interest in baroque music and commissioned Mozart’s arrangements of Handel works including Messiah and Alexander’s Feast. He later gathered fellow aristocrats to foun