MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
Crotchet

 

George Frideric HANDEL (1685–1759)
Messiah (1742/1750) [146.02]
Kathleen Battle (soprano); Florence Quivar (mezzo); John Aler (tenor); Samuel Ramey (bass)
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
Toronto Symphony Orchestra/Sir Andrew Davis
rec. 22-23 December 1986, The Centre in the Square, Kitchener, Ontario. DDD
EMI CLASSICS 2176452
[73.02 + 73.00]
Experience Classicsonline


Not everyone wants a recording of Messiah performed by a period instrument group with relatively small forces. I say that despite the fact that such recordings have become immensely sophisticated in the last twenty years. However if you want a modern instrument Messiah then there are a large variety from which to choose.

Last year the LSO brought out their recording, on their own LSO Live label, taken from concerts conducted by Sir Colin Davis. Davis used a crack chamber choir, Tenebrae, and a group of soloists at home in both period and modern performance. Now EMI have re-issued Sir Andrew Davis's recording of Messiah using Canadian forces.

The recording is based around the Toronto Mendelssohn choir, a large amateur chorus, accompanied by the Toronto Symphony. For soloists Andrew Davis opts for a quartet of distinctly operatic voices, Kathleen Battle, Florence Quivar, John Aler and Samuel Ramey.

The Toronto Symphony gives a surprisingly crisp account. Granted they phrase it pretty much like any other classical music, but as a symphony orchestra you wouldn't expect anything else. There is no element of period performance practice, but still the sound is sharply defined and lively with plenty of air between the notes. Despite the large size of the choir, this is a nimble performance, without the heaviness that can dog earlier symphonic accounts of Messiah. In moments like the Pifa the orchestra turn in a performance of quiet beauty. As usual with symphonic forces, the harpsichord is rather under-powered – so, in loud orchestral moments it either disappears or is reduced to meaningless tinkling.

The chorus, though relatively large, acquit themselves well. There are some moments when the faster passages sound a little muddy, but nothing serious. Though the resulting choral tone is no where near as stunning as that of Tenebrae on the Colin Davis disc, it has the advantage of the weight and depth that a bigger chorus brings. Luckily this is achieved without heaviness or ponderousness. In fact, though the bigger moments are wonderful they don't quite thrill in the sort of large-scale “bells and whistles” way that can happen in some older performances. You don't have to be Beecham to give in to the temptation of turning the Hallelujah Chorus into Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, but this is certainly a temptation Andrew Davis resists.

One of the admirable things about this recording is the way that Andrew Davis threads his way neatly and crisply between a period performance and an overdone, leaden symphonic one. He thus gives us a real symphonic account of the work, but one which respects Handel's original conception.

The soloists are impressive in that they all have the capability to sing Handel's passage-work. Kathleen Battle has a surprisingly rich voice for a coloratura soprano. With its dark tones and characterful vibrato, she never lacks interest and her account is well phrased and highly sophisticated. On the downside she fails to find the purity needed at the requisite places. Quite simply, whatever the type of orchestra used, 'And there were shepherds' demands the pristine tones of an Emma Kirkby, and this Battle fails to deliver.

I was familiar with Battle singing Handel, having long had her recording of Semele; a recording in which I felt that Battle seemed more at home in the style than here. Perhaps the more operatic nature of Semele meant that Battle's operatic background made her more comfortable.

Florence Quivar has a beautiful warm mezzo voice which I began to appreciate only after repeated listening. She brings flexibility of line and nice autumn tones. There are however times when her approach is just a little too 19th century operatic for my taste. In He was despised she does not move me as much as some of the great 20th century mezzo-sopranos and contraltos, but it is a creditable effort none the less.

John Aler has the sort of flexible slim-line tenor voice which enables him to appear in a great variety of recordings. Here he makes a decent stab at Handel's important tenor solos. In the opening he demonstrates a neat pliable tone plus an ability to open out at the requisite moments.

Samuel Ramey is the King on Janet Baker's recording of Ariodante, conducted by Raymond Leppard. On that recording I found his singing efficient, but rather boring. His account of the bass solos on this Messiah has done nothing to change my opinion. His evenness and control in the passage-work is impressive and, given his attractively gravelly bass voice, his singing is remarkably clean. But I want more I'm afraid. In The Trumpet shall sound we just don't thrill the way we ought to.

In general all four soloists ornament quite discreetly. Though Battle indulges in one or two over-the-top flights of fancy and both she and Quivar give us some octave transpositions, which is certainly a solecism too far.

Which Messiah you buy will depend on your tastes. If you simply want a fine account on modern instruments, then you need look no further than Colin Davis and the LSO. If you want a bigger choir and more operatic soloists, then this Andrew Davis version may appeal, especially if the soloists themselves are of interest.

Robert Hugill






 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.