Händel: Messiah

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
John Eliot Gardiner's is a highly musical and inspired account of Messiah, featuring an excellent group of soloists and an outstanding period-instrument band. With dance rhythms athletically sprung and da capo arias tastefully ornamented, the performance generates consistent interest and is lively in spite of its length. There is splendid choral singing from the Monteverdi Choir--the ending of "All We Like Sheep" is quite potent--and much wonderful work from the soloists. The recording, made in 1982, is impeccable. --Ted Libbey

Amazon.com

John Eliot Gardiner's is a highly musical and inspired account of Messiah, featuring an excellent group of soloists and an outstanding period-instrument band. With dance rhythms athletically sprung and da capo arias tastefully ornamented, the performance generates consistent interest and is lively in spite of its length. There is splendid choral singing from the Monteverdi Choir--the ending of "All We Like Sheep" is quite potent--and much wonderful work from the soloists. The recording, made in 1982, is impeccable. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

My favorite Messiah.......2004-12-23

This is one of the best versions of Handel's Messiah. J. Eliot Gardiner is always great with conducting oratorios and this version is done on authentic instruments with a smaller choir. The choir singing is excellent -- the tempos for such favorites such as "For unto us a Child is born" is just perfect -- not too fast or slow, but graceful and lively. The soprano, Margaret Marshall, is particularly outstanding and beautiful, especially on arias such as "Rejoice Greatly," and "For My Redeemer Liveth." The tenor, Rolfe Johnson is also wonderful. Some of the alto pieces are sung by a male alto and others by the female alto. The only soloist that I found somewhat disappointing was the bass, especially on "For the trumpet shall sound" -- his singing was pretty heavy-handed and not distinct enough on the words "for the trumpet shall sound." (I listen to other versions for the bass solos).

That aside, I still love this version of the Messiah and would rate it as one of the best versions of Handel's Messiah alongside Trevor Pinnock's version, which I also highly recommend.

The best known Messiah ?.......2004-10-26

This 1982 Phillips _Messiah_ by Sir John Gardiner is still very often recomended as the best. But keep in mind that no version is generaly recognized as definative so it's wise to sample before purchase. With that in mind, I'm happy to say that right now (Oct 2004) you can hear all the tracks over on Amazon's page for another boxset of this same recording.

Actually there's three, this two disk Phillips version, an older three disk version (the identical recording but with the same tracks spread over three disks and therefore higher priced), and a one disk 'highlights'.

Search Gardiner Handel Messiah to jump to the three disk page, Sample from disk two _The Lord gave the word_, and _Why do the nations?..._ This will demonstrate how every part of the staged ensemble can be discerned with clarity, in either chorus or aria.

Precision playing is a Gardiner trademark. Note his style is stately rather than devotional; the presentation is dramatic and energetic, rather than emotional. As a result I found this recording of lasting appeal, and never got tired of it over all these years.

Still A Good Messiah Recording!!!.......2003-11-05

This recording is a reissue of Phillips 411041 which is a Three

Disc set. Universal Classics which includes Decca who now owns

Phillips decided to make this recording a little bit more

affordable by issuing it on Two CDs It is still one of the best

"Original Instrument" "Messiah" recordings on the market today.

Tracks:

Messiah: Comfot Ye, My People
Messiah: Ev'ry Valley Shall Be Exalted
Messiah: And The Glory Of 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: And The Angel Said Unto Them
Messiah: Rejoice Greatly
Messiah: He Shall Feed His Flock
Messiah: Why Do The Nations?
Messiah: He That Dwelleth In Heaven
Messiah: Hallelujah
Messiah: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth
Messiah: Amen

Customer Reviews:

Messiah Highlights is what I needed.......2001-12-06

This was one of my first CD's. I am replacing it after 10 years of annual heavy use. We play it as we rise many Sunday's during November and December. You can put it on and hear the Christmas story and favorite parts without having to program selections from a 2 disk full Messiah. The Baroque presentation gives you a feel of what it was like to hear it played on the instruments and with the voices Handel had in mind and used in the 1700's.

Another Gardiner success, but not his best.......2000-06-23

This recording of 1978 is an admirable and enjoyable one, but by no means the best Messiah of the hundreds available on the market. For period performances, high in contention should be Christopher Hogwood`s DECCA and L Oiseau-Lyre rendition, created with the Christchurch Choir, Oxford and Academy of Ancient Music in the height of their powers. The choir is electric, the orchestra first-class and the quality of the recording also superb.

