Search - George Frederick Handel, Jane Glover, Neville Marriner :: Händel: Water Music

Best recording of Handel's Water Music -- classical music at

M. R. Romanoff | Brooklyn, NY | 07/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The genius of this recording is evident in track 7, the famous Bourree (better known as the theme to the Frugal Gourmet cooking show, formerly on public television). If you listen closely you can hear some delightfully clever variations thrown in by some obviously brilliant musicians. You can almost see the members of the orchestra smiling at each other's surprising ingenuity. This is classical music as it was originally meant to be played -- these musicians are not slaves to the score, but rather, look upon the score as a starting point for sharing with the audience their own fresh musical insights. In this case, those insights happen to be spot on, emphasizing the warmth and almost Mozart-like playfulness of this music. In short, there is no better recording of Handel's Water Music, nor a finer example of classical music at its most exalted, or most intimate."