Previously released in 1995 on Lydian, these performances by
Andrew Mogrelia and the
Prague Chamber Soloists of
George Frideric Handel's complete Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks get a new lease on life in Naxos' Selection series, an ultra-budget line that reminds one of what the label used to be like. While the playing is decent and the sound adequate, there is nothing attention-grabbing about these 1992 recordings, and certainly nothing that hasn't been heard before in other mainstream interpretations. There is nothing controversial in the arrangement of Water Music, which is made up of the standard suites in F major, D major, and G major; the performance of Fireworks Music with strings is the commonly accepted version. Seekers of novelty -- such as a new edition or alternate instrumentation, which appear on some period performances -- will be disappointed by these straightforward renditions, but listeners who just want a good, basic recording will find that
Mogrelia and his musicians are historically informed (if not strictly a period-instrument ensemble), technically competent, and sufficiently expressive in their playing to satisfy most needs. The reproduction seems a bit soft in the Suite in F major, but comes to a normal volume level in the brass-oriented Suite in D major, and stays there for the rest of the disc.