Handel Messiah (ed Tobin)
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: George Frideric Handel
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 5/1985
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 414 396-4DH2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Messiah |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Anne Gjevang, Mezzo soprano Chicago Symphony Chorus Chicago Symphony Orchestra Georg Solti, Conductor George Frideric Handel, Composer Gwynne Howell, Bass Keith Lewis, Tenor Kiri Te Kanawa, Soprano |
Composer or Director: George Frideric Handel
Label: Decca
Magazine Review Date: 5/1985
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 414 396-2DH2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Messiah |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Anne Gjevang, Mezzo soprano Chicago Symphony Chorus Chicago Symphony Orchestra Georg Solti, Conductor George Frideric Handel, Composer Gwynne Howell, Bass Keith Lewis, Tenor Kiri Te Kanawa, Soprano |
Author:
This is a very remarkable performance, in spite of an uncertain genesis. In Some comments on Handel's ''Messiah'' which came with the records, Solti reveals that this was the first big choral work by Handel that he had ever conducted, and that at first he was urged to consider using ''the version of large-scale forces, so often used in England since the last century, in the edition of Ebenezer Prout'' (scored for clarinets, trombones, etc.!). Fortunately he had better advice from elsewhere, and ended up with John Tobin's edition published in the Hallische Handel-Ausgabe of 1965. There are no cuts. Quick tempos result in two generous discs of about 70 minutes each, the division coming not quite happily after ''His yoke is easy''. ''How beautiful are the feet'' is sung in the soprano version, ''Their sound is gone out'' in the choral one. Strings (12.10.8.6.4) and chorus (about 100) are sometimes too numerous but they are often reduced.
The chorus sing with superb attack. In quick choruses like ''And he shall purify'' and ''All we like sheep'' (in which ''have gone astray'' fades to a pianissimo every time) semiquavers are very light, very staccato and wholly enchanting. ensemble is immaculate. The weighty choruses are equally impressive. This is the most exciting performance of the ''Hallelujah'' Chorus I've ever heard, and it had me in a state of rapture. Solti generates the extraordinary tension he sometimes achieves in Romantic music, and though the result cannot be much like what Dubliners heard in 1742, the playing is more stylish than I may seem to be implying. Double dots, added trills and occasional decorations presumably come from Tobin, but one also welcomes the absence of final rallentandos and the audibility of the harpsichord. In ''Let us break their bonds asunder'' the dynamics are rather arty, but the ''Amen'' Chorus is certainly effective started piano and working up gradually.
The three soloists well known in Britain, sing most beautifully. ''I know that my Redeemer liveth'' is ecstatic, ''Why do the nations'' thrilling, and Keith Lewis shows unusual drive and energy. The Norwegian contralto, Anne Gjevang, has a richly idiosyncratic quality fascinating, no doubt, in nineteenth-century music but not right for Handel; ''He was despised'' lacks feeling at its quick tempo.
The booklet has a fanciful picture of Handel (credited to the BBC) looking slim on the podium in front of his score and band, and wielding a baton. ''Handel conducting the Messiah'', says the caption—and quite a treasure in its way. I strongly recommend these discs to anyone not over-bent on musicological exactitude; performance and sound quality are of the very highest order.'
The chorus sing with superb attack. In quick choruses like ''And he shall purify'' and ''All we like sheep'' (in which ''have gone astray'' fades to a pianissimo every time) semiquavers are very light, very staccato and wholly enchanting. ensemble is immaculate. The weighty choruses are equally impressive. This is the most exciting performance of the ''Hallelujah'' Chorus I've ever heard, and it had me in a state of rapture. Solti generates the extraordinary tension he sometimes achieves in Romantic music, and though the result cannot be much like what Dubliners heard in 1742, the playing is more stylish than I may seem to be implying. Double dots, added trills and occasional decorations presumably come from Tobin, but one also welcomes the absence of final rallentandos and the audibility of the harpsichord. In ''Let us break their bonds asunder'' the dynamics are rather arty, but the ''Amen'' Chorus is certainly effective started piano and working up gradually.
The three soloists well known in Britain, sing most beautifully. ''I know that my Redeemer liveth'' is ecstatic, ''Why do the nations'' thrilling, and Keith Lewis shows unusual drive and energy. The Norwegian contralto, Anne Gjevang, has a richly idiosyncratic quality fascinating, no doubt, in nineteenth-century music but not right for Handel; ''He was despised'' lacks feeling at its quick tempo.
The booklet has a fanciful picture of Handel (credited to the BBC) looking slim on the podium in front of his score and band, and wielding a baton. ''Handel conducting the Messiah'', says the caption—and quite a treasure in its way. I strongly recommend these discs to anyone not over-bent on musicological exactitude; performance and sound quality are of the very highest order.'
Handel Messiah (ed Tobin)
Handel Messiah (ed Tobin)
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