[.ca] Handel: Messiah (Complete)

How Does One Rate THIS?:
I am trying to play by the conventions and give this a 'rating' but my own rating means nothing to me when it comes to this extraordinary Messiah. If, as I hope, I can be any kind of guide to other music lovers here, I suggest they focus on the TYPE of performance this is, as best I can give an impression of it, and sort out their own rating from that. It's in a class of its own and no mistake. Presumably nobody expects 'authentic' Handel from Beecham. He uses the Goossens orchestration, but he also uses a small chorus. He is not in for speed records in general, and some numbers, e.g. For Unto Us, His Yoke is Easy, seem almost unfamiliar in this post-Hogwood era. What gives the latter chorus its characteristic sound is the skip in the rhythm on the word 'easy', and that is true from Beecham as well as the new school, only it's a completely different effect. Beecham's very slow tempi in the Pastoral Symphony and He Was Despised are romantic and anachronistic beyond argument (I suppose). Where Beecham does go at full lick is in the first half of All We Like Sheep, and there I imagine he is coming to the rescue of the music which is well below the inspirational level of its context, even its own second half. Another oddity is that the men, both soloists and chorus, are far better than the women. As far as the chorus goes, the contrast is almost painful at the start of And He Shall Purify, For Unto Us and His Yoke. Most chorus masters I have heard of are desperate for tenors. The tenors here are superb, so what happened to the women, and why did the tyrannical Beecham tolerate the situation? The female soloists are better, but completely outclassed by Vickers and Tozzi. Tozzi is thrilling, colossal, as the Handelian prophet who is like a refiner's fire. Vickers gets to set the scene when Handel placidly kicks off with what is, to me, the greatest thing that ever called itself a recitative, and I cannot hear his 'and her iniquity is pardoned' without tears coming to my eyes however often I listen. Some of Sir Thomas's less favourite numbers are ignominiously consigned to an appendix -- he gives his reasons for this, whatever you think of them, in his rather arch introductory essay. Trying to get my thoughts about the whole thing together, I found that one overwhelming impression remains with me -- I never felt from any performance as I do from this that nothing in the whole of music quite equals the typhoon of inspiration that blows through the first section of Messiah, up to and culminating in For Unto Us. Beecham's Messiah suffers in places, I do not try to deny, from lack of historical correctness. Other Messiahs suffer from the much more serious drawback that they are not conducted by Beecham.

consummately perfect. worth one hundred times the price.:
This recording is so HIP it hurts. Today's vogue is capturing yesterday's sound, a proposition which is absurd and very shallow. Every modern recording of this masterpiece tries so hard to sound authentic that it totally misses the point. Capturing the essence of a piece is not about playing it big and bombastic or light on period instruments; in this case, I am one hundred percent convinced that *this* is the way Handel conceived of this miraculous piece. Forget superficial accuracy - the right tempos, outdated instruments etc. This is elevated music making which captures the SOUL of the work, not its outlines. I write my review so that you can save your time and not spend needless money like I did (as well as many of my friends, whose jaws are now permanently dropped). For you first-time buyers considering a modern performance of this piece (Pinnock, McCreesh, Solti etc.), I propose the following (as it has always been my creed that direct experience is the best way to prove things): while online, select any and all of the recordings you are considering, compare the online clips of any or all of the available tracks here, and dare to proclaim that anything - old or new - matches the inspired, divine intensity of this recording. For this experiement, I suggest "every valley", the 60 seconds of which almost brought me to tears while pawing innocently at this website my first time - even the violins are soaring from heaven. And of course, never fear the old and the jaded listeners who dismiss beauty as controversy and who inevitably cling to their trendy, scholarly traditions. I write reviews for the few, not the many, and for the few of you blessed enough to hear this music for what it really is, this recording is for you. All the best Shayan.

