The Twelve Grand Concertos, Op. 6, HWV 319–330, by George Frideric Handel are concerti grossi for a concertino trio of two violins and cello and a ripieno four-part string orchestra with harpsichord continuo. First published by subscription in London by John Walsh in 1739, they became in a second edition two years later Handel's Opus 6. Taking the older concerto da chiesa and concerto da camera of Arcangelo Corelli as models, rather than the later three-movement Venetian concerto of Antonio Vivaldi favoured by Johann Sebastian Bach, they were written to be played during performances of Handel's oratorios and odes.

The Oboe Concerto No. 1 in B flat major (HWV 301) was composed by George Frideric Handel for oboe, orchestra and basso continuo. It was first published in the fourth volume of Select Harmony by Walsh in 1740. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG xxi, 85; and HHA iv/12,17. The Oboe Concerto No. 2 in B flat major (HWV 302a) was composed by George Frideric Handel for oboe, orchestra and basso continuo. It was first published in the fourth volume of Select Harmony by Walsh in 1740. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG xxi, 91; and HHA iv/12,47.

The Music for the Royal Fireworks (HWV 351) is a suite in D major for wind instruments composed by George Frideric Handel in 1749 under contract of George II of Great Britain for the fireworks in London's Green Park on 27 April 1749. The music celebrates the end of the War of the Austrian Succession and the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) in 1748. The work was very popular when first performed and following Handel's death.

Messiah (HWV 56) is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel. The text was compiled from the King James Bible and the Coverdale Psalter by Charles Jennens. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.

Jephtha (HWV 70) is an oratorio (1751) by George Frideric Handel with an English language libretto by the Rev. Thomas Morell, based on the story of Jephtha in Judges (Chapter 11) and Jephthes, sive Votum (Jeptha, or the Vow) (1554) by George Buchanan. Whilst writing Jephtha, Handel was increasingly troubled by his gradual loss of sight, and this proved to be his last oratorio. In the autograph score, at the end of the chorus "How dark, O Lord, are thy decrees" he wrote "Reached here on 13 February 1751, unable to go on owing to weakening of the sight of my left eye."

One of the lasts acts of King George I before his death in 1727 was to sign "An Act for the naturalizing of George Frideric Handel and others." Handel's first commission as a naturalized Britsh citizen was to write the music for the coronation later that year. The four anthems Handel composed for the coronation of King George II and Queen Caroline on 11 October 1727 have never lacked popular favour. They were repeatedly performed at concerts and festivals during his life and since, and he incorporated substantial parts of them, with little change except to the words, in several oratorios, notably Esther and Deborah. (Incidentally, two of them were performed at the opening concert of Oxford's Holywell Music Room in 1748).

Handel’s focus in his three Concerti a due cori was on lively rhythms, arresting dialogue and vibrant colours, so his slow movements take something of a back seat, except here where he returned to Esther for a long, lilting siciliana in which the reedy oboes add a poignant edge to the movement’s lingering minor-key melancholy.

Handel wrote all this ballet music for operas, new or revived, in which Marie Salle was to dance while she was in London in the mid-1730s. She will not, of course, have graced all these pieces; she was famed for expressiveness rather than virtuosity, and presumably delegated the very quick and exciting dream music in Alcina to someone else. But slower pieces predominate and they show that Handel was fully appreciative of her charms. Gardiner uses a robust orchestra (6.6.4.4.2) which allows for a strong bass, appreciated by dancers today and no doubt then as well.

Acis and Galatea (HWV 49) is a musical work by George Frideric Handel with an English text by John Gay. The work has been variously described as a serenata, a masque, a pastoral or pastoral opera, a "little opera" (in a letter by the composer while it was being written), an entertainment and by the New Grove Dictionary of Music as an oratorio. The work was originally devised as a one-act masque which premiered in 1718.

The Handel organ concertos, Op. 7, HWV 306–311, refer to the six organ concertos for organ and orchestra composed by George Frideric Handel in London between 1740 and 1751, published posthumously in 1761 by the printing company of John Walsh. They were written for performance during Handel's oratorios, contain almost entirely original material, including some of his most popular and inspired movements.

Imaginary Animals releases the new programme Transclassical Concertos, recorded with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields at the Abbey Road Studios in London, conducted by Royal Shakespeare Company music director Bruce O’Neil. It is centred around Pedro H. da Silva’s first Portuguese guitar concerto in history and Lucia Caruso's piano concerto "Light and Wind".

Those inseparable twins, dress and identity, fell under the spotlight of the V&A’s Fashioning Masculinities. The exhibition’s galleries—Undressed, Overdressed, and Redressed—informed Oliver Zeffman’s choice of music for the first of his Music x Museums concerts. Recorded live in the V&A’s sublime Raphael Court, the performance opens with Lully’s Overture to Le bourgeois gentilhomme, a nod to the periwigged posturing of 17th-century Paris.

Atmospherically filmed amid the Raphael Cartoons in the V&A’s Raphael Court, this album is a treat for both ear and eye. British conductor Oliver Zeffman leads the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in a programme that wanders through time, perfectly complementing the glorious surroundings. Russian-born British violinist Viktoria Mullova joins the ASMF for Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major in a performance that’s crisp, songful and wonderfully eloquent, and her Bach solos speak powerfully in such a striking setting. Zeffman conducts Honegger’s “Pastorale d’été” with a lovely sense of atmosphere, while Arvo Pärt’s timeless “Fratres” makes a huge impact with its stillness and deceptive simplicity.

Sir Neville Marriner thins out the usual ASMF textures and leads vigorous, stately accounts of both the Water Music Suites and the Music for the Royal Fireworks. The playing is snappy, the feeling of dance-inspired animation just right. This is the ideal compilation, presenting both scores complete; and the sound is open, well balanced, and extremely well defined.