Customer Reviews:

My Favorite Messiah!.......2001-10-03

This is an eccentric choice of "best" Messiah recording, but I love it for it's restrained emotionalism. In a very British way, it is both soulful and dignified. Harwood and Baker's duet "He Shall Feed His Flock" exemplifies all the best of this recording: committed, heartfelt, superbly even radiantly sung. All of these singers are wonderful, and unjustly forgotten in our time.
If you want historical "authenticity" (which is really a nonsequitir in music), this is probably not for you. Choose this if you want full-throated singing and full-bodied musicmaking.

Scriabin;Tschaikowsky; Foster-Händel-Schubert

Average customer rating:

Scriabin;Tschaikowsky; Foster-Händel-Schubert

Manufacturer: Magic Master
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Etudes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Etude In C Sharp Minor: Etude In C Sharp Minor (December 11, 1944)
Marche Slave: Marche Slave (April 23, 1942)
Romeo And Juliet Fantasy Overture: Romeo And Juliet Fantasy Overture (December 11, 1944)
Solitude: Solitude (May 11, 942)
Oh, Susannah!: Oh, Susannah! (May 1, 1929)
Messiah: Pastoral Symphony (April 29, 1929)
'Deutsche Tanze Op.33': Tyrolean Dances (December 10, 1944)

Average customer rating:

Haendel: Messiah

Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music

Opera & Vocal | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Vivaldi: In furore, Laudate pueri e concerti sacri
As Steals the Morn: Handel Arias & Scenes for Tenor
Handel - Giulio Cesare / Jacobs
Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs

ASIN: B000BCHJA6
Release Date: 2006-01-10

Tracks:

Sinfonia
Recitative (Tenor): Comfort Ye, My People, Saith Your God
Air (Tenor): Every Valley Shall Be Exalted
Chorus: And The Glory Of The Lord Shall Be Revealed
Recitative (Bass): Thus Saith The Lord Of Hosts
Air (Alto): But Who May Abide The Day Of His Coming?
Chorus: And He Shall Purify The Sons Of Levi
Recitative (Alto): Behold, A Virgin Shall Conceive - Air (Alto): O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings To Zion - Chorus: O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings To Zion, Arise
Recitative (Bass): For Behold, Darkness Shall Cover The Earth - Air (Bass): The People That Walked In Darkness
Chorus: For Unto Us A Child Is Born
Pastoral Symphony: (Pifa)
Recitative (Treble): There Were Shepherds Abiding In The Field - Recitative (Treble): And Lo, The Angel Of The Lord Came Upon Them - Recitative (Treble): And the Angel Said Unto Them: Fear Not, For Behold - Chorus: Glory To God In The Highest
Air (Soprano II): Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter Of Zion
Recitative (Soprano I): Then Shall The Eyes Of The Blind Be Opened - Air (Alto, Soprano I): He Shall Feed His Flock Like A Shepherd
Chorus: His Yoke Is Easy, And His Burthen Is Light
Chorus: Behold The Lamb Of God
Air (Alto): He Was Despised And Rejected Of Men
Chorus: Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs - Chorus: All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray

Tracks:

Recitative (Tenor): All They That See Him Laugh Him To Scorn - Chorus: He Trusted In God That He Would Deliver Him
Recitative (Tenor): Thy Rebuke Hath Broken His Heart - Air (Tenor): Behold And See If There Be Any Sorrow - Recitative (Soprano I): He Was Cut Off Out Of The Land Of The Living
Air (Soprano I): But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul In Hell
Chorus: Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates
Recitative (Tenor): Unto Which Of The Angels Said He At Any Time - Chorus: Let All The Angels Of God Worship Him
Air (Soprano II): Thou Art Gone Up On High
Chorus: The Lord Gave The World
Air (Soprano I): How Beautiful Are The Feet Of Them
Chorus: Their Sound Is Gone Out Into All Lands
Air (Bass): Why Do The Nations So Furiously Rage Together
Chorus: Let Us Break Their Bonds Asunder
Recitative (Tenor): He That Dwelleth In Heaven Shall Laugh Them To Scorn - Air (Tenor): Thou Shalt Break Them With A Rod Of Iron
Chorus: Hallelujah!
Air (Soprano I): I Know That My Redeemer Liveth
Chorus: Since By Man Came Death
Recitative (Bass): Behold, I Tell You A Mystery - Air (Bass): The Trumpet Shall Sound
Recitative (Alto): Then Shall Be Brought To Pass The Saying That Is Written - Duet (Alto, Tenor): O Death, Where Is Thy Sting? - Chorus: But Thanks Be To God Who Giveth Us The Victory
Air (Soprano II): If God Be For Us, Who Can Be Against Us?
Chorus: Worthy Is The Lamb That Was Slain
Chorus: Amen