Oh, the horror of it all!:
Rich, powerful, passionate voices, capable of thunderous power and calm tenderness! What was Beecham thinking about? How dare he treat this music as though it was about Jesus' coming, His life here on Earth, and His death and resurrection? I can hardly imagine why the old conductor would possibly have wanted to conduct this any differently from what Handel heard in that historic first performance. Beecham should be tarred and feathered for daring to have his own thoughts concerning The Messiah... and for daring to hire Eugene Goosens to orchestrate it. Didn't he know that The Messiah is a dusty old museum piece, on display for our silent reverence, and should not be thought of as a living composition, capable of taking its audiences to emotional heights that are almost unbearable in their power and beauty? Jennifer Vyvian sings clearly and sweetly, while Monica Sinclair's rich voice adds disturbing undertones to one of Handel's most intriguing and emotionally vibrant compositions- He Was despised. How dare she do this! She should just have declaimed the words with no passion and let us put all the nuances in ourselves! Why oh why do these people inject anything of themselves when the words should do it all? The chorus! And the orchestra! They are among the worst offenders. They actually sound ecstatic in the Hallelujah Chorus! It's absolutely infuriating that they sound so utterly joyous because Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords! And then there's the Amen Chorus which finishes up the piece. Words fail me... how dare they treat this music so reverentially, as though they're glad to be in heaven. The power and gutsiness of the finale under Beecham lifts my spirits and fires my imagination to new heights. They should just have recited the words and let me do that for myself. Of course, that implies that I am just as good as Beecham's forces. What a heady thought! I am just as good as some of the entire world's greatest musicians... and I cannot read a note of music, nor have I ever sung in The Messiah. But at least, I can THINK it, without ever trying to improve myself. Oh! Let us not forget the sins of Giorgio Tozzi, whose rich basso-cantante almost overwhelms my senses with its smoothness of sound and richness of characterization. The soul of Man is artfully revealed here, with many of its faults and aspirations... and it is done here by a man who seems to believe what he is singing. Instead of just forcing the sounds out of his mouth, he actually has the sheer voice to succeed with his efforts. How dare he do this! How dare he sound better than the average man! Why, if he sounds better than me, and I want to sing this music as well as he does... (Supposing I was a bass!) why... I might actually have to work at my craft, instead of just lying down like a couch potato and vegetating. (This, of course, is an illusion. Even the most down-home ordinary seeming singing of a blue-grass performer is vastly beyond the untrained and untried voices of the stay-at-home-and-do-nothing-but-I-am-as-good-as-they-are!- want-to-be's! Why, in God's great and Holy Name, would I want to listen to somebody with no talent sing?) Now we come to Jon Vickers, the tenor who sounds passionate, rich, sincere, reverent, and over the top, with a voice that can sound soothing as easily as it sounds as powerful as Godzilla in a bad mood. Vickers does not have the light, sweet lyric voice usually heard in these solos. Should we not stick with tradition here? Why do Beecham and Vickers have to be so different from all the others? When Vickers sings Thou Shalt Break Them, he really sounds angry. Now why do that? What is there in the words `Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron!' and `Dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel!' that can possibly lead you to believe this soloist is angry or should show anger? I just do not get it. Just sing the words calmly, Jon. Don't be so emotional. Handel's first tenor would not have sung it like you, so why did you do it differently? Maybe the fact that there exists no recordings of that first performer has something to do with it. I do not understand why you would want to approach this creatively, Jon Vickers, with thoughts and ideas of your own and a voice all your own. I just don't understand... As anyone may have guessed long before this, I love this recording. The arguments given, however, are arguments I have heard many times. There are many people who do seem to think performance artists should not work in a creative, personal, and unique manner. I ask them this question- if nobody did, then how would composers like Handel ever have done this kind of work? How would the singers who first created the parts have performed them? There were no exact precedents, though analogous stylistic precedents abounded. Handel built upon the work that had come before him. (That he was a notorious plagiarist does not invalidate the fact that he was also a very creative man.) Verdi built upon Bellini and Donizetti, to name a few. Sometimes, such building comes as an iconoclastic reaction to set in stone performance practices- witness Boito's efforts, like Mefistofeles and Arnold Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht. Am I against re-creations of original perfomance practices? Not at all. Old as they might be, they would be new performance practices to me. Why not savor the sounds of styles and voices and instruments that are new to me? I love to get a glimpse, however dim, of how my ancestors did things. Sir Thomas Beecham has been accused of leading a bloated Messiah, way over-orchestrated and ponderous. Beecham, in his liner notes, rants and raves against the 3,000 voice choirs and huge orchestras of previous times. I have heard recordings of some of these huge choirs. I agree with those who find them cumbersome and clumsy. Beecham's forces are nothing like that. I intend to enjoy any performance that touches my heart and soul, whether done with original instruments, or done in the most modern style. It's like having any style of cooking I want.

Garbage:
Beecham's take on the Messiah is more Mahler than Handel. If only it were merely boring! Thuggishly blasting his way through it without the slightest concern for good taste, Beecham's Messiah becomes a spectacle of the most ill-advised sort. The grotesquely self-indulgent and pompous tempi combined with the inappropriate and mawkish reorchestration make this recording a travesty such as I have not heard since the Sir Malcom Sargent Messiah. Only the incomparable Jon Vickers saves it from absolute ruin. Bluntly put, the Beecham recording will only satisfy the musically uneducated. I would thus implore anyone reading this review to purchase the McCreesh/Gabrieli Consort recording of the Messiah instead. Of the many recordings I have heard, it is unquestionably the best, achieving high drama without abandoning taste.

