George Frideric Handel (1685-1750)
Water Music, HWV 348-350
Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351
Overture Ariodante, HWV 33
La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy/Jean-Claude Malgoire
rec. 1983/85, Notre Dame de Liban, Paris
Originally reviewed as SBK48285
Sony Classics 88697712942 [70]
These are not the pioneering period recordings of the Water Music and the Royal Fireworks made by Malgoire in 1972 and released on a double LP in 1974; they have never been released on CD but it may be heard on YouTube. This is rather the later, second recording from a decade later; the playing is understandably somewhat more technically polished and some might still prefer the raw energy of the earlier version, even if the natural horns there are sometimes excruciatingly out of tune and there are a good few sour notes. This mid-1980’s recording is still pleasantly rough and ready, given that it still employs gut strings and valveless horns. Oddly, given their date, they are analogue rather than digital but the sound is still perfectly acceptable, if a little lacking in immediacy.
One certainly gets a feeling of “authenticity” – whatever that means – and there is a freshness, verve and energy to the music-making which is most beguiling. Tempi are by no means extreme although they are often on the brisk side compared with later standard versions of the Water Music such as that by Robert King and The King’s Consort made in 1997, whose “Lentement” No. 14, for example, is 2:03 compared with Malgoire’s 1:17 – but this tuneful music is remarkably tolerant of interpretative diversity, hence I can enjoy anything from Stokowski’s assault upon the score, through Kubelik’s more conventional Big Band approach to King’s more “informed” version and this by Malgoire. If the horns are a bit flatulent, the strings occasionally flirt with whining, the flute is a little watery and the solo oboe in the stately the “Air” (No. 5, track 4) whimsically wheezy, I simply put all that down to period colour and nothing is less than tasteful – but also never dull. The flauto piccolo (recorder) of the “Menuet” No. 16 and the “Country Dance” even if the horns can be excruciatingly out of tune No. 17 are charmingly bucolic while the concluding “Coro” is suitably grand with nice hard-edged timpano.
The prevailing intimacy of the Water Music always contrasts well with the grandeur of the Royal Fireworks when they are paired and Malgoire manages a palpable switch of mood. The brass are certainly better here than in the earlier account, which matter even more in this martial music but the band relaxes for the lilting central “La Paix” before launching con gusto in to the thunderous “La Réjouissance”. The two contrasting “Menuets” in D minor and D major respectively make a brilliant finale, showcasing first the woodwind then the drums in a festive peroration.
The bonus track is the elegant overture from Ariodante making this disc a thoroughly entertaining and well-filled compilation. It really has worn remarkably well.
Ralph Moore
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