This is the third volume in Alia Vox’s Heritage Series, remastered for a multichannel SACD release from a recording originally made by Pierre Verany for the Astrée label.
Jordi Savall has arranged the music for the Water Music into two suites, the first being in D and G, the second in F. This works very well here, and as history doesn’t give the details of the first performances in 1717, we don’t know which movements were played and in which order they were played in each suite. It is thought that the movements with trumpets and horns were played on the water, and the quieter movements, probably the suite in G, played later at dinner. Although extracts were published from 1729, these being just the minuets, the full edition came off the press only in 1788.
The Music for Royal Fireworks was written to celebrate the signing of the peace treaty at the end of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748. First played at rehearsal in 1749 at Vauxhall Gardens, the music was to order from King George II to be martial and not contain “fiddles”. Reports tell us that the orchestra consisted of a hundred musicians, and the audience for this rehearsal numbered 12000 – such was Handel’s popularity. At the first performance proper, a little later, there may well have been even more instruments, and it is said that as a result of the fireworks not running as planned it was the music which saved the occasion.
Savall uses an orchestra of about 35 for this recording, so recreates what the early performances may have been. When Handel performed the Fireworks Music a month later for a benefit for the Foundling Hospital he certainly included strings in the orchestra. The Water Music also had a number of outings after its first performances and again Handel would have orchestrated to fit the occasion. All in all, Le Concert des Nations sounds just the right size for listening at home! Savall and his players provide all the rhythmic bounce this music needs, and the quieter movements come across with sensitivity. This orchestra has so many very fine players their combined virtuosity is stunning.
Recorded in March 1993 at the Chateau de Cardona, Catalonia by Pierre Verany, the sound is of a warm and expansive acoustic coupled with tangible presence which allows the life of the performances full rein. Remastering has been extremely successful, and this issue can be recommended most highly.
— Peter Joelson
