Search - Handel, Kwella, Denley :: Messiah Hlts

Excellent!

Beija Flor | MD, USA | 11/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Every Christmas I pull this CD out and sing straight through New Year's! It is a lovely overview of Handel's Messiah condensed into a little under an hour. Not to be missed!"

Wrong Headed But So Right

James S. Eisenberg | 01/15/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having just attended an "Authentic" MESSIAH, done by Toronto's wonderful Tafelmusik Baroque Ensemble at Christmas, it was a shock to hear Stokowski's impossibly "Big" and old-fashioned approach to the work after so many years. Probably using the largest chorus and body of strings in a MESSIAH recording, the great conductor gives us the sort of performance that was common in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries, and takes it to a fascinating extreme.

The performance succeeds to a remarkable degree. The choruses, especially 'Hallelujah' and 'Amen' absolutely soar, and the work of the four soloists is first rate.

I believe that the original LP was issued in the Decca/London Phase 4 series, and the sound recording is impressively "big", but also has remarkable detailing.

No texts or notes are included."