Handel: Water Music; Music for the Royal Fireworks

George Frederick Handel (Composer), Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
• Composer: George Frederick Handel
• Audio CD (October 13, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000001GG0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,678 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully "chamber" approach!, May 14, 2001

By 

Timothy Mikolay (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Handel: Water Music; Music for the Royal Fireworks (Audio CD)

I have Charles McKerras' fantastic all woodwind perf on vinyl of this music and as much as I enjoy it, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra does bring a certain amount of refinement and dash the forementioned doesn't.

I remember being in tears the first time I heard this disc in a huge CD store in Milano, Italy. It seems almost hushed at first compared to all the other bombastic discs of these works, but this is where it wins. The clarity of the inner voices and the concise and vibrant contrapuntal work are just a few of the accolades I give this CD. This collection of Handel's genius is graceful, shimmering and wonderfully played and would be a noble addition to anyone's listening library.

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but ..., September 14, 2004

By 

Leonardo "Leo" (Argentina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Handel: Water Music; Music for the Royal Fireworks (Audio CD)

... not definitive. A much better rendition can be found in Savall's set.
Why I am telling this? At first hearing this is a quite enjoyable recording. There is great clarity (surely a very small orchestra), good articulation and many times a sense of freedom expressed in clever improvisation in many places (the flute parts are remarkable in this aspect).
In general the aproach is energetic and light. BUT ...
sometimes I found them playing mechanically. And some arrangments (eg the first suite's hornpipe and bourre)are boring, lacking variety.
This, together with a truly lack of grandeur, I would say "majesty", aparts them from beeing a serious competitive reading. Listen to "Fireworks": the timpani parts are so boring: they don't join the tuttis like the Gardiner set, so you find silences that spoils the "majesty" I expressed before. And there are not other percussion instruments (listen to Leppard).
Another example? look at the overure of suite 1. I don't think that Gardiner is the best but he really adds a sense of "theatre" that is absent in this set: Look at sincopation in Gardiner's hands that is replaced by stupid thrills by the Orpheans musicians: it's obvious that Handel is thinking in a solemn begginning of an Opera, when the curtain rises and the public is eager to listen to dramma and emotions. It's also obvious that the Orpheans never went to an Opera theater, judging from this absolutely superficial passage.
It's like Handel made of plastic. Light, sound pleasing, but superficial.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful recordings!, November 9, 2006

By 

S. Heinen (Tulsa, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Handel: Water Music; Music for the Royal Fireworks (Audio CD)

I first heard this recording of Water Music on NPR and knew immediately that I must have it! The tempo, the phrasing, the orchestration--it's all just perfect. As a former trombone player, I cannot imagine an all woodwind version of this piece. The Orpheus brass sound wonderful!

I haven't listened to many other versions of these pieces, but I cannot imagine anyone being dissatisfied with this one.