Déjà Review: this review was first published in March 2006 and the recording is still available.
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Water Music Suites 1-3 HWV 348-350 (c.1715-17 rev 1736)
Music for the Royal Fireworks HWV 351 (1749)
Aradia Ensemble/Kevin Mallon
rec. 2005, St Anne’s Church, Toronto, Canada
Naxos 8.557764 [71]
Firstly, let’s make it clear from the outset that this is an excellent CD of thrilling music which is very well known and loved. I grew up like many others with the Harty arrangements and the speeds employed there were certainly slower. The Aradia Ensemble are from Toronto and play on what they call “original instruments”. This mustn’t put off those who like André Previn feel they must be playing “perfectly out of tune”. These are fine performances and Mallon seems to be something of a Handel fan as their next recording – just out – is the extravaganza “Rinaldo”.
The first of the Water Music suites is by far the longest and goes splendidly with fine playing from the winds and strings; no acidic quality here. Then a bit of a shock with track 4, piece 6, “Air” which used to introduce the BBC Home Service in the nineteen-sixties. This seems very fast compared to what we’re used to. In the very good notes there is a comment by Mallon that as a student he studied the score in The John Watson Music Library in Manchester with John Eliot Gardiner. This air apparently is marked “presto” and avoids what he calls a “lugubriousness”. He may be right but I prefer the Air as it used to be! There’s a real “joi de vive” in the bourree where we encounter the tambourine. One reviewer at least has been concerned by its presence. I must say I rather like it and suspect Handel would have too!
Things go perfectly splendidly throughout the second and third suites and I got to thinking how much I’d like to hear this band live. The famous tune in track 10 “Alla Hornpipe” is a superb example of the very fine musicianship throughout this CD. I also feel a sense of fun and enjoyment in these performances; no dry-as-dust renditions here. I’m sure Beecham – a great discoverer of Handel – would have tapped his cigar to these joyful noises. Mention should be made of the fine renditions of the rigaudon and minuets in the third suite with notable flute playing; also more appearances by the tambourine!
A splendid opening to the Music for the Royal Fireworks signals that we are in the world of pomp and circumstance. The mood is grander now and the band play fit for royalty. The overture is thrilling and would certainly make a grand accompaniment; I couldn’t call it background to a firework display. After the splendour of the first two pieces we have the more reflective “La Paix” where, apparently for the first time, transverse flutes are used and very effectively so, adding a touch of magic. There’s much banging of drums in “La Réjouissance” and a triumphal conclusion to Minuet II; thus ending with splendid playing. I’m sure George II would have loved it!
David R Dunsmore
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