Handel: Messiah

Handel: Messiah
- Classical music CD
Trevor Pinnock meets with mixed success in this account of the Messiah with the English Concert & Choir and soloists Arleen Auger, Anne Sofie von Otter, Michael Chance, Howard Crook, and John Tomlinson, recorded and released in 1988. Its strengths are the strengths of the early-music movement in general. The size and distribution of the instrumental and vocal forces are optimal, which means that textures are clear and balances apt. Rhythms are nicely pointed, though often, in Pinnock's case, not quite well enough sprung. Tempos are well chosen; for example, "All we like sheep"--which turns out to be one of the set's best numbers--is a real bourrÃ©, and Pinnock animates it in just the right way. But the performance often seems workmanlike and unemotional, weighed down in too many instances by the humdrum work of the chorus. The alto section in particular, which is half male and half female, sings timidly and is constantly swallowing its entrances. Bass soloist John Tomlinson is a further drag on the effort. He has the right idea--that there's an Italian opera hiding behind all this biblical imagery--but his cottony sound is out of place, a misguided attempt to mimic Nicolai Ghiaurov. His usable range is less than a tenth (he croaks the low G's and F-sharps), and his diction is horrible. "Thus spake the Lord" is strangled, and when, in "The trumpet shall sound" Tomlinson gets to the words "we shall be changed," one can't help wishing that he had been changed too, right before the sessions started. --Ted Libbey
Country USA
Brand Verve Label Group
Manufacturer Archiv
Binding Audio CD
ItemPartNumber 028942363021
Model 028942363021
ReleaseDate 1988-10-10
UnitCount 2
Format CD
UPCs 028942363021
EANs 0028942363021

Country	USA
Brand	Verve Label Group
Manufacturer	Archiv
Binding	Audio CD
ItemPartNumber	028942363021
Model	028942363021
ReleaseDate	1988-10-10
UnitCount	2
Format	CD
UPCs	028942363021
EANs	0028942363021

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