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Kate Molleson boards Handel’s river barge for the story of one of his most adventurous premieres.

When he arrived in London in 1712, German-born George Frideric Handel was already one of Europe’s most exciting musical minds. Over the next decades he would not only carve a living for himself, but transform British musical life, from the opera stage to the choir stalls, and hardwire his legacy into our culture. All this week, Kate Molleson tells the stories of five summer soirees from across his life in the British Isles – golden evenings of 18th-century music making, and some of his most eventful performances.

Today, it’s a sticky hot summer night in 1717 – and the setting for one of Handel’s best pieces of public art, beloved for its charm and ingenuity - the Water Music. On our nocturnal voyage we meet a merry band of musicians, a floating monarch, and a Thames embankment thronged with listeners craning their ears to hear the hottest new music in town.

Water Music (Suite 2: i. Allegro)
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock, conductor

Water Music (Suite 2: ii. Hornpipe)
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock, conductor

Water Music (Suite 1: excerpt)
Ensemble Zefiro
Alfredo Bernardini, conductor

Water Music (Suite 3)
Academie fur Alte Musik Berlin
Georg Kallweit, conductor

Qual nave smarrita (from Radamisto)
Emöke Bárath, soprano
Ensemble Artaserse
Philippe Jaroussky, conductor

Water Music (Suite 1: excerpt)
B’Rock Orchestra
Dmitry Sinkovsky, conductor

Produced by Amelia Parker for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales and West