Larry Kart Posted December 8, 2014 Report Share Posted December 8, 2014 I vote for Mackerras, the EMI one from the '60s with Janet Baker: http://www.amazon.com/Charles-MacKerras-Ambrosian-Orchestra-Elizabeth/dp/B000T31S6S/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1418049832&sr=1-4&keywords=messiah+mackerras Among many other virtues, Baker's the only alto I've heard who can handle "O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MB9cjf1cNU&spfreload=10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigshot Posted December 8, 2014 Report Share Posted December 8, 2014 Beecham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danasgoodstuff Posted December 8, 2014 Report Share Posted December 8, 2014 I thought there was only one Messiah? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted December 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2014 I thought there was only one Messiah? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alankin Posted December 8, 2014 Report Share Posted December 8, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Basten II Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 For a while I thought they reopened the politics and religion section Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danasgoodstuff Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 Seriously, I like the Sing Your Own Messiah, although I'm not sure the people next to me enjoyed my limited sightsinging skills so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarThrower Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papsrus Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 Hm. This came off the rails a bit. I don't really feel qualified to offer an opinion, but I was looking forward to seeing what others had to say. The example Larry posted is a lovely. I have a question (likely a dumb one): is it always sung in alto? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted December 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 Hm. This came off the rails a bit. I don't really feel qualified to offer an opinion, but I was looking forward to seeing what others had to say. The example Larry posted is a lovely. I have a question (likely a dumb one): is it always sung in alto? Not sure. Wouldn't be surprised if some HIP recordings use a male alto there. My impression from other recordings is that the phrase "get thee up into the high mountains etc." is a beast for most contraltos, their voices being too deep and/or not agile enough to handle that passage. Silly, perhaps, to focus on that one part of one part of the oratorio, but I recall owning another otherwise fine "Messiah" (don't recall which one any more), and when the singer got to that passage her rather plummy voice pretty much disappeared. Never wanted to listen to that recording again and had the same experience once at a concert performance. When I ran across the Mackerras, which has many other virtues, and heard Baker, I was sold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted December 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 That other "Messiah" might have been Andrew Parrott's, in which countertenor James Bowman tried to sing that aria. It can be heard on Spotify, and it's not that bad, though awfully "careful." No, the one I'm thinking of was a female alto. OK -- it was Anne Gjevang: with Solti, whose recording perhaps surprisingly (it was surprising to me) has a lot going for it otherwise, Kiri Te Kanawa's soprano arias in particular. Gjevang in the more coloratura passages sounds like a battleship trying to turn around in a bathtub, but then she's handicapped because the word-setting there would be awkward for anyone, let alone someone whose native language is Norwegian. About Mackerras' EMI "Messiah," which came out at the same time Colin Davis's Phillips recording did and thus was obscured by it, Teri Noel Towe has this to say on "Choral Music Record: "M's first recording was the first to offer a substantial number of alternative versions. Subsequent theories of baroque performance practice have made this recording sound a bit dated. The 'rules' are often over-applied .... yet this detracts not one whit from a performance of what was and is a wonderful Messiah." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffcrom Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 (edited) I wouldn't call this my "favorite" Messiah, but this set is endlessly fascinating: A Collector's Messiah on Koch. It's two CDs worth of well-transferred recordings from 1899 to 1930. Highlights include a large chunk of the oratorio recorded for G & T in 1906 and a 1907 aria from Handel's Judas Maccabaeus, sung by tenor Edward Lloyd. The latter is included because Lloyd's lineage of teachers reached back in a direct line to Handel, and it is believed that this is the only recording representing the 18th-century Handelian solo style. It's declamatory, vibrato-less, and very "in your face" - and supposedly very different from any of Lloyd's other recordings. The liner notes (by compiler Teri Noel Towe) call this track "the single most important Handel record ever made." In any case, this album is not for everyone, but I find it fascinating. Edited December 9, 2014 by jeffcrom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted December 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 BTW, I'm addicted to books like "Choral Music on Record" and "Opera on Record," with all their sometime flaws. One of my favorite lines ever comes from "Opera on Record II," where the guy (don't recall his name) who's comparing versions of Bartok's "Duke Bluebeard's Castle" says something like the final "door" of Boulez's recording was so exciting that Sony thought of releasing it as a single. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ayers Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 I heard this last year with Iestyn Davis. That was AAM. It can't be unusual to use a counter-tenor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 Rabbi Schneerson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted December 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 I heard this last year with Iestyn Davis. That was AAM. It can't be unusual to use a counter-tenor. Very nice, though I think Janet Baker has a bit more in the tank. Do you know what recording this is from? Upon further review, probably Stephen Layton's on Hyperion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ayers Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 That's a nice one! I don't really know any of the recordings... When I heard AAM do it the orchestra were outstanding - really limpid and beautiful, so much better than the HIP of yesteryore. I can't be there, but I see they are doing it tomorrow, this time with Tim Mead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papsrus Posted December 9, 2014 Report Share Posted December 9, 2014 I wouldn't call this my "favorite" Messiah, but this set is endlessly fascinating: A Collector's Messiah on Koch. It's two CDs worth of well-transferred recordings from 1899 to 1930. Highlights include a large chunk of the oratorio recorded for G & T in 1906 and a 1907 aria from Handel's Judas Maccabaeus, sung by tenor Edward Lloyd. The latter is included because Lloyd's lineage of teachers reached back in a direct line to Handel, and it is believed that this is the only recording representing the 18th-century Handelian solo style. It's declamatory, vibrato-less, and very "in your face" - and supposedly very different from any of Lloyd's other recordings. The liner notes (by compiler Teri Noel Towe) call this track "the single most important Handel record ever made." In any case, this album is not for everyone, but I find it fascinating. Might make for a good audio upload to the old blog ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted December 10, 2014 Report Share Posted December 10, 2014 BeechamThis is kind of embarrassing. I remember thinking that I probably ought to get the full Beecham. According to Amazon, I did buy this (the 1992 CD set -- I don't think it has been remastered since), but I doubt I have listened to it straight through. Well, something to go look for tonight, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomsMobley Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 I'm coming back to Messiah and though I'd still not consider it THEE ultimate Handel oratorio, it's pointless to argue against its real achievement, power, however baleful (and sometimes salutary) its influence on the later Engish choral rock tradtion. Picked up Hickox cheap recently he recorded so much, it's sometimes easy to think Hickox too generalist but this is pretty damn strong I think, Collegiam Musicum usually a step or two above their Brit colleagues (though peak Hogwood can be quite good) Joan Rodgers we of course adore for her Russian repertoire too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted November 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Try Aksel Schiotz: Talk about exaltation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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