Handel: Water Music / Lamon, Tafelmusik

1997 Juno Award Nominee - "Best Classical Album: Large Ensemble"
Orchestra: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra

Water Music, HWV 348-350; Il pastor fido, HWV 8a: Suite

The jubilant spirit of Water Music is splendidly captured in this version, which I have enjoyed as much as any I have heard for a long time. This young Canadian group have a good grasp of Handelian style, and lots of energy; there is plenty of vigour to their playing but no roughness. There are many nicely and unobtrusively managed details of timing and accent, yet always perfectly natural and justified from within. Their tempos in the main are on the quick side but not hurried. I specially liked their flowing Andante for the famous Air, which so readily becomes sticky if done slowly; here it sounds just right and no less expressive than usual. Only the D major Lentement seems to me heavy and ponderous, and perhaps the Bourree that follows is also a little clumsily done. The horn playing, recorded well forward, is particularly impressive – clean and clear, with a fine ring; it would have sounded well across the Thames. The movements are done here with the F major music first, then the D major and G major mixed, an unusual arrangement these days but one that probably has Handel’s authority: and it works well.
Tafelmusik get through the Water Music in some 52 minutes, and there is room for a substantial suite of dances from the second version of Il pastor fido, when Handel added ballet music for the French dancer Marie Salle and her troupe. These are charming and lively pieces and the final Chaconne, with its inventive textures, is particularly appealing. I find the sound here a shade middle- and bottom-heavy, rather more so than in The Water Music, but again the playing is splendidly fresh and spirited.

Stanley Sadie, Gramophone review of the original release,S K68257

Price: $9.98