Messiah Comp [Import]

What a wonderful, exciting recording of Handel's venerable masterpiece.

I suppose by now I must have heard Messiah live a dozen or so times, and I must have heard at least two dozen recordings.

In the baroque tradition, it is so wide open to interpretation no two performances can ever sound the same. That's part of the excitement of the baroque fach.

This remarkable recording strives for authenticity without seeming to be covered by a layer of dust or, even worse, mold.

It succeeds magnificently. The performance is straight forward and unencumbered by centuries of troweled on nonsense. It is a performance Mr. Handel himself would have recognized. And yet, it is a performance that is perfectly modern as well. The soloists all know their music and are comfortable with it.

While it would be supremely unfair to single out any one of the outstanding soloists, I cannot help but call attention to the beautiful contribution here from the magnificent Arleen Auger. Tragically, she would be taken from us barely four years after this recording was made. She was, here, at the absolute pinnacle of her formidable artistic powers. It is a fitting tribute to the great contribution she made to the art form she so obviously loved.

Finally, not enough can be said of Trevor Pinnock. His intelligence allows Handel to be the driving force of this performance. Pinnock never gets in the way of the composer and, therefore, leaves his usual stamp of excellence on the performance.

This is, simply, a great recording.

Much as I have enjoyed recordings of Messiah by Beecham, (Colin) Davis, Mackerras, Hogwood, Gardiner and Christie over the years, Pinnock's is the version that I feel best captures the spirit and beauty of Handel's immortal masterwork. It provides the best of both worlds - combining the clarity and fluency of period instruments with the power and gravitas of the best English choral tradition. Soloists and chorus sing in accordance with historically informed practice but are not afraid to invest their performances with emotion and humanity.
Pinnock's tempi have been criticised by some for being too slow but I disagree. Other conductors treat the opening Sinfonia like the overture of a baroque orchestral suite. Pinnock emphasises the solemnity and portent in the music, underlining the momentous event that is about to unfold - namely, the arrival of the Messiah. The soloists are uniformly excellent without a single weak link; it's almost unfair to single out individuals but mention has to be made of Auger's radiantly pure singing in Parts I and III; von Otter's eloquent "He was despised" - the central jewel of this performance - and Chance's unique voice - IMHO warmer and more sensitive than any countertenor before or since.
The recording balance is near perfect - a warm but not over-resonant acoustic which lends a satisfying body to the big choruses, so that the cries of "Wonderful Consellor" ring out lustily while the Hallelujah and Amen choruses have a power that never fails to bring a tingle to my spine and tears to my eyes.
While I have enjoyed the fresh insights that new recordings may bring, I think I will always return to Pinnock's version to remind me what makes Messiah great and why I will always love it so.

Handel's MESSIAH is one of the most recorded works in the CD catalogue and finding the particular performance that moves you is difficult. There is no 'one way' to perform this perennial favorite, though some will demand that the work be performed on period instruments and with the quality of tone and ornamentation assigned by scholars to Handel's time. Others want the drama of a Beecham or Ormandy performance. Some listen for the tiny choral ensemble while for others the massed chorus is most important for the drama. Some buy their version for the soloists, others for the conductor. Given all of these variations and having listened to most of the performances available on recordings, I inevitably return to this recording as conducted by Trevor Pinnock. In this recording the superb soloists (Arleen Auger, Anne Sophie von Otter, Michael Chance, Howard Crook and John Tomlinson) seem at one with the orchestral and choral forces, individuality is secondary to the overall effect of this very tender, celebratory, and dramatic oratorio performance. Just light enough to satisfy the toughest of the baroque aficiondos yet with enough intensity to make the more romantic period devotees happy. Some grateful additions are the use of the countertenor to sing some of the alto parts. Overall of these attributes conductor Pinnock has a firm grasp of the overall 'story' and effect. The flow of the work is steady right to the ending chorus. This is a very fine 'total thinking' of a masterwork.