Mallon: Handel – Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks (DVD-A)

Performer: Aradia Ensemble
Conductor: Kevin Mallon
Composer: George Frederick Handel
DVD Audio
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Naxos
Size: 3.68 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: no

The DVD-A (or Advanced-Resolution Surround Sound to give its grander name) sounds spectacular with space surrounding each instrument and a real feeling of “live” music. This is a result of the 96khz. sampling rate in surround mode. In stereo mode there is a theoretical 192 khz. sampling rate; well beyond what the human ear can distinguish and it requires a newer A/V receiver capable of decoding such a high sampling rate. Both modes capture 24 bits of information each microsecond. Of course, to insure compatibility with different home theatre systems, a separate DTS track (not a lossless format) enables you to get multi-channel sound if you don’t have DVD-Audio capability. This is the same DTS in which film soundtracks are recorded. I think it is the best sounding format for that purpose, but some information is lost in the compression process. Discs like this Handel recording, offering so many format choices, are a good value but I am unable to offer a comparison in sound quality between them.

The performance of Handel’s Water Music, composed for royal water parties on the Thames in August 1715 and July 1717 (an unqualified success which the King “caused it to be plaid three times in going and returning”), is superb. There are 3 suites, in F Major, D Major and G Major respectively and the period instrument forces of the Aradia Ensemble under Kevin Mallon are nearly flawless in terms of expressiveness, tempi, intonation and interpretation. These are areas period instruments groups had difficulty in at the beginning of the authentic performance movement. It is an indication of how far things have evolved that comparisons to modern orchestras are now often to the modern’s disadvantage in these performance areas. The Aradia Ensemble’s performance style is reminiscent of Jeanne Lamon’s Tafelmusik. Solid performances, fleet and expressive. The Music for the Royal Fireworks, composed to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1749 with a fireworks display in Green Park London, was reported to have been “ill-conducted” and a pyrotechnic and public relations disaster. One of the pavillions caught fire and burned to the ground. The king did not ask the Fireworks Music to be replayed. The Aradia Ensemble have better luck; though the performance is blistering, nothing combusts. Kevin Mallon appears to be an excellent conductor. As the authentic performance movement’s first wave of conductors age, talented younger conductors are arriving on the scene to further the precepts of their maturing antecedents.

Mike Birman

# Water Music: Suite No. 1 in F Major, HWV 348
# Water Music: Suite No. 2 in D Major, HWV 349
# Water Music: Suite No. 3 in G Major, HWV 350
# Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351

01. No. 1 Overture and No. 2 Adagio E Staccato
02. No. 3 and No. 4 Andante
03. No. 5
04. No. 6 Air
05. No. 7 Minuet
06. No. 8 Bourree
07. No. 9 Hompipe
08. No. 10
09. No. 11
10. No. 12 Alla Hornpipe
11. No. 13 Minuet
12. No. 14 Lentement
13. No. 15 Bourree
14. No. 16
15. No. 17 Rigaudon and No. 18
16. No. 19 Menuet and No. 20
17. No. 21 and No. 22
18. Ouverture
19. Bourree
20. La Paix
21. La Rejouissance
22. Menuets I and II