7 Sonatas and Famous Largo Edition: Flute and Piano Paperback – December 1, 2011

great for school

Of all of the horrible editions of the Handel sonatas for flute (or recorder), this is one of the worst. There are added articulations and dynamics, horrible phrasing markings, a "piano" part that gives you no hint of the actual basso continuo, suggestions for ridiculous tempos (if memory serves), no bass figures, no idea that all these pieces weren't intended for the same instrument. I bought this in the ninth grade. Then I learned better (at least by university). Kids are not too young to learn about Baroque performance. In fact, if you teach them when they are younger, they usually enjoy doing some improvising and learning some historical material. They can learn to play with proper style, tempi, articulations, dance rhythms, and not to play bare adagios with the notes on the page. And you really do have to trill at cadences at the minimum. No subdividing, and no slur two-tongue two, and it's a duo between the basso continuo line and the solo instrument. These pieces are much easier to learn with the flute line as given in the Walsh edition or a good Urtext like Bärenreiter or the old Chrysander edition, which you can download for free! And you need the bass figures. It's really best to learn the pieces with the flute/recorder part and the bass line and numbers. Then it makes sense. Good luck!