To mark the Handel Year 2009 Bärenreiter is offering a special set on all HandelÂ's keyboard music. Up till now all works have been published as individual volumes Keyboard Works I-IV (BA 4221-4224) in the Â" Halle Handel EditionÂ" . These volumes encompass HandelÂ's output over a long period spanning
approx. 1705 to 1750. Volumes I and II include both collections of suites (1720 and 1733) which the composer himself saw to print. These standout in terms of their compositional demands and are a testimony to HandelÂ's sometimes idiosyncratic treatment of the Baroque form. Volumes III and IV contain all the other individual surviving pieces and miscellaneous suites. The edition, based on the Urtext of the Â"Halle Handel EditionÂ" , has been edited by the internationally-renowned Handel scholar Terence Best. The music text in each volume, which also takes into consideration alternative versions of individual pieces, is accompanied by a detailed foreword on the history of the compositions, transmission and performance practice.