Customer Reviews

Handel: Messiah

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Finally RCA has released on Compact Disc Robert Shaw's first

recording of Handel's Oratorio Messiah. This is a classic

performance of this work. It stands head and shoulders above

both of the Sony (Columbia Masterworks)(Ormandy and Bernstein)

recordings from the same decade. It has something a number of

other Messiah recordings lack heart and soul and feeling, the

performers aren't just singing this work, they are participating

in it.

This was the first recording of Messiah I ever purchased, back in 1966. This Shaw performance was a big deal back then, as it represented the first real "period" performance practice version with its scaled down instrumental and choral forces - compared to the overblown Ormandy version, for example. The original vinyl discs imparted a muted dynamic range as I recall, so this splendid digitally-remastered release is truly stunning compared to the original. Of particular note is the gorgeous vocal work of soporano Judith Raskin, one of the most beautiful voices to appear on any recording of Messiah, and contralto Florence Kopleff whose vocal agility and sheen are something to behold. This is one of the best modern instrument Messiahs available today.

As a kid I begged and begged my parents for this recording (and what a weird kid I was). I wish they'd retained the original art work, but this was Messiah as I'd always dreamt it should be. Interestingly, this was the first time a recording attempted to duplicate what is (was) believed to be something resembling the original performances of Handel's masterpiece. The results were jarring and startling to those who'd known the piece as the massive work it had become.

Since then of course historically informed performances (HIP) have become almost commonplace and it seems like every year new recordings and versions of Messiah make their way into the market. With this in mind, it is fascinating to hear Shaw's tempi - considered by many at the time to be too fast.

The solo quartet is wonderful. Judith Raskine's clean, shimmering soprano delights and Florence Koploff is nothing but thrilling in "But who may abide the day of his coming" - her voice depicting a refiner's fire as no man had up til this point.

Shaw's tempi and phrasing are remarkable throughout and the recording remains something of a revelation.

To its finally being released on CD all I can say is Hallelujah!


This remains a remarkable performance and for it

I SAW the Shaw Chorale perform this, 4/7/66, at Winthrop College, Rock Hill, SC. (They received a 15-minute standing ovation at the end.) This is the best Messiah recording to date,and will continue to be for many years to come.

I remember listening to this recording as a child, from my father's collection in the 1960s. The LP set has been long lost, and I've spent 40 or so years looking for a satisfactory recording of the Messiah, to no avail. The only thing I remembered about this one was Shaw, and to my surprise I discovered it recently while searching on Amazon. This recording is a revelation and a beauty to behold. There is a purity and cleanliness, combined with fervor and urgency, that makes it a rare experience. The spare instrumentation is unforgiving, and intonation among the strings is sometimes wobbly, but this is a relief after the digitalized (fake) perfection of more modern recordings. The heaviness and miscasting of famous opera singers in the solo parts of other recordings of the Messiah have been unfortunate. In the Shaw recording, the orchestra and chorus are "right-sized" to the music and text. Most of all, the soloists live up to the music and the text. The contralto Florence Kopleff is especially moving, with minimal mannerisms and perfect diction; her performance here must be among the best in the classical repertoire, which makes it strange that she has left so few recordings. Listen to her "He was despised...." Soprano Judith Raskin's singing has an urgency and a wonder about it. Thomas Paul (bass) is equally moving in the substantial solos, as is Richard Lewis (tenor). With this recording of the Messiah, I feel like I've returned home.

