Organ Concerto in G minor, Op. 4 No. 1

John Walsh was also responsible, but this time with Handel’s co-operation, for the compilation of the six organ concertos Op.4, which he published in 1738. It was an astute move since, according to a contemporary account, “players … totally subsisted on these concertos for near thirty years.” Virtually the first works of their kind, they were written not as concert pieces, however, but to fill in the intervals in performances of his oratorios. Op.4 No.1 is one of as many as three concertos – the others were an organ arrangement of the Harp Concerto in B flat and the Concerto for strings in C – that Handel provided for Alexander’s Feast in 1736. It is a beautifully written work, not least in the opening Larghetto which makes such an effective contrast between the plain-speaking oboes and strings, often playing in unison, and the more poetic voice of the organ. The Allegro, one of the most developed of Handel’s concerto movements, begins and ends in G major but regularly includes minor episodes as a harmonic mediation between the G minor of the the opening Larghetto and the G amjor of the closing Andante. The Adagio that comes between the Allegro and the Andante (without as break on either side) is a short organ solo which, marked ad libitum, offers some opportunity for decorative improvisation.