This collection of Handel's (or, if you are German, Händel's) "greatest works" is neither that nor a collection of great performances but rather a random group of old German recordings that happened to be available to the compilers without putting anyone through too much trouble. Recording companies should consider the consequences of putting out inferior material in collections aimed at newcomers: what they're really doing is destroying their own future market. The performances here range from neutral (the old
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin recording of Jephte on CD 2) to poor (the curiously mannered and oversized 1970s recordings of the
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under
Helmut Koch), with absolutely unjustifiable alterations of dotted rhythms in the Water Music Suite No. 1 in F major, out-of-tune horns, and a lurching feel throughout that eventually renders the music almost unlistenable. As for the selection of pieces, it would be hard to find an authority or casual listener who would count the Utrecht Te Deum, HWV 278, as one of Handel's greatest works; the main criterion for its inclusion may have been the availability of a German-language version. The sound is all over the map, and the transitions are likely to disturb even the freeway commuter who might be seen as this double disc's primary market. The idea of exclusively devoting one of two discs to the oratorio genre is a good one, but again it's hard to understand the principle behind the rather motley group of excerpts. Unimpressive all around.