Italian cantatas and two oboe sonatas by G. F. Handel 'Very long, long arias and almost endless cantatas which have neither the right skill nor the right taste, though their harmony is perfect,' wrote Johann Mattheson about the twenty-year-old Handel in Hamburg in 'Grundlagen einer Ehrenpforte' (1740). According to Mattheson (music master and chapel master in Hamburg), it was only after Handel had gained some experience with opera that his works acquired the necessary refinement. But Mattheson's cutting remark on the cantatas is only one of many to be found in the Ehrenpforte which are not necessarily based on objective fact. It is likely that the often strained relationship between the two had some bearing on Mattheson's judgement. After all, Handel was supposed to write up his own vita for this collection of biographies of great musicians as the other composers included therein had done. Much to Mattheson's annoyance, he refused to do so. This may be the reason for some of Mattheson's caustic remarks, not to mention the legendary dual which took place between Mattheson and Handel in which the latter escaped with his life only because the crucial thrust of the sword was deflected by a coat button. In fact, the Italian cantatas recorded here - probably composed between 1706 and 17(19 - ought not to be underestimated; they reveal themselves to be musical gems. Handel must have been exposed to cantata compositions and to the Italian language as early as the summer of 1704 while he was staying in Hamburg. After all, the collection of Reinhard Keisers cantatas, famous at the time, had been in Hamburg since 1698, and the Hamburg poets Christian Heinrieh Postel and Barthold Feind wrote in Italian. From the time Handel started travelling to Italy in 1706, it was only to be expected that he would begin to compose many more Italian cantatas. The ones on this recording date from Handel's early period: 'Lungi dame, peusier liranuo', which has come down to us in a version for alto as well as soprano, is dated August 3!, 1709, according to the bill of a copyist of one of the extant copies. There also exists a copyist's bill of 'Udite ii mio ionsig/io' dated May 16, 1708. In Italy and its neighbouring countries, continuo cantatas (for voice with only basso continuo accompaniment) had long since established themselves in the public's favour in the period before 1710. Handel also preferred to compose in this genre, though his output of cantatas was less prolific in the years to come. Not many were written daring his Hanover and London years. Nevertheless, all the cantatas on this recording probably made their way beyond Italy's borders soon after they were composed. Contemporary London manuscript copies of almost all of them still exist.....