George Frederick Handel

Overview - Recordings - Scores - Books - Links

Born: February 23, 1685, Halle, Germany
Died: April 14, 1759, London, England

Handel's original version of the Royal Fireworks Music did not call for strings, though he added them soon afterwards. Here we just list performances of the non-strings version. There are three approaches here:

Period instruments, as in Trevor Pinnock's and Robert King's recordings
Modern instruments, as in Johannes Somary's recording
Modern instruments and modern arrangement, as in Frederick Fennell's recording

Continuing a long tradition of using Royal Fireworks Music for audiophile recordings, the Somary recording is now available as a hybrid Super Audio CD, which can play back on both SACD and normal CD players.

Recordings

Works	Performers	Reviews	Stores
Music for the Royal Fireworks	English Concert Trevor Pinnock	Jacobson	Tower Amazon
Music for the Royal Fireworks	English Chamber Orchestra Johannes Somary	Chien	Tower Amazon
Music for the Royal Fireworks	The King's Consort Robert King	Chien	Tower Amazon
Music for the Royal Fireworks	Cleveland Symphonic Winds Frederick Fennell	Bauman Chien	Tower Amazon

Scores

Music for the Royal Fireworks (American Wind Symphony edition)

Books

Handel by Christopher Hogwood
Handel (Master Musicians) by Donald Burrows