Handel - Messiah / Vyvyan · Sinclair · Vickers · Tozzi · Royal PO · Beecham

George Frideric Handel (Artist), Sir Thomas Beecham (Artist), Jennifer Vyvyan (Artist), Monica Sinclair (Artist), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Artist), Jon Vickers (Artist), Giorgio Tozzi (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 14, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000003FB8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,155 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Overture

2. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Recit: Comfort ye, my people

3. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Air: Every valley shall be exalted

4. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Chorus: And the glory of the Lord

5. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Recit: Thus saith the Lord of Hosts

6. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Air: But who may abide

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Chorus: Behold the Lamb of God

2. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Air: He was despised

3. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Chorus: Surely He hath borne our griefs

4. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Chorus: And with His stripes we are healed

5. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Chorus: All we like sheep have gone astray

6. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Recit: All they that see Him

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Recit: Unto which of the angels

2. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Chorus: Let all the angels of God worship Him

3. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Air: Thou art gone up on high

4. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Chorus: The Lord gave the word

5. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Recit: Then shall be brought to pass

6. Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56: Duet: O death, where is thy sting?

See all 8 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: HANDEL,G.F.
Title: MESSIAH-COMP
Street Release Date: 07/28/1992
Domestic
Genre: XMAS CLASSICAL VOCAL

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Music from when it was MUSIC instead of a museum exhibit, June 9, 2000

By 

Stan Vernooy (Henderson, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Handel - Messiah / Vyvyan · Sinclair · Vickers · Tozzi · Royal PO · Beecham (Audio CD)

If you think music is about "scholarship" rather than emotion, if you believe a performance is a worship service deifying the composer, if you believe that music is performed for the sake of professors and people who have been dead for two centuries, then you will HATE this recording. But if you believe that music is an act of love and excitement, performed for the sake of those doing the performing and the listening, then this performance is the standard by which all performances of "Messiah" should be judged. Beecham was unapologetic in his determination to mold the piece into an emotional experience for all concerned, regardless of the demands of scholarship and authenticity. The singing, playing and conducting are all brilliant. The recording, although 40 years old, is vivid and entirely listenable. Make no mistake: in the hands of Beecham, this is no baroque piece. It is aggressively romantic, powerful, unrestrained, soaring, emotional, even delirious. Sometimes I think it gets a bit out of hand - the Hallelujah Chorus is too fast even for the taste of a romantic rock 'n roller like me. But if you are tired of performances which strip away all the feeling (and are then described as "refreshing" by the dried-up critics), then this is the record for you. Beecham! Thou should'st be living at this hour.....

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Messiah to Treasure, September 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Handel - Messiah / Vyvyan · Sinclair · Vickers · Tozzi · Royal PO · Beecham (Audio CD)

I LOVE THIS RECORDING! If you are looking for "authentic" you are in the wrong place. But if you are looking for fantastic sound, wonderful singing and a truly uplifting and glorious musical experience you have come to the right place.

Highly, highly recommended.

67 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, the horror of it all!, August 17, 2002

By 

Rachel Howard (ocklawaha, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Handel - Messiah / Vyvyan · Sinclair · Vickers · Tozzi · Royal PO · Beecham (Audio CD)

Rich, powerful, passionate voices, capable of thunderous power and calm tenderness! What was Beecham thinking about? How dare he treat this music as though it was about Jesus' coming, His life here on Earth, and His death and resurrection? I can hardly imagine why the old conductor would possibly have wanted to conduct this any differently from what Handel heard in that historic first performance. Beecham should be tarred and feathered for daring to have his own thoughts concerning The Messiah... and for daring to hire Eugene Goosens to orchestrate it. Didn't he know that The Messiah is a dusty old museum piece, on display for our silent reverence, and should not be thought of as a living composition, capable of taking its audiences to emotional heights that are almost unbearable in their power and beauty?

Jennifer Vyvian sings clearly and sweetly, while Monica Sinclair's rich voice adds disturbing undertones to one of Handel's most intriguing and emotionally vibrant compositions- He Was despised. How dare she do this! She should just have declaimed the words with no passion and let us put all the nuances in ourselves! Why oh why do these people inject anything of themselves when the words should do it all?

