handel's messiahs
A friend recently asked me which version of Handel's Messiah to get.
The recording conducted by Paul McCreesh in the late 90s was hyped as the "Messiah for the Millennium," and indeed it's pretty incredible. The performance is great: it's a period piece, done on authentic instruments, sounding very much like the sounds Handel himself likely heard.
If you like a more 20th-century sound, there's the massive version conducted by Bernstein in the late 50s, with the NY Philharmonic — one of my favorites, but very idiosyncratic. Overloaded orchestra, big slow rummy tempos, utterly entertaining and at times electrifying. Best "For Unto Us" in recorded audio history.
Then there's a Sir Charles Mackerras recording, with the Austrian Radio Symphony and Chorus. It's Mozart's arrangements of the Messiah: did you know he did this? great fun to listen to. It's Handel with a Viennese accent, "updated" to the style of Mozart's time. All sorts of weird/inspired changes and additions and subtractions. If you're accustomed to another version, then this one seems like a big creamy ice cream treat.
So. There you have it. Get all three. If you get one, do tell me which one!!!
The recording conducted by Paul McCreesh in the late 90s was hyped as the "Messiah for the Millennium," and indeed it's pretty incredible. The performance is great: it's a period piece, done on authentic instruments, sounding very much like the sounds Handel himself likely heard.
If you like a more 20th-century sound, there's the massive version conducted by Bernstein in the late 50s, with the NY Philharmonic — one of my favorites, but very idiosyncratic. Overloaded orchestra, big slow rummy tempos, utterly entertaining and at times electrifying. Best "For Unto Us" in recorded audio history.
Then there's a Sir Charles Mackerras recording, with the Austrian Radio Symphony and Chorus. It's Mozart's arrangements of the Messiah: did you know he did this? great fun to listen to. It's Handel with a Viennese accent, "updated" to the style of Mozart's time. All sorts of weird/inspired changes and additions and subtractions. If you're accustomed to another version, then this one seems like a big creamy ice cream treat.
So. There you have it. Get all three. If you get one, do tell me which one!!!
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