Julian Perkins – Overture to Handel's 'Tamerlano'

Overture to ‘Tamerlano’ (1724) by George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)
Arranged for solo harpsichord by Julian Perkins after John Walsh’s arrangement in 'Six Overtures fitted for the Harpsichord or Spinnet … the Second Collection' of circa 1728.

Performed by Julian Perkins in Handel’s music room at the composer’s London home (now a museum called ‘Handel & Hendrix in London’).

This overture introduces Handel’s most intense psychological drama, ‘Tamerlano’. The opera tracks the anguished love of its characters through a tragic power-struggle between two intransigent rulers. Cambridge Handel Opera put on a fully-staged production of this opera in Cambridge in April 2022. For further details, please see:

► https://cambridgehandel.org.uk/events...

The harpsichord featured here was made in 1754 in the workshop of Jacobus Kirckman in London. Its keywell has a striking silver plaque set in tortoiseshell which is engraved with a trophy of instruments with the words ‘O decus Phaebi’ (‘‘To the glory of Phoebus’’, Phoebus/Apollo being the sun god). To facilitate a wide range of effects, there are two 8-foot registers, one 4-foot register and a lute stop, with a five-octave compass from FF to f3. Handel knew Kirckman, whose instruments’ rich orchestral sonorities would surely have appealed to the composer.

Recorded 19 July 2021
Sound and vision recorded and edited by Tim Roberts

► Julian Perkins: http://www.julianperkins.com