The chorus! And the orchestra! They are among the worst offenders. They actually sound ecstatic in the Hallelujah Chorus! It's absolutely infuriating that they sound so utterly joyous because Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords! And then there's the Amen Chorus which finishes up the piece. Words fail me... how dare they treat this music so reverentially, as though they're glad to be in heaven. The power and gutsiness of the finale under Beecham lifts my spirits and fires my imagination to new heights. They should just have recited the words and let me do that for myself. Of course, that implies that I am just as good as Beecham's forces. What a heady thought! I am just as good as some of the entire world's greatest musicians... and I cannot read a note of music, nor have I ever sung in The Messiah. But at least, I can THINK it, without ever trying to improve myself.

Oh! Let us not forget the sins of Giorgio Tozzi, whose rich basso-cantante almost overwhelms my senses with its smoothness of sound and richness of characterization. The soul of Man is artfully revealed here, with many of its faults and aspirations... and it is done here by a man who seems to believe what he is singing. Instead of just forcing the sounds out of his mouth, he actually has the sheer voice to succeed with his efforts. How dare he do this! How dare he sound better than the average man! Why, if he sounds better than me, and I want to sing this music as well as he does... (Supposing I was a bass!) why... I might actually have to work at my craft, instead of just lying down like a couch potato and vegetating. (This, of course, is an illusion. Even the most down-home ordinary seeming singing of a blue-grass performer is vastly beyond the untrained and untried voices of the stay-at-home-and-do-nothing-but-I-am-as-good-as-they-are!- want-to-be's! Why, in God's great and Holy Name, would I want to listen to somebody with no talent sing?)

Now we come to Jon Vickers, the tenor who sounds passionate, rich, sincere, reverent, and over the top, with a voice that can sound soothing as easily as it sounds as powerful as Godzilla in a bad mood. Vickers does not have the light, sweet lyric voice usually heard in these solos. Should we not stick with tradition here? Why do Beecham and Vickers have to be so different from all the others? When Vickers sings Thou Shalt Break Them, he really sounds angry. Now why do that? What is there in the words `Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron!' and `Dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel!' that can possibly lead you to believe this soloist is angry or should show anger? I just do not get it. Just sing the words calmly, Jon. Don't be so emotional. Handel's first tenor would not have sung it like you, so why did you do it differently? Maybe the fact that there exists no recordings of that first performer has something to do with it. I do not understand why you would want to approach this creatively, Jon Vickers, with thoughts and ideas of your own and a voice all your own. I just don't understand...

As anyone may have guessed long before this, I love this recording. The arguments given, however, are arguments I have heard many times. There are many people who do seem to think performance artists should not work in a creative, personal, and unique manner. I ask them this question- if nobody did, then how would composers like Handel ever have done this kind of work? How would the singers who first created the parts have performed them? There were no exact precedents, though analogous stylistic precedents abounded. Handel built upon the work that had come before him. (That he was a notorious plagiarist does not invalidate the fact that he was also a very creative man.) Verdi built upon Bellini and Donizetti, to name a few. Sometimes, such building comes as an iconoclastic reaction to set in stone performance practices- witness Boito's efforts, like Mefistofeles and Arnold Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht. Am I against re-creations of original perfomance practices? Not at all. Old as they might be, they would be new performance practices to me. Why not savor the sounds of styles and voices and instruments that are new to me? I love to get a glimpse, however dim, of how my ancestors did things. Sir Thomas Beecham has been accused of leading a bloated Messiah, way over-orchestrated and ponderous. Beecham, in his liner notes, rants and raves against the 3,000 voice choirs and huge orchestras of previous times. I have heard recordings of some of these huge choirs. I agree with those who find them cumbersome and clumsy. Beecham's forces are nothing like that.

I intend to enjoy any performance that touches my heart and soul, whether done with original instruments, or done in the most modern style. It's like having any style of cooking I want.