Haendel: Messiah [Import]

George Frideric Handel | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Harmonia Mundi
• ASIN: B00000IL4B
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #839,368 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Correction ..., July 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Handel - Messiah / Schlick, Piau, Scholl, Padmore, Berg, Les Arts Florissants, Christie (Audio CD)

To respond to Mr. Bush's comment that the piece is in the wrong key -- Mr. Christie and his ensemble are actually performing the piece in the correct, lower baroque tuning. Standard "A" has gone up over the past few hundred years from somewhere around 410 - 415 to 440 Hz. Christie is simply reproducing the Baroque tuning.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The finest Messiah ever, December 6, 1999

By 

Gerardo Cabrera Munoz (México) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Haendel: Messiah (Audio CD)

This is the most beautiful, most elegant and uplifting Messiah ever. William Christie conducts with his usual care for detail and deep understanding of what he is doing. His soloists are marvelous, sopranos Barbara Schlick and Sandrine Piau are pure and warm. Andreas Scholl is quite simply the best countertenor around, and bass Nathan Berg is sonorous and agile. The chorus and orchestra of Les Arts Florissants are superb. In general this is a fresher, more musical reading than Hogwood's, Gardiner's or McCreesh's. Hogwood was good in his time, but now sounds too prim and proper. Gardiner is let down by his unidiomatic Wotan baritone and feeble countertenor. From McCreesh far more was expected but not delivered. William Christie is the finest. By the way, I have no idea what kind of person would prefer a Messiah with such a Baroque specialist like Eugene Ormandy over William Christie...

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Period Performance at Budget Price, September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Haendel: Messiah (Audio CD)

I've been hunting for a Messiah for years, but never found one I was happy with. My brother pointed this one out, saying it was a Gramophone first choice.

Particular highlight is Nathan Berg (bass). Many recordings have a bass who sounds like a tenor, but Nathan Berg sings the arias with a rich, deep and flexible bass voice. Pity they gave "But Who May Abide" to the alto, but sadly that seems par for the course these days.

The direction and orchestral sound are excellent, as you'd expect with Christie and LAF, and the choral singing bright. This together with outstanding soloists and a budget price tag - what more do you want?

Oh, and a note to the previous reviewer who criticized the "flights of fancy" and "improvisation": That's what a 'da capo' aria is all about! After you sing the second section you repeat the first section with your own embellishment. I assure you, Handel expected it!