George Frideric HANDEL (1685 - 1759)
Messiah (1742) [142.19]
Rebekah Wilshire (soprano); Bethany Hodges (soprano); Janine Ullyette (soprano);
Sarah Bleasdale (alto); Andrea Saposnik (alto); Robert Crowe (alto); Benjamin
Brecher (tenor); James Martin (bass); Robert McLoud (bass)
The Trinity Choir and Orchestra/Owen Burdick
rec. 5, 11, 12 May 1996, Trinity Church, New York
NAXOS 8.554511-12 [76.32 + 65.47]
Twenty-eight years after the first performance of Messiah, it
received its New World premiere in New York in 1770 at Trinity Church. In 1996,
the choir and orchestra of that same church recorded Messiah under the
direction of Owen Burdick, the church's musical director. In 1997 Trinity Church
celebrated the 300th anniversary of its founding, by charter from
William III. Although this Naxos re-issue of the recording does not say so,
I presume that this recording was made as part of those 300th anniversary
celebrations.
The choir is a mixed one, with women sopranos and a blend of men and woman
altos. There are a total of 21 singers with an orchestra of 19 playing on modern
instruments. The particular quality of this recording arises not so much from
the choir and orchestra as from the fact that the solo roles are spread between
nine singers taken from the choir.
The opening notes of the overture define the feel of the performance. Burdick
conducts a quiet, low-key opening with moderate speeds. It certainly does not
try to ape period manners. In fact, for most of the work Burdick's speeds are
rather moderate. At first I thought this over-moderation was simply Burdick's
interpretation. But the performers are surrounded by a substantial acoustic
halo from the building and I began to wonder whether the over-emphasis on moderation
was to solve the problem of making the piece work in what is a pretty lively
acoustic.
If you can stand the moderate, and sometimes slow speeds, then the choral singing
is one of the best features of the disc. The choir make a beautiful focused
sound, with a good clean line. I did however notice that there are places where
Burdick encourages them to sing in a slightly stylised way. For instance in
'And with his stripes', the words 'And with his stripes' are sung marcato,
followed by 'we are healed' done legato. This sort of over-pointing of the
text/music tends to mar choral performance, especially when combined with the
over-deliberate speeds in other movements.
The soloists are talented without ever being quite a match for the soloists
on other discs. Tenor Benjamin Brecher sings all of the tenor solos. He has
a slim, lyric voice that can turn reedy under pressure. This feeling that the
soloists are talented and capable without ever being ideal rather hovers over
the rest of the piece. Bethany Hodges has a bigger, richer voice than I would
have liked for the opening soprano solos. And Sarah Bleasdale is quite light
for 'He was despised'. In fact this piece was one where Burdick moved away
from his moderation. He and Beasdale turn in a performance which is relatively
fleet, in keeping with the lightness of Bleasdale's voice. Both James Martin
and Robert McLoud have fine-grained bass voices and both turn in some lovely
singing; but it was unfortunate that James Martin's pitch problems in 'The
Trumpet shall sound' were not corrected in another take.
The orchestra provide lively accompaniment with some good crisp work, giving
a fine chamber orchestra account of the piece without tipping towards period
performance practice.
This is a charming, approachable and likeable performance which does not surpass
the many other available versions. What makes it distinctive is the use of
soloists from the choir. This is something which makes this a truly personal
account, identifying it strongly with Trinity Church. This distinctiveness
renders the performance a little outside the general run. I can't recommend
this as any type of library version, but can certainly imagine people trying
it out and finding in it a certain distinctive charm.
Robert Hugill
see also review by John
Sheppard