Happy Independence Day! For today’s Beautiful Music offering, OF COURSE it’s George Frideric Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks! I have chosen several different peformances — all exciting and unique. The first is by Hervé Niquet conducting Le Concert Spirituel at Royal Albert Hall in July 2012. It’s a dramatic and exciting historical instrument performance. The second is John Eliot Gardiner leading the NDR Orchestra. And the third is the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, accompanied by a fireworks display on the East River in New York. Please have a safe and Happy 4th of July!