The wonderful timbres of original Baroque instruments and the vigorous period interpretations by Paul Dombrecht and Il Fondamento go far to make this 2004 release a delightful listening experience, even if Johann Friedrich Fasch's music falls short of genius. Not that Fasch was considered a mediocrity in his time: despite his later reputation as a modest Prussian kapellmeister, he was widely traveled, well-educated, and popular in his youth; and he enjoyed the benefits brought by continued publication of his Ouvertures, even after settling down in Zerbst in 1722.

The setting by Alphonse D’Eve (1666-1727)‚ born in Brussels and Kapellmeister at the church of Our Lady in Antwerp‚ of the motet for the dead‚ O acerbi‚ is not without its moments. The plangent opening is striking‚ as is the use of high voices at the beginning of the final chorus‚ presumably to represent the heavenly hosts referred to in the text. If the music‚ thoroughly Italianate in style and often reminiscent of Vivaldi‚ is somewhat predictable – the cadences are rather formulaic and the sequential patterns overused – it is certainly worth dusting down: it represents the kind of work that must have been heard in so many of the larger musical institutions all over Europe in the early part of the 18th century.

Recordings of Handel’s Water Music come in floods, those of Telemann’s Wassermusik (more properly titled Hamburger Ebb und Fluth) in a gradually growing stream. Couplings of the two, however, are but a trickle, which is a surprise considering that their combined length is thoroughly convenient for CD. This recording was originally released in 1996, and thus predates its only direct rival, from the King’s Consort. The orchestral playing is of a good quality throughout, the Flemish period instrumentalists of Il Fondamento showing a healthy appetite for their task – who would not in such music?