Handel - "Water Music", "Royal Fireworks Music" - Neville Marriner - Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (DECCA)

Now we’re talking! This is probably the best version of Handel's “Royal Fireworks Music” I’ve heard so far, modern instruments and all. I absolutely love the grace, the emotion that modern strings and winds can convey when conducted by the right hands, and the right hands Neville Marriner’s certainly are. Though I have other preferred directors for music composed after the classical era, for baroque and classical-era works none does it for me like this conductor and his venerable Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields. Just listen to the first powerful notes of the magnificent overture, carrying all the pomp and elegance and honor that it’s supposed to carry. The sound of the recording helps matters, as all instruments strike the right balance. Right from the start, in the overture (which has some of the best music in all of Handel), we can see how Marriner’s expert hand combines the ceremonious, solemn side of the event, with the energy and vitality of the thousands of people present, in the absolutely marvelous second section of the piece, played perfectly. Unlike the last recording I reviewed, here the horns and winds in general are in the perfect level of volume and presence. Just listen to the fantastic "La Rejouissance" for evidence of this.

My only minor gripe with this recording is the snare used in the solemn and triumphant minuet that ends the suite. I have heard a few versions that include it but I really don’t like it that much. There was no need for that militaristic element that I’ve noticed absent in many other versions.

The “Water Music” suites are played perfectly. This is the best version I’ve found yet (though I loved an old Russian -soviet to be exact- vinyl I had in the MELODIYA label also. I can’t remember the orchestra). All the melodic wizardry of Handel is brought to the forefront by the orchestra. This version doesn’t include the variants on the themes that the Gardiner-PHILIPS version included, but I think it’s better this way, as those were unnecessary repetitions of themes already present, with slightly different orchestration, in the three suites.

This disc proves again that I favor modern instruments over period-instruments recordings of baroque music. I think the drama, emotion and energy that modern instruments can provide can’t be matched by period instruments and the style they demand to be played with.

4.5/5