Certainly, as Mackerras himself points out, he would conduct the Overture more quickly today, and to a degree the sonics cloud over the loudest passages, but what fun this still is, and how bold and exciting it all sounds! The couplings, other Handel works largely arranged by Mackerras, also reveal his special affinity for this composer; but it's the Fireworks Music that remains the reason to get this disc. Rarely is it possible in the history of music to be able to point to a specific event and say: "There! This performance changed the way we think about a familiar piece of music." This is one of those times.