Search - George Frederick Handel, Johannes Brahms, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart :: Hallelujah! & Other Great Sacred Choruses

"symphonic in scale & eternal in their appeal"

J. Lovins | Missouri-USA | 12/04/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"RCA Victor presents Robert Shaw the preeminent choral conductor of our time and The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus in sacred choral works that are symphonic in scale, and eternal in their appeal. Newly remastered with state-of-the-art 24/96 technology, this superb album presents the magic of these performances in the widest range of musical reproduction ever.If you love the sound of a full chorus, this CD is for you - made up of students, secretaries, teachers, doctors, engineers, mechanic - all races and national origins. They sing for the "love" of it, and when they perform the "MESSIAH:HALLELUJAH CHORUS" by Handel, at that moment when all 200 voices abound you feel the heaven-sent with all it's glory...as in "THE CREATION: THE HEAVENS ARE TELLING" by Haydn, "pure" power and heart-felt emotion as only a large choral gathering can interpret.It's difficult to imagine - these masterpieces from world renown composers - Brahms, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Bach were recorded in 1961, the clarity is astounding...a must have for your ever-growing collection of music that will live on forever and forever - HALLELUJAH! Total Time: 48:40 on 8 Tracks...RCA Victor 63709...(2000)"

As good as it gets -- in THIS life!

Mark Blackburn | Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada | 04/12/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Four years ago today (April 12) my Mom died. Dad says she passed out into the next life, listening through headphones on her 'Walkman,' to a tape of her children's choir of forty years earlier, performing (amazingly for mostly 12-year-olds) in four-part harmony, this most famous 'chorus' by Handel.



I'll always be partial to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's delivery of the "Hallelujah Chorus" -- backed by my favorite orchestra, the Philadelphia Symphony, conducted by Eugene Ormandy. But this version has displaced all others in my heart . . . apart from the choir of young voices that will forever sing, in my mind's ear, the most perfect "Hallelujah."



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This rendition of Handel's masterwork -- by Robert Shaw's 200 assembled voices, plus the Cleveland Orchestra -- is a brilliantly-engineered recording; with the sort of spatial definition that places the listener right in the midst of the most glorious music this side of heaven.



Equally breathtaking highlights on this CD include "The Creation: The Heavens are Telling," by Haydn, and Mozart's "Lacrimosa." An extravagance of riches!



Oh yes, and the tempo of Handel's masterwork, as conducted by Shaw, seems perfect to my ears . . . which is to say EXACTLY the pace at which our kids' choir of forty years ago was conducted by "Mom" -- Grace Blackburn of Ottawa Canada.



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On this anniversary of her passing (into a world where we may hope even more celestial music reigns) a friend who sang alongside me in that children's choir -- Brenda Zanin of Ottawa recalls,



"When you are 12 years old, your perspective of grown-ups tends to be pretty narrow.



"To me, Grace Blackburn was the soft-spoken choir director at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, who persisted week-after-week, to teach us Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. We had no written music in our hands. She taught us the high notes and ethereal phrases by rote, in small groups . . . a few bars at a time . . . until we knew it in our sleep.



"We were just kids, so, deprived of proper tenors, she transposed those lines for our higher voices. And it worked. To this day I can sing the entire chorus verbatim - and did so this past Easter in my church choir.



"What a delightful surprise to read (in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper) that all these years later, the recording we were so proud of way back in the early 1960s played softly in Mrs. Blackburn's ears as she passed on.



"And what an eye-opener to discover that this kindly lady had made such significant contributions to the wider community (including a United Nations environmental award).



"I am sure she is enjoying the heavenly music of an infinitely greater chorus, while here below we continue to enjoy the many fruits of the labors from which she now rests."



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