HTTOWM Two sides of the same musical coin

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Handel Water Music Telemann Wassermuik by Zefiro Ensemble Alfredo Bernardini Ambroisie AM192 recto

I have recently been listening intently to Handel's 'Water Musik' as an exercise in responding to the musical triumvirate, MRH: melody, rhythm, and harmony. Unfortunately, I think that the maestro who set me the task failed to appreciate just how lacking I am in musical education, not to mention good taste and refined sensibilities. Neither was it advantageous to have experienced another episode of sudden onset deafness. So, plenty of excuses for failing; just in case.

Fortunately, I had two things working in my favor: the innate ability to respond to music possessed by all sentient human beings, and access to the Howard Goodall series 'How Music Works'. Goodall even offers a fourth contender for musical authority, bass, but fortunately only relatively recent technologies have allowed it a place in music's power struggle. It is hard to believe that after all these years it was an effort for me to give precise definitions of MRH. Oh, a vague waffling full of humming and hawing was easy enough, but try it for yourself and you may find achieving anything more useful as difficult as I did.

Imagine my delight upon discovering that the 'Early Music Show' from BBC Radio 3 had devoted a complete episode to all things musically watery. Sub-titled 'The Other Water Music', the episode presenter, Lucy Skeaping, introduced her listeners to 'Wassermusik' by Georg Philipp Telemann, an orchestral suite also know as 'Hamburger Ebb’ und Fluth' (Hamburg Ebb and Flow). The show made various comparisons before offering a complete performance of the suite by Ensemble Zefiro, directed by Alberto Bernardini.

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