Search - Handel, Standage, Mcnamara :: Water Music / Overture: Il Pastor Fido

Nowadays, it's slightly disconcerting to hear Handel's music played by a full-size modern symphony orchestra, but when Trevor Pinnock made this recording of the Water Music in 1983, the period-instrument movement was only just beginning to escape the realms of stuffy academe and reach out to mainstream audiences. Pinnock's English Concert recordings, and this album in particular, were instrumental in persuading listeners that this music really did sound better when played "authentically" in what is at least an approximation of 18th-century performance practices. Others had already advanced ideas about authentic bowing and articulation, but Pinnock was one of the first to translate theory into enthusiastic, vibrant music-making with a wide appeal. Here, Handel's dotted rhythms are brisk but not too rigid; the dance movements graceful but not formal; and everywhere, textures are sparklingly clear. The result was the period-instrument movement's first bestseller. Handily, it also coincided with the dawn of the CD era, making the album an essential purchase for the new format (it suffers more from the overbright early digital recording than from any flaws in the performance). Period players today may take a mellower approach, and some of the rougher edges have been smoothed, but Pinnock's pioneering performance still sounds fresh and exciting. For this reissue, The Water Music suites are accompanied by the Il Pastor Fido overture, recorded in 1985. --Mark Walker