Competent but uninspiring:
Years ago I was directed to a vinyl version of the Messiah against which I measure all others. Unfortunately, I've got my vinyl in storage and only have a tape copy with no info (no conductor, date, record label, etc) so I'm always searching for that wonderful interpretation of this most glorious piece of choral music. Beecham's isn't it. In fact, as much as I appreciate the technical competence of the performances & recording, this CD comes across as stiff & uninspired. I sing Messiah with a large choir every 4 years. This is impassioned, nuanced music. It should be gentle, powerful, majestic, and sorrowful in turn. To listen to Beecham's recording is to hear what non-classical listeners often claim about "classical music" -- that it's boring, snotty, etc. None of the nuance comes through. I feel overwhelmed, and bored. My copy of this CD is now on sale at a used CD shop. I'm now looking for Neville Mariner's mid-70s (?) version with St Martin's choir. I think it's the holy grail I'm looking for.

• Messiah: Overture - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Messiah: Recit: Comfort Ye, My People (Tenor) - Jon Vickers
• Messiah: Air: Every Valley Shall Be Exalted (Tenor) - Jon Vickers
• Messiah: Chorus: And The Glory Of The Lord - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Recit: Thus Saith The Lord Of Hosts (Bass) - Giorgio Tozzi
• Messiah: Air: But Who May Abide (Bass) - Giorgio Tozzi
• Messiah: Chorus: And He Shall Purify - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Recit: Behold, A Virgin Shall Conceive (Contralto) - Monica Sinclair
• Messiah: Air & Chorus: O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings (Contralto) - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Recit: For, Behold, Darkness Shall Cover (Bass) - Giorgio Tozzi
• Messiah: Air: The People That Walked In Darkness (Bass) - Giorgio Tozzi
• Messiah: Chorus: For Unto Us A Child Is Born - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Pastoral Symphony - Royal Philharmonic Chorus
• Messiah: Recit: There Were Shepherds Abiding (Soprano) - Jennifer Vyvyan
• Messiah: Recit: And The Angel Said Unto Them (Soprano) - Jennifer Vyvyan
• Messiah: Recit: And Suddenly There Was (Soprano) - Jennifer Vyvyan
• Messiah: Chorus: Glory To God In The Highest - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Air: Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter (Soprano) - Jennifer Vyvyan
• Messiah: Recit: Then Shall The Eyes (Contralto) - Monica Sinclair
• Messiah: Air: He Shall Feed His Flock; Come Unto Him (Contralto & Soprano) - Monica Sinclair
• Messiah: Chorus: His Yoke Is Easy - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Chorus: Behold The Lamb Of God - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Air: He Was Despised (Contralto) - Monica Sinclair
• Messiah: Chorus: Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Chorus: And With His Stripes We Are Healed - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Chorus: All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Recit: All They That See Him (Tenor) - Jon Vickers
• Messiah: Chorus: He Trusted In God - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Recit: Thy Rebuke Hath Broken His Heart (Tenor) - Jon Vickers
• Messiah: Air: Behold, And See If There Be (Tenor) - Jon Vickers
• Messiah: Recit: He Was Cut Off Out Of The Land (Tenor) - Jon Vickers
• Messiah: Air: But Thou Didst Not Leave (Tenor) - Jon Vickers
• Messiah: Chorus: Lift Up Your Heads - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Air: How Beautiful Are The Feet (Soprano) - Jennifer Vyvyan
• Messiah: Chorus: Their Sound Is Gone Out Into All Lands - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Air: Why Do The Nations So Furious Rage (Bass) - Giorgio Tozzi
• Messiah: Chorus: Lets Us Break Their Bonds Asunder - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Recit: He That Dwelleth In Heaven (Tenor) - Jon Vickers
• Messiah: Air: Thou Shalt Break Them (Tenor) - Jon Vickers
• Messiah: Chorus: Hallelujah! - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Part III - Air: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth (Soprano) - Jennifer Vyvyan
• Messiah: Chorus: Since By Man Came Death - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Recit: Behold, I Tell You A Mystery (Bass) - Giorgio Tozzi
• Messiah: Air: The Trumpet Shall Sound (Bass) - Giorgio Tozzi
• Messiah: Chorus: Worthy Is The Lamb - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Recit: Unto Which Of The Angels (Tenor) - Jon Vickers
• Messiah: Chorus: Let All The Angels Of God Worship Him - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Air: Thou Art Gone Up On High (Bass) - Giorgio Tozzi
• Messiah: Chorus: The Lord Gave The Word - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Recit: Then Shall Be Brought To Pass (Contralto) - Monica Sinclair
• Messiah: Duet: O Death, Where Is Thy Sting? (Contralto & Tenor) - Monica Sinclair
• Messiah: Chorus: But Thanks Be To God - John McCarthy
• Messiah: Air: If God Be For Us (Soprano) - Jennifer Vyvyan