Handel Water Music
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: George Frideric Handel
Label: EMI
Magazine Review Date: 3/1990
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: EL749810-4
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Water Music |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Academy of St Martin in the Fields George Frideric Handel, Composer Neville Marriner, Conductor |
Composer or Director: George Frideric Handel
Label: EMI
Magazine Review Date: 3/1990
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 56
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 749810-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Water Music |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Academy of St Martin in the Fields George Frideric Handel, Composer Neville Marriner, Conductor |
Author: John Duarte
Ten years separate this from the ASMF/Marriner's second bite at Handel's liquid cherry, a Philips recording of 1979. The first (1971) was abbreviated to make room for the Music for the Royal Fireworks but the other two, unpressed for time, are integral, indeed the Air from the F major Suite which took 3'15'' in 1979 now occupies 7'12''—Handel marked it 3 fois here interpreted in terms of section-repeats as: a × 2, b × 2, c, d, a × 2, b × 2, c, d, a, b, which perhaps tries the charms of its strains close to the limit. There are other sea-changes among the undesignated movements: that preceding the above Air was a Passe-pied in 1979 but now, at almost the same tempo, it is Tempo di Minuetto, and the final movement of the same suite, previously Allegro, taken appreciably faster, has become Allegro moderato The opening movement of the Suite in D has moved from Allegro to Andante allegro without changing pace, and in the Suite in G the first movement, an erstwhile Sarabande, becomes a slower Menuet and enforces a change of order, the second Menuet now consigned to third place in favour of the Aria (described in both recordings as Rigaudons I/II), finally, and most curiously, the paired Gigues I/II of 1979 are relabelled Cantabile/Affetuoso, though they are played at much the same speed and with not too much cantabile The annotation does not, by the way, indicate which movement titles are original and which 'given'. Ears are better than eyes in identifying which is what. As in the two earlier recordings, the suites are played in the published order, rather than (more logically) framing the G major between the others.
The performances are agreeably stylish in the insertion of unwritten ornaments, on occasion the embellishment of solo lines (the oboe gets most of the fun), the introduction of lilting inegales, e.g. in the Menuet of the Suite in G, and telling dynamic contrasts. The recording is softer-edged and 'cut' at a much lower volume level than that of 1979, with a rather more marked feeling of space and distance—but without loss of clarity. Though it is less 'immediate' it perhaps corresponds better to the way in which most people heard the music at the time, and, as here, with the harpsichord less in audible evidence. This is a most satisfying recording—so much so that one regrets that it is not coupled with the Music for the Royal Fireworks, for which there is, in the present state of the art, sufficient room.'
The performances are agreeably stylish in the insertion of unwritten ornaments, on occasion the embellishment of solo lines (the oboe gets most of the fun), the introduction of lilting inegales, e.g. in the Menuet of the Suite in G, and telling dynamic contrasts. The recording is softer-edged and 'cut' at a much lower volume level than that of 1979, with a rather more marked feeling of space and distance—but without loss of clarity. Though it is less 'immediate' it perhaps corresponds better to the way in which most people heard the music at the time, and, as here, with the harpsichord less in audible evidence. This is a most satisfying recording—so much so that one regrets that it is not coupled with the Music for the Royal Fireworks, for which there is, in the present state of the art, sufficient room.'
Handel Water Music
Handel Water Music
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