English Chamber Orchestra, Karl Richter - Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks (1990) CD-Rip

At times quite sprightly, at other times ponderous not least in its treatment of dotting and though played with the professional efficiency one expects of the ECO, this recording fell short of medal-ranking when it was first issued. During the intervening 16 years even middle-of-the-road performances of the Music for the Royal Fireworks have become more attentive to scholarship and there are now several excellent recordings of the kind available (not to mention others on period instruments) on CD. The two Concerti a due cori are not the most fascinating of Handel's music except, in the case of No. 2, as an essay in recycling, but they do provide a showcase for some virtuoso wind-playing—of which the ECO's contingent make effective use—aided by the greater 'user-friendliness' of their modern instruments; the Water Music remains the best (and most usual) 'other half' in a recorded marriage. The sound is a little brighter than on the original LP.