Ditto to S. Heinen
I heard this recording today on NPR (WABE 90.1 Atlanta) while out running errands. I could not concentrate on anything but the music and finally just pulled into a parking lot, cranked it up, leaned back and closed my eyes. I just got home and ordered one for my mega system in the house. Can't wait!

Wonderful recordings!
I first heard this recording of Water Music on NPR and knew immediately that I must have it! The tempo, the phrasing, the orchestration--it's all just perfect. As a former trombone player, I cannot imagine an all woodwind version of this piece. The Orpheus brass sound wonderful!

I haven't listened to many other versions of these pieces, but I cannot imagine anyone being dissatisfied with this one.

A Little Help from Handel
Whenever I listen to this timeless music by Handel, it always puts me in a pleasant mood, even when I'm having a rough day. Handel had a knack for composing subtle yet uplifting melodies that stay in your head long after you have turned your stereo off. The Suite in G Major is particularly beautiful. While this recording is not one of the more definitive versions available, if you are just getting interested in classical music, this disc is a perfect introduction to some the greatest music from the Baroque era!

Good, but ...
... not definitive. A much better rendition can be found in Savall's set.
Why I am telling this? At first hearing this is a quite enjoyable recording. There is great clarity (surely a very small orchestra), good articulation and many times a sense of freedom expressed in clever improvisation in many places (the flute parts are remarkable in this aspect).
In general the aproach is energetic and light. BUT ...
sometimes I found them playing mechanically. And some arrangments (eg the first suite's hornpipe and bourre)are boring, lacking variety.
This, together with a truly lack of grandeur, I would say "majesty", aparts them from beeing a serious competitive reading. Listen to "Fireworks": the timpani parts are so boring: they don't join the tuttis like the Gardiner set, so you find silences that spoils the "majesty" I expressed before. And there are not other percussion instruments (listen to Leppard).
Another example? look at the overure of suite 1. I don't think that Gardiner is the best but he really adds a sense of "theatre" that is absent in this set: Look at sincopation in Gardiner's hands that is replaced by stupid thrills by the Orpheans musicians: it's obvious that Handel is thinking in a solemn begginning of an Opera, when the curtain rises and the public is eager to listen to dramma and emotions. It's also obvious that the Orpheans never went to an Opera theater, judging from this absolutely superficial passage.
It's like Handel made of plastic. Light, sound pleasing, but superficial.

Trippy, Light, Pleasing, Good for a Variety of Occasions
In music, I tend to review mostly modern music, principally rock. However, once upon a time I was a huge fan of classical music. That led to The Moody Blues, and then to progressive rock, which remains, of course, one of my favorite kinds of music. Though my tastes have changed, I still listen to classical music from time to time.

Many people are familiar with Handel's "Messiah", which is often heard in a variety of venues around Christmas. Of course, Handel created many other fine works, and in his day both "Music for the Royal Fireworks" and "Water Music" were played for some of the largest audiences ever for a Handel concert.

The music ranges from dance music to faster works punctuated with strident horns and drums that perhaps were to serve as interludes between the dances, or perhaps to be general entertainment. In any case, while there is a certain amount of similarity between each of the movements within each of the suites, there is sufficient variety to enable even a modern-day enthusiastic to make use of this music as a background to a formal party, perhaps carefully choreographing the dance numbers for a waltz. An interesting combination may be to create a mix of this work and rock to shake up a formal party and enable dances from a waltz to the semi-anarchy of the latest dance craze. While it would be easy to encourage a minuet, I'm not sure whether there are that many party-goers that know how to do a minuet, so while that might be interesting, it might also encourage everyone to stay off the dance floor.

The music is well played, not overblown or overdone. Given the temptation to "heighten" an arrangement by clever mixing or over-dubbing, this CD keeps the arrangement relatively simple and straight-forward, preferring to play the music perhaps as it might have been heard in Handel's time. The quality of the music and sound combine to make this CD a very excellent CD to have in your classical music collection.

Much of the classical music I like tends to be a bit overwhelming, such as Tchaikovsky's concerto's and overtures, and Bach's Brandenburg concertos. The sound tends to be full and envelops you completely, forecasting the need for surround sound. This music is generally not like that. There are some works that do come close, such as the Suite in D major, where the horn section makes itself well heard, but in general this music is a better fit for background music at a variety of occasions, even work!