Paul Dombrecht will be known to the early music aficionado for his oboe playing in various groups; here he is director of the Flanders group Il Fondamento in performances of these extrovert works from Handel’s late years. They are sound, lively readings, if at times a little self-conscious and rhythmically stiff. Some of the passages in sustained dotted rhythms are a bit spiky and might sound more natural if less heavily dotted (the Overture of the Fireworks Music is a case in point, also the Andante larghetto of No. 3). In several of the longer movements I thought the rhythms apt to plod, for example in the finale of No. 2 and particularly in ‘La paix’ in the Fireworks Music; and there are one or two idiosyncratic touches of phrasing that struck me as not convincingly Handelian. But the instrumental playing itself is good: listen to the ring of the high horns, and of course the virtuosity of the oboes in the double concertos – though I have to add that the equivalent passages on certain of the other recordings, such as the Pinnock or the recent Tafelmusik, are even more exciting. Unlike almost all other directors, Dombrecht follows Handel’s instrumental instructions almost to the letter in the Fireworks Music dances, with repeats three times over, and it works well. These, then, are good, sound versions, but not the best to be had; and I think the two I have mentioned find more of poetry and meaning in the music in addition to its high spirits.'