Earlier in the season two major symphony orchestras joined forces to celebrate the 80th birthday of Kurt Masur. Last night two of the finest period instrument ensembles - one British, one German - came together primarily, it seems, for the camaraderie that exists between musicians. The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment did, however, take the opportunity of their combined forces to present Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks, with its lavish scoring afforded by the royal purse of 1749 (George II had his own reasons for celebrating the political settlement of those years).

With six trumpets, six horns and six oboes, even the combined orchestral strings were drowned in the military-style Adagio of the Overture. Thereafter, balances were more satisfactory and director Gottfried von der Goltz succeeded, partly with some unconventional phrasing, in obviating the usual lumbering effect. Whooping horns and cackling oboes brought the later movements vibrantly to life.

Handel's Concerto a Due Cori No 2 in F major was certainly a less theatrical affair, though Rachel Podger's direction drew stylish and incisively articulated playing from the two orchestras.

In between, the Handel items were a Purcell suite devised by Catherine Mackintosh, played with lively execution by the OAE, and a G minor Overture by Telemann which the Freiburgers did their best to vivify with sprung rhythms and emotionally charged ornamentation.

Best of all, though, was a selection of Handel arias and duets including the ravishing Eternal Source of Light Divine, in which soprano Kate Royal and trumpeter David Blackadder vied with each other for expressive poignancy, and As Steals the Morn, in which Royal and Ian Bostridge caught the note of plangent wistfulness to perfection.

•Information: www.bbc.co.uk/proms; 020 7589 8212