A chamber orchestra would not be quite the thing if the object were to represent the splendid sounds heard in London's St James's Park at the first performance, but this disc probably gives a good idea of the more modest concert performances for which Handel later seems to have provided. We are not told how many oboists and trumpeters were engaged, but there are enough of them, and the drumming is kept within bounds in the long first movement so that the bass lines are mostly audible. Which is not always the case. ''La paix'' sounds well too, though rather more slurs have been added than I would like (but yes, you have to add some), and the elusive tempo is just right. There are sensible solutions to the problems of instrumentation for repeats—Handel's score, never prepared for publication, is a monument of obfuscation on this subject—and the playing shows a good sense of style throughout.
But Munchinger's first movement is more brilliant, both trumpets and violins shining more brightly. However, in some of the later movements Munchinger is for my taste a little too inclined to re-interpret the music with touches of individual delicacy here and there and his own dynamic contrasts, some the them unexpected; for instance in ''La rejouissance''. And it is surely a bit precious to repeat Minuet I very softly at the end.
Whereas Munchinger fills the other side with Handel's three oboe concertos, Sir Alexander Gibson gives us only No. 3 in G minor. It is stylishly played by Robin Miller. The two overtures seem rather an odd choice, but they sound well. The digital sound quality is good.'