There are recordings that can erase the passage of time and evoke the sense of discovery of their first hearing. This is one such recording. I was a kid agonizing over this recording versus Davis/Phillips and Mackerras/Angel. When the RCA Victor record club offered it for $9.99 at Christmas, that settled the matter. I made a good choice. Prior experience with Ormandy, re-orchestration a la Beecham, and the Frederick Jackson-conducted version on Roulette Golden Classics ($3.99 for 4 LPs, using the recent scholarly Watkins Shaw edition and ponderous) did not prepare me for a revelation - "a light, bright chamber oratorio celebrating with secular deftness a remote, but responsive sacred text." (I hope my memory is quoting Maestro Shaw correctly.) And why was the contralto singing all the bass arias? True, the orchestra can sound a little wiry at times but the soloists have rarely been equaled - not to mention the outstanding chorus. Shaw's conducting is gutsy and fleet, an American, "no nonsense" approach that wears its years well. Thanks, Maestro Shaw for a recording that continues make the listener re-examine a masterpiece.

A very good rendering of the Messiah by Shaw and the Chorale. The only recording that, at least widely available that is, beats it out is the one by Christopher Hogwood, who employs a boy's choir and authentic era instruments. The pure sounds are exceptional on that recording. But Shaw and the Chorale does an outstanding job as an America mixed choir. The ladies' voices are very nice in that the vibrato is very controlled and at times is non-existent so as to be able to tune cadences, etc. The melsmatic passages are very clean. As is with Shaw's other recordings, the contrasts are excellent and should be used in helping train a choir (in this day and time!). Although due to the recording itself, the ending consonants are not quite as distinct perhaps as they could be, but that is obviously due to the nature of the recording. All in all an excellent performance and worthy of a place among the great Shaw recordings! Tom Hill

For a work so frequently recorded, one might think, oh, whee, another reissue from the vaults. But among all the many excellent to splendid recordings of Handel's great oratorio, this has always been the one that spoke to me in the most immediate, humane, and beautiful voice. Small scale enough to clarify the orchestral and choral textures so often made heavy and sodden by huge numbers, on the other hand one never feels this is a dry, academic, period reconstruction either: just as too many earlier recorded performances were overblown, too many today are abrasive fossil-like museum pieces. NOT THIS RECORDING! There are a number of recordings, old and new, which avoid the stylistic pitfalls of the periods in which they were made, yet are clearly of that period. This recording, though, is timeless. Indeed, as one critic has aptly said, this is a "Messiah for the ages". Even the less well-known numbers are given loving attention -- nowhere is there the idea of the singers and orchestra "marking" time or shuffling through the "boring" sections... and, voila! They are not in the least boring! Shaw, his soloists, chorus, and orchestra, not only navigate through the many reefs of interpretation of this pivotal masterpiece, they infuse it with life, and joy, and the utmost virtuousity, it is big when the music makes it so; it is never meretriciously performed and one feels that everyone involved believes in this monumental work, from the crisp and exciting overture to the final exhilirating chorus "Amen!". I went through 3 copies of the LP set, and when RCA did not bring it out in CD form I went to the trouble of having the LPs transferred to CD. But this remastering is excellent, and well worth having waited so long for!!! It is something to rejoice about! Whether you have no other versions of MESSIAH, or if you have a score of them, this will swiftly become one of your favorite recordings. A masterpiece in a masterpiece of a performance! Thanks, RCA, for finally bringing it to us again! As the beautiful contralto recitative says, "Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, /And the ears of the deaf unstopped; /Then shall the lame man leap as an hart,/And the tongue of the dumb shall sing!"

There have been many recordings of Handel's Messiah in the past 50 years that I have heard, but in my opinion none surpasses the quality of this recording--and with this digitally remastered edition, it continues to set the standard. The soloists are the best and the chorale is superb. Robert Shaw is the standard for all other modern renditions of Messiah!

Finally, this wonderful performance has been put on CD. I've been waiting a long time for this. I just about wore out my LP recording.
This is one of the best performances of Handel's masterpiece I have ever heard. The tempi on the choruses are refreshingly brisk and the execution of the melismas is clean and perfect. Of course this has always been a trademark of the Robert Shaw Chorale.
The comparison by Kris to chipmunks is absurd. Robert Shaw's choral expertise was brilliant. His tempi is perfect. Bravo!