Texte paru dans: / Appeared in: |
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Outil de traduction ~ (Très approximatif) |
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Reviewer: Donald
R. Vroon
This is the Goossens
orchestration from 1959. That was recorded the same year by Sir Thomas
Beecham with the Royal Philharmonic and some stunning soloists. 60 years
after that recording, one might imagine that a new recording could bring
some improvements, at least in sound. No. I hear no improvement in sound
over Beecham's recording, which had particularly beautiful sound. Beecham
took about 145 minutes, but added an appendix of 17 minutes. Only 'The Lord
Gave the Word' is here from that appendix. (All the rest was true Handel and
is usually performed nowadays.) In fact, apart from the choruses Beecham is
slower and more expressive; he allows his soloists more room to convey the
Biblical poetry. Since his soloists were wonderful, no one has matched his
Messiah for poetry and beauty of expression. Jennifer Vyvyan, Monica
Sinclair, Jon Vickers, Georgio Tozzi—you can't beat that team, though I like
the bass here, Christopher Job. He hasn't the sheer beauty of voice of Tozzi,
but often he strikes just the right chord in his interpretation. Claudia
Chapa is the alto soloist here, and she has a particularly rich voice—which
makes up for a few moments that seem not quite right. I'm afraid I dislike
the voice and manner of tenor John McVeigh; maybe the word that describes it
is "glassy". The soprano often sounds as if the conductor is pushing her;
the tempos in her airs can seem uncomfortable and rushed. Her voice has more
wobble than I prefer. Beecham wanted to counteract the tendency to plainness
and leanness and smallness that was beginning in his time. Yet he did not
want to return to bloated choruses with sluggish tempos. To compensate, he
was a little too brisk in the choruses. But he let his soloists do their
operatic best to convey emotion and devotion. So one of the best elements of
the original 1959 Beecham is the soloists. This orchestration is sometimes
odd—for example, too much percussion (even cymbals—there are three
percussionists besides the timpanist)—but often wonderfully warm and
colorful. Goossens often fell back on Mozart's orchestration in making this.
Unfortunately there is no organ here. I especially like recordings with a
big organ, such as the ones led by Andrew Davis. The chorus here is much
bigger than Beecham's, and the conductor obviously knows how to get the best
from choral singers. The 'Hallelujah Chorus' is slower and much better than
Beecham's. He is obviously a choral conductor, and their parts are the best
parts. In that way he gives us a different take on this Messiah
orchestration. The recording was made in 2019 at the Abbey Road Studios. It
sounds a little too close-up and studio-bound. The music needs more space to
fill—it needs "hall sound" or even church sound". | ||||
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