George Frideric Handel – Water Music – Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 00:48:22 minutes | 913 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: eClassical | Digital Booklet | © Harmonia Mundi
On 17 July 1717, King George I of England ‘went up by Water to Chelsea, and was entertain’d with an excellent Consort of Musick . . . composed specially by the famous Handel’. The fifty musicians cost the . . . princely sum of £150 – but their hunting horns, trumpets, flutes and the rest so delighted the company that the concert was repeated three times in the course of the evening. No doubt the matchless virtuosos of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin will repeat that feat in your living room!
You might think that Handel’s Water Music, HWV 348-350, arguably the most familiar piece of Baroque music (the Four Seasons of Vivaldi can give it a run for its money, but its popularity is more recent), has received every possible interpretation. And you would be wrong, as the musicians of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin have shown in this Harmonia Mundi release, precisely recorded in Berlin’s Teldex studio. You get a steady parade of innovations here, marked overall by, but not in the least restricted to, blisteringly fast tempos that turn the horn-dominated movements into tests of virtuosity. Unexpected dynamic contrasts and the unusual rhythmic treatment of the “Overture” to the Suite No. 1 (sample track one) are other novelties, but this veteran group is not out for shock value. The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin operate without a conductor, and their coordination in these crisp prestos is worth the price of admission in itself. Their ability to act as one in really unusual shapings of each individual movement is remarkable, and the treacherous horn parts are near perfection in the hands of Erwin Wieringa and Miroslav Rovenský. This is water music for a rather choppy, windy day, perhaps, but it’s not really a revisionist reading, just an unusual and distinctive one that has a good deal of warmth in the slow movements. ~~ AllMusic Review by James Manheim
Tracklist:
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Water Music, Suite No. 1, HWV 348
01 I. Overture. Largo – Allegro 03:12
02 II. Adagio e staccato 02:08
03 III. [Allegro] 02:08
04 IV. Andante – [Allegro] da capo 04:30
05 V. [Allegro] 02:47
06 VI. Air 03:11
07 VII. Minuet 02:23
08 VIII. Bourrée 01:10
09 IX. Hornpipe 01:30
10 X. [Allegro moderato] 03:41
Water Music, Suite No. 2, HWV 349 11:07
11 XI. [Allegro] 02:00
12 XII. [Alla Hornpipe] 03:43
13 XIII. [Minuet] 02:49
14 XIV. [Rigaudon 1] 01:07
15 XV. [Rigaudon 2] – XIV. [Rigaudon 1] 01:28
Water Music, Suite No. 3, HWV 350 10:35
16 XVI. Lentement 01:59
17 XVII. [Bourrée] 01:14
18 XVIII. Menuet [1] 00:56
19 XIX. [Menuet 2] 01:36
20 XX. [Gigue 1] – XXI. [Gigue 2] da capo 02:11
21 XXIi. Minuet (Coro) 02:39
Personnel:
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
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