Händel: Music for the Royal Fireworks - Mackerras

George Frideric Händel
Music for the Royal Fireworks, Water Music Suite
Wind Ensemble, Pro Arte Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Mackerras
Testament SBT 1253

One of the most famous recordings ever made, and one of the most important, this truly legendary performance of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks belongs in every serious record collection. The brainchild of the young Charles Mackerras--a conductor whose curiosity is exceeded only by his innate musicality--virtually every horn, trumpet, oboe, and bassoon player in London got together for a single night in April 1959, and (so the story goes) fortified with plenty of drink, let loose the musical barrage captured on this CD.

Certainly, as Mackerras himself points out, he would conduct the Overture more quickly today, and to a degree the sonics cloud over the loudest passages, but what fun this still is, and how bold and exciting it all sounds! The couplings, other Handel works largely arranged by Mackerras, also reveal his special affinity for this composer; but it's the Fireworks Music that remains the reason to get this disc. Rarely is it possible in the history of music to be able to point to a specific event and say: "There! This performance changed the way we think about a familiar piece of music." This is one of those times.

David Hurwitz, ClassicalToday.com