Hervé Niquet celebrated the 15th anniversary of his group Le Concert Spirituel by assembling a hundred musicians at the Arsenal de Metz to produce what is claimed as 'the first historical recording' of the Fireworks Music and Water Music.
We've had many versions on period instruments but till now only one recording of the FireworksMusic has attempted to assemble period instruments in the numbers that Handel is known to have had originally. That's the 1989 version for Hyperion by Robert King with the King's Consort, but he was content with 62 wind, brass and percussion players; Niquet, as in the Water Music, adds massed strings too. Sir Charles Mackerras's flamboyant recording of the Fireworks Music using vast wind forces has reappeared on Testament with great success, but that dates from the days of Handel on modern instruments.
Niquet goes further than most of his rivals, not only in assembling these numbers, but in applying early performance techniques. When he reports that the nine horn players 'performed their parts without “correcting” the natural intonation of their instruments', with mean-tone temperament imposed on the whole orchestra, it makes one apprehensive that the results would be painful to the modern ear. Happily this isn't so. The rawness of brass tone is so well controlled that it tickles the ear delightfully.
The massed woodwind players (24 oboes, 15 flutes and recorders, and 14 bassoons) add to the weight and tang of the sound, and though only two percussionists are listed, they're balanced to give maximum impact, with a spectacular timpani cadenza in the Overture to the Fireworks Music. The bass drum and timpani in the 'Gigue' which ends the G major Water Music Suite have similar panache.
The string sections are comparably large, but inevitably on gut strings their playing is less prominent, counterbalanced by such elaborations as the sparkling little cadenza for solo violin that links the 'Prelude' and 'Hornpipe' of the D major Water Music Suite.
As you'd expect, fast speeds predominate, sometimes so fast that they sound breathless: one marvels at the articulation of the wind and brass players in coping. Helped by atmospheric recording, one has a vivid impression of a grand ceremonial celebration. Niquet's is a fine achievement.