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My favourite version of The Messiah ...

eisenach said:
... going to be re-released:
http://www.europadisc.co.uk/classical/120636/Handel_-_Messiah.htm

Re-mastered from the original analogue tapes and available at 24/96 on the Blu-ray audio disc. All for the same price I bought the original 3 CD set for at the classical record shop down Needless Alley in Birmingham, sometime in the early mid 80s.
Do I need another copy ? :confused:
Click to expand...

Tried it, but never could get on with it - for me, Pinnock's is top-dog:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000E0LBAO/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Butt's recent recording on Linn is also excellent.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Each to his own !
I've not heard all the other recordings mentioned.
I first heard the Decca version on HR2, Hessen Radio, when I was living in Frankfurt. It was a lovely warm, sunny evening in 81 or 82, and the freshness, vivacity and energy of the Hogwood performance was a revelation. I recorded it on cassette (legal in Germany, at the time anyway !), and then, after I'd returned to the UK, it was one of my first CD purchases.
I've just sung it again recently with a local choir, and rediscovered the CDs at the same time. The recording didn't disappoint; the local performance ? Best left unsaid !
 
One more for Pinnock. There's nothing obviously spectacular about it, but every time I listen to the latest newcomer, I keep going back to it. It just sounds right.
 
One to avoid (IMHO) is this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00005Q6NX/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Played in typical Minkowski fashion, with lots of energy, but, unlike Gardiner's Monteverdis, who can perform miracles on command, Minkowski's cannot, and sometimes it shows.

A very good older one is this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000006DES/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

The highlight is Paul Esswood's "For who may abideth"/"For He is like a refiner's fire", which is positively spine-chