Like this week’s SACD release of “Got Swing”, the new Boston Baroque SACD is being released prior to the Stereo CD version of the album. The SACD of Handel’s Music for Royal Fireworks and Water Music was issued on February 13th approximately 2 weeks ahead of the CD version release date of February 25th.

The SACD is a Hybrid Layer, Multichannel SACD. It features Multichannel SACD, Stereo SACD and Stereo CD versions of the music on the album on this SACD disc. The SACD is playable on both SACD and CD equipment.

Handel’s Music for Royal Fireworks and Water Music
Telarc says that they are very proud of this new recording of Handel’s Music for Royal Fireworks and Water Music. As a result, they moved up the release date of the album. They call the album “A fresh take on two of Handel’s classic works Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks, performed by Boston Baroque on period instruments.”

Telarc also notes that “Led by their founder and conductor Martin Pearlman, Boston Baroque adds freshness and life to Handel’s popular works. Music for the Royal Fireworks came about when King George II commissioned Handel to compose a work to accompany the fireworks display celebrating the signing of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Handel originally composed for an orchestra of strings, winds and percussion, but the king insisted on a very large ensemble of only “war-like” instruments (i.e., instruments without strings). For this new recording, Pearlman chose to use the serpent to reinforce the bass line and an ad libitum part for a military field drum.

Handel’s Water Music is a collection of three suites in different keys and for different instrumentation, and was originally written to serenade King George I up the Thames River to a dinner party. The Suite in G Major features flute and recorder with strings. It has the lightest texture of the three, and was probably played inside during the dinner party. The other two suites are outdoor music as they call for larger orchestra including brass. The horns in the F Major suite make a dramatic—and historic—entrance at the beginning of the third movement, this being the first piece in England to introduce horns into the orchestra. The suite in D Major has the most brilliant orchestration of the three, with both trumpets and horns added to the woodwinds and strings.”

Album Selections
Handel: Music for Royal Fireworks, HWV 351
1. I. Overture
2. II. Bourree
3. III. La Paix
4. IV. La Rejouissance
5. Menuets I and II

Handel: Water Music, Suite in F major, HWV 348 & Suite in G major, HWV 3
6. Overture
7. Adagio e staccato
8. Allegro-Andante-Allegro
9. Presto
10. Air
11. (Minuet)
12. Bourree
13. Hornpipe
14. (Andante)
15. (Allegro)
16. Alla Hornpipe