Handel: Messiah
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Brand: HANDEL,G.F.Composer: George Frideric Handel
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra
Performer: Eileen Farrell
Performer: Martha Lipton
Performer: Davis Cunningham
Performer: William Warfield
Performer: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1991-07-16
Music Label: Sony Classical
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Messiah: Overture
- Messiah: Comfort Ye, My People
- Messiah: Every Valley Shall Be Exalted
- Messiah: And The Glory Of The Lord
- Messiah: Thus Saith The Lord
- Messiah: But Who May Abide
- Messiah: And He Shall Purify
- Messiah: Behold A Virgin Shall Conceive
- Messiah: O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings To Zion
- Messiah: For Unto Us A Child Is Born
- Messiah: Pastoral Symphony
- Messiah: There Were Shepherds
- Messiah: And The Angel Said Unto Them
- Messiah: And Suddenly There Was With The Angel
- Messiah: Glory To God
- Messiah: Then Shall The Eyes Of The Blind Be Opened
- Messiah: He Shall Feed His Flock
- Messiah: His yoke Is Easy
- Messiah: Behold The Lamb Of God
- Messiah: He Was Despised
- Messiah: Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs
- Messiah: And With His Stripes We Are Healed
- Messiah: All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray
- Messiah: Life Up Your Heads
- Messiah: Why Do The Nations?
- Messiah: He That Dwelleth In Heaven
- Messiah: Thou Shalt Break Them
- Messiah: Halleluja!
- Messiah: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth
- Messiah: Behold, I Tell You A Mystery
- Messiah: The Trumpet Shall Sound
- Messiah: Worthy Is The Lamb
Music reviews of Handel: Messiah
Music Review: "Rejoice . . . NOT ! ! !"
Rating: 2 Stars
This recording is a monument to the excesses of mid-twentieth century treatments of Handel's "Messiah." The sound is massive, ponderous, bellowing. There's no room at all for subtlety or nuance.
Well, almost no room. I'll admit that William Warfield gives inspired performances of "But who may abide the day of his coming," performed here as a bass aria, as well as "Why do the nations rage," and "The trumpet shall sound." These perhaps are gems. But the rest really is dross. The choruses, in particular, are horrible - plodding, overbearing, and dull.
To the inherent drawbacks of the performance itself, add all the limitations of 1950s recording technology, and what you have is a piece of purely historical interest - to be listened to once, and only once, the better to appreciate superior recordings of later decades.
Give me the clear, crisp, intimate sound of a small chorus accompanied by an ensemble playing the eighteenth century instruments for which Handel wrote, and recorded with late twentieth or early twenty-first century technology. Please! I'll take John Eliot Gardiner or Trevor Pinnock over Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Harmonic any day. Indeed, I return to Gardiner and Pinnock again and again, while Ormandy's recording collects dust.
Further detracting from Ormandy's rendition is the fact that so much of Handel's "Messiah" is missing. Who could imagine recording Handel's "Messiah" without the bass aria "The People who Walked in Darkness"? Or without the soprano aria "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion"?
What is Eugene Ormandy trying to tell us? "Rejoice . . . NOT!!!"
Gone too are the "He trusted in God" chorus, the "But thou didst not leave his soul in hell" soprano aria, the "Let all the angels of God worship him" chorus, the "Thou art gone up on high" aria, the "The Lord gave the word" chorus, the "How beautiful of the feet" soprano aria, the "Their sound is gone out" chorus, the "Let us break their bonds asunder" chorus, the "Since by man came death" chorus, the "O death, where is thy sting" duet, the "Thanks be to God" chorus, and the "If God be for us" contralto air.
This is, in short, about as far as you can get from a definitive recording of Handel's "Messiah." So many better recordings are available. Only those who have not heard Handel done right could love this one.
If you want a great recording, try John Eliot Gardner's Händel: Messiah or Trevor Pinnock's Handel - Messiah / Augér, von Otter, Chance, Crook, Tomlinson, English Concert, Pinnock.
Avoid the Ormandy "Messiah" unless you've already got a half dozen or so recordings of Handel's "Messiah," and want to appreciate them more by the comparison.
Eric Alan Isaacson
Description of Handel: Messiah
No Description AvailableNo Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: HANDEL,G.F.
Title: MESSIAH
Street Release Date: 11/12/1985
Genre: CLASSICAL COMPOSERS
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