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xsBusiness - Handel: Messiah
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List Price: $20.98
Our Price: $13.78
Your Save: $ 7.20 ( 34% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: RCA
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0828766231724
Format: Original recording remastered
Label: RCA
Manufacturer: RCA
Number Of Discs: 2
Publisher: RCA
Release Date: 2004-10-12
Studio: RCA
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: One Of The Very Best Performances
Comment: Finally, this wonderful performance has been put on CD. I've been waiting a long time for this. I just about wore out my LP recording.
This is one of the best performances of Handel's masterpiece I have ever heard. The tempi on the choruses are refreshingly brisk and the execution of the melismas is clean and perfect. Of course this has always been a trademark of the Robert Shaw Chorale.
The comparison by Kris to chipmunks is absurd. Robert Shaw's choral expertise was brilliant. His tempi is perfect. Bravo!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Too fast
Comment: Hallelujah Chorus is like listening to the Chipmunks version of the same. Too bad. It really should NOT be rushed. Best version I've ever heard is Karl Richter's 1965 version with the the Munich Bach Choir.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Inspired
Comment: For a work so frequently recorded, one might think, oh, whee, another reissue from the vaults. But among all the many excellent to splendid recordings of Handel's great oratorio, this has always been the one that spoke to me in the most immediate, humane, and beautiful voice. Small scale enough to clarify the orchestral and choral textures so often made heavy and sodden by huge numbers, on the other hand one never feels this is a dry, academic, period reconstruction either: just as too many earlier recorded performances were overblown, too many today are abrasive fossil-like museum pieces. NOT THIS RECORDING! There are a number of recordings, old and new, which avoid the stylistic pitfalls of the periods in which they were made, yet are clearly of that period. This recording, though, is timeless. Indeed, as one critic has aptly said, this is a "Messiah for the ages". Even the less well-known numbers are given loving attention -- nowhere is there the idea of the singers and orchestra "marking" time or shuffling through the "boring" sections... and, voila! They are not in the least boring! Shaw, his soloists, chorus, and orchestra, not only navigate through the many reefs of interpretation of this pivotal masterpiece, they infuse it with life, and joy, and the utmost virtuousity, it is big when the music makes it so; it is never meretriciously performed and one feels that everyone involved believes in this monumental work, from the crisp and exciting overture to the final exhilirating chorus "Amen!". I went through 3 copies of the LP set, and when RCA did not bring it out in CD form I went to the trouble of having the LPs transferred to CD. But this remastering is excellent, and well worth having waited so long for!!! It is something to rejoice about! Whether you have no other versions of MESSIAH, or if you have a score of them, this will swiftly become one of your favorite recordings. A masterpiece in a masterpiece of a performance! Thanks, RCA, for finally bringing it to us again! As the beautiful contralto recitative says, "Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, /And the ears of the deaf unstopped; /Then shall the lame man leap as an hart,/And the tongue of the dumb shall sing!"
Customer Rating:
Summary: Handel: Messiah one of the better arrangements
Comment: This is a great configuration of Handel's Messiah. I just love it. It is great talent and a wonderful arrangement.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I liked this
Comment: Overall, I liked this CD; however, of the soloists, I liked the bass performer the best. He had a depth and added drama, without going "over the top".
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Editorial Reviews:
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Every year brings a slew of new and reissued versions of this most beloved of Handel's works. This one first saw daylight in 1966, but lest you think it's outdated, this refurbished classic remains a source of listening pleasure. Obviously, it cannot reflect the historically informed performance practices of today. But it is one of the pioneering precursors of contemporary style, with sustained forward momentum, dancing rhythms, and an orchestra slimmed down from the prevailing norms of the 1960s. The singing is fine, with special kudos to the high-flying soprano, Judith Raskin, along with Florence Kopleff, a true alto, and Richard Lewis, a premier Handelian of the period. It also has what all Robert Shaw choral recordings have: first-rate choral singing and an emotional immediacy that goes to the heart of the music's message. I had to tilt the balance control to the left to bring the stage picture into focus, but once that was done, pure bliss followed. --Dan Davis
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