Average customer rating:

Hallelujah! Famous Händel Choruses

Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Choruses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000000SO7
Release Date: 1994-09-06

Tracks:

Messiah: Hallelujah - Stockholm Kammerkoren/Eric Ericson
Samson: Awake The Trumpet's Lofty Sound - Arnold Schoenberg Chor/Erwin Ortner
Belshazzar: All Empires - Stockholm Kammerkoren/Eric Ericson
Giulio Cesare: Ritorni Omai Nel Nostro Core - Lucia Popp/Paul Esswood/Arnold Schoenberg Chor/Erwin Ortner
Alexander's Feast: The Many Rend The Skies - Stockholm Bachkor/Anders Ohrwall
Messiah: And The Glory Of The Lord - Stockholm Kammerkoren/Eric Ericson
Theodora: And Draw A Blessing Down - Arnold Schoenberg Chor/Erwin Ortner
Saul: Gird On Thy Sword - Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor/Walter Hagen-Groll
Ode For St. Cecilia's Day: As From The Pow'r Of Sacred Lays - Stockholm Bachkor/Anders Ohrwall
Samson: Let Their Celestial Concerts All Unite - Arnold Schoenberg Chor/Erwin Ortner
Jephtha: When His Loud Voice In Thunder Spoke - Arnold Schoenberg Chor/Erwin Ortner
Theodora: Oh Love Divine - Arnold Schoenberg Chor/Erwin Ortner
Belshazzar: Oh Glorious Prince - Stockholm Kammerkoren/Eric Ericson
Saul: How Excellent Thy Name, Oh Lord - Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor/Walter Hagen-Groll
Messiah: Let All The Angels Of God - Stockholm Kammerkoren/Eric Ericson
Jephtha: Ye House Of Gilead - Arnold Schoenberg Chor/Erwin Ortner
Alexander's Feast: Now Strike The Golden Lyre Again! - Stockholm Bachkor/Anders Ohrwall
Samson: Fix'd In His Everlasting Seat - Arnold Schoenberg Chor/Erwin Ortner
Belshazzar: See, From His Post - Stockholm Kammerkoren/Eric Ericson
Messiah: Worthy Is The Lamb - Stockholm Kammerkoren/Eric Ericson

Average customer rating:

A Supercilious Phantasm, a Bespooked Night-Mare!
As beautiful as a cathedral

Händel:Messiah

Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Opera & Vocal | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music

Opera & Vocal | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music
ASIN: B000000SIF
Release Date: 1993-03-09

Amazon.com

Harnoncourt makes some interesting points in this live recording with the Concentus Musicus Wien, the Stockholm Chamber Choir, and soloists Elizabeth Gale, Marjana Lipovsek, Werner Hollweg, and Roderick Kennedy, which dates from November 1982. He takes a remarkably gentle approach with "For unto us," making it sound almost as if it were a lullaby, yet achieves real vehemence in the strings' depiction of the "refiner's fire" in "But who may abide." Unfortunately, it is in this aria that we first encounter one of the set's main problems, the rather heavily accented English of soloist Lipovsek. There is also a recognizable foreignness to the way the Swedish chorus sings, which might tend to distance an American listener from this recording. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

A Supercilious Phantasm, a Bespooked Night-Mare!.......2005-10-22

Upon applying my auricular appurtenances to the appraisal of this specific rendering of the notorious, antiquated, and hyperbolic-ally flatulent pseudo-masterpiece of one G. Handel, this humble listener is at a catastrophic loss to apprehend in even the most brain-absent insectoid manner the alleged scintillating attributes of the composition at hand, the purported and varied merits of its so-called interpretation as provided here through the compact disc medium, and the pencil-like point of the entire execrable endeavor. What confronts and confounds this amply-hardened listener is a mere series of "numbers," mumblings, and over-reaching tunes; loud brayings and exhibitions; and hootings, hollerings, and trumpetings (both real and alluded to) attempting in the most schoolboy-amateurish way, as it were, and in an emboldened excessive abandonment of priceless leisure hours, to extol--musically, if one could believe it--the merits of some bobbling, belching, historical child or other, born on the dusty grounds and within the confines of a common milk cow-barn! Why such soporifically banal events as the slap-stick antics of a pair of common Semitic suburbanites with their birthing quandary, their astounding encounters with flickering streetlights and besotted Wise-Guys, and all the particulars of the life of the babe--up to and including a last second epiphany of carpentry--should warrant the usage of substantial monies and unbridled artistic forces unequalled in these modern times is a full-tilt toboggan ride of a conundrum to any and all vaguely semi-conscious men. Whilst in the hinterlands emaciated Chinese coolies dig for grubs with sticks, and shivering Eskimos send their cowering ancestors afloat and awash on Popsicles; while half the planet is without simple tin lunch pails or embroidered stockings, titanic, colossal, nay, near infinite towers of treasure are cast forever into the dung pits in order to finance wholly worthless enterprises such as these. I am aghast and appalled!

Professor Antonio Pille
Mt. Palomine Institute of Mysteries

[EDITOR: Amazon is so much fun at times. I write this offbeat review as a potentially entertaining parody of the "other" review of this recording--one of the most hyperbolic ramblings I've ever encountered--and this one bats 0 for 10 (and i expected that) while the other actually gets five--count 'em--five helpfuls! No prob; I recently did a "review" of an item just to point out that the exotic packaging damaged the CDs and was given a "not helpful" vote for my concerns!]

As beautiful as a cathedral.......2002-08-06

This is Haendel's everlasting and unequaled masterpiece. He reaches in this work universality and maybe eternity. But first of all he is a man of his time : he tries to please everyone and not only one section of society. So his music does not sound overworked and overadorned. It sounds natural. We can follow every line as if we already knew it. We can expect every intervention of any instrument, or any break or transition in the music, just as if we had composed it. In other words Haendel is here a perfect post-Bach composer : he aims at pleasing everyone. He is also of his own time because of the use of a visual architecture to build his music. It is the architecture of those beautiful and flamboyant cathedrals we admire so much in England and elsewhere in Europe. We may think it is some kind of vain lace of stone and stained glass. But in fact every single little arch and detail is there to build a whole that would be completely meaningless if any one of those details were to be taken away. Haendel's music is exactly the same. There is not one single note too many, there is not one single adornment and variation too many. It is just perfect and we feel it to be perfect, we are convinced by our own senses that it is perfect because it survives our listening and lives in our minds forever. The feeling we get in that music is that many arches, be they voices or instruments, span the sky of our dreams with a complex network that stands up to our expectations and our pleasure, that stands on its own feet and conquers the densest and heaviest laws of gravity. We are constantly suspended in mid-air, in the pure immensity of the sky. But that has to do also with the meaning of the words and the language of the libretto. The language is pure elizabethan English, balanced and yet volatile, structured and yet evanescent, simple in appearance and yet using some fundamental structures and rhythms that the english language has put so deep in our unconscisouness that we feel enthusiastic about this inner life of the language without being able to point out why it is so exhilarating. We could demonstrate how it works. But what is important is that it regenerates what is universal in man's capture of the natural world around him : the cross of a binary well balanced rhythm (the famous iamb) and of a ternary ever turning rhythm. The cross of the two is perfectly contained and represented by the fundamental numerical symbol of six, two times three. This is the symbol of Salomon, the star of David. But this numerical structure is everywhere in the world, in any culture, and here Haendel uses that strength of the language of his libretto and amplifies it with the music giving it even more stability and pregnancy by squaring his use of it in many of his variations. But this leads to a last idea that explains why this work was a success in Dublin for its creation, and then a success in London even if eight years later. A success with the Irish and with the English, even if the English resisted it for some time. It is because he goes beyond the division of the world in good ones and bad ones. He reunifies humanity in absolute one-ness. And yet he justifies any struggle against oppressopn with some little sentences here and there that can yet be understood as the negation of the necessity of such struggles. In other words the ideological meaning of the work is ambiguous and it is this ambiguity that makes its universal success, along with its beauty : death is worth dying if we obey the Law because we will be redeemed, and death is also worth dying if we sin because Christ has redeemed us anyway and we will be made pure when the trumpet rings. In other words we are saved anyway, sinning or not sinning, fighting or not fighting. He retains both the example Jesus set to us (fight for purity, freedom, truth) and the redemption and salvation Jesus brought to us sinners even if we do not make the slightest effort to live according to the Law. We will all be redeemed. In other words we are divine both in our souls that abide by God's Law and in our flesh that was redeemed and saved by the sacrifice of Christ. This marvellous piece of music speaks to everyone and fits with any approach of life, and what's more it is simply and immediately and absolutely beautiful.