Customer Reviews

Handel: Water Music

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4 star:		(1)
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I have Elliot Gardiner's version of this lovely music on period instruments. I saw used at my CD exchange a newer rendition of it by Tafelmisic and J. Lamon on period instruments. Having read glaring reviews of it, and having listened live to Tafelmusic, I was set to buy it. But they also had Mackerras' version, and I decided to compare the two. Frankly, I liked the St. Luke version even better. Maybe the fact that I already own a period instrument version was a factor. But Mackerras has a warm and sweet tone, clean textures due to small orchesra, and a smooth, low key interpretation while coming alive in individual virtuosity of selected instruments. It is well integrated and completely satisfying throughout. This version gives the best of both worlds, small orchestra of the period movement without the abrasive violin tones. As such, it should make a great alternative to period instrument versions. Strongly recommended.

Fantastic, crisp sound, and virtuosic playing, especially on the valveless horns. The best recording I've heard of Water Music.

This music has survived the ages and is still as beautiful today as it was in the early 1700's. This rendition was done with period instruments. The French Horns are great.

After Johann Sebastian Bach, the composer that has most defined the Baroque era of classical music in the minds of listeners is George Frideric Handel. Born in Germany, but largely making his compositional lot in life as a naturalized Englishman, Handel helped set the stage for the modern oratorio with "Messiah" in 1742; and his final major composition, the 1749 "Music For The Royal Fireworks" was arguably the last great Baroque masterpiece. And then there is his collection of three suites from the year 1717, Water Music. Composed for King George I for a journey down the Thames on his river barge, the work has continued to have universal appeal, though, like a great many works of the Baroque era, it was also enlarged a bit more than necessary in the minds of some early in the 20th century, by people like Sir Hamilton Harty and (not too surprisingly) Leopold Stokowski. Such enlargements went a long way to instigating the period instrument movement in classical music during the 1960s, which saw works of the Baroque and Classical periods increasingly being performed on instruments of those eras.

On this 1991 Telarc recording by Sir Charles Mackerras and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, however, a balance is struck between the use of modern instruments and the performance practices of the period-instrument crowd. Mackerras has had experience in both areas; and what he bought to his recordings, also on Telarc, of various Haydn symphonies, the balance between period and modern, he brings to this performance of the Water Music. The Orchestra of St. Luke's, a New York City-based chamber orchestra, clearly shines throughout this recording under Mackerras' steady hand; and as a result, this ranks right up there with a similar 1980 Delos recording by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and conductor Gerard Schwarz in the pantheon of great recordings of this much-loved piece, from its solemn moments to the famous D Major Hornpipe, and the ornamented G Major suite with its emphasis on woodwinds and harpsichord.

This is a recording to have of this great work, even if you have others (including the aforementioned Schwarz/L.A.C.O. recording). It is of that high quality that one wants for such a piece.

This review is based on listening to it from satellite radio so caveat emptor.

I have been listening to the Water and Fireworks Music for well over fifty years, and in my very humble opinion, Sir Charles gets them both right. This recording is alive and vital. Some presentations make me sit up and take notice and this is one of them. I was on my computer when it came on, and it made me forget what I was doing.

The different parts come alive but are not "showy," mesh together without being flamboyant.

Highly recommended.

I'm so used to seeing "Royal Fireworks" with a copy of Handel's "Water Music" that it was very refreshing to see a copy of one of Handel's more famous works with some pieces other than "Royal Fireworks".

The "Suite in G Major" (HWV 350) is played almost to perfection by the Orchestra of St Lukes, an American institution, and under the baton of Sir Charles Mackerras they make you wonder why this is a seldom heard piece of Handel's musical repertoire.

The "Suite in D Major" (HWV 349) is another seldom heard piece of Handel's music, and it is also played with a fervor that is usually heard only by English orchestras.

The piece de resistance, "Water Music", is probably one of the better sounding versions of that relaxing classical "hit" that I have heard in a long time. Only on the second movement of "Water Music" do we hear any improvisation on Handel's themes. The addition of the section of the Suite in D major, played in its entirety elsewhere on this album, makes this piece worthy of any Handel fan. It also provides a link between the familiar and the unknown.

Those who do not have a copy of "Water Music" in their classical collection will appreciate this CD, and those that do will have both of the rarely heard Suites to enjoy.