Whenever we look through a family album of old photographs, most of us ask "Who is this?" not "Who was this?" Photographs are always present tense, and so are all the elements of life the enrich us. This blog considers music, film, books and other communications that call out to me always in the present tense.
A quick listening guide to the many and diverse "Messiah" recordings
The music of George Frideric Handel is in steady rotation in my world. Few composers wrote more beautifully for the voice, and his operas are justifiably returning to the repertoire at last. But at Christmas, all ears turn to his oratorio "Messiah," so I'll continue my annual compare-and-contrast posting of recordings grand (but not so great) and small.
"Messiah" is America's best-loved chorale work for so many reasons … First of all, the text is in English, and second, it's tied to the Christmas season, when music fills the air. There are dozens of recordings of "Messiah" out there, and some differ in the extreme.
So here are some sample tracks that should catch your ear, since this is the one piece of classical music everyone knows.
Handel wrote "Messiah" in a two-week blaze of composition in 1741, and he revised it many times before his death in 1759. Then, along came a next-generation composer named Mozart who lovingly re-orchestrated "Messiah," adding clarinets and trombones and extensively rescoring the oratorio. Who are we to argue with Mozart? That version was performed most often until the early music movement came along in the 1980s and restored Baroque music to its glory.
The many rescoring efforts for "Messiah" could be extreme. Just sample the 1959 extravaganza by British conductor Thomas Beecham, who added harps, triangles, cymbals and massive orchestral weight. It fit the imperial British love of choral giganticism, and it certainly adds sonic heft to the choruses, but … well, Beachem needed someone to get him down from his imperious vision.
A counterpoint to Beecham's Cinemascope spectacular is Christopher Hogwood's 1991 recording using the 1754 Handel version, which, like the original employs trebles – boys – instead of sopranos in the choruses, to create a celestial, silvery sound. The tempos are lively, and the lighter orchestration simply gleams. More importantly, the recitatives – the semi-sung passages of text – have a real sense urgency – you feel like they are telling you an important message.
(I had the pleasure of seeing Hogwood lead a force of just 16 voices in a "Messiah" at Connecticut College almos 30 years ago.)
So this playlist includes some comparisons of three versions:
● "For unto us a child is born," is offered first in Beecham's huge setting with a zillion voices and added percussion, then Hogwood's bright and gleaming Handel version, with a choir of angels … no, they're trebles. (This is my favorite section of "The Messiah," so thrilling at "Wonderful, Counselor …")
● "All we like sheep …" is offered as the first in the Mozart version, led by Charles Mackerras. It opens with pulsing horns that chug along and is full of horn figures to ornament it. In the Handel orchestration by Hogwood that comes next, the voices take the forefront (no need to tart this up).
● "There were shepherds abiding …" The big Beecham version is spread across four, short recording tracks and is set in a single track for the Hogwood version. In the Beecham, we get cymbals to start "Glory to God" and booming percussion … for some reason. In Hogwood's, the recitative by soprano Judith Nelson has a fervor that leads to "Glory to God" far better than any hey-wake-up cymbal crash.
● The "Hallelujah" chorus, in Beecham's version sounds like a marching band at a Big Ten football game, feeling rushed after the pokey, faux-grand tempos he uses elsewhere. Hogwood's is quick, not hasty, the vocal counterpoint is accented, and the trumpets sing out above it all like heraldry, instead of being buried in a wall of sound.
So, I cast my vote. There are countless fine "Messiahs" in the catalog. Which is your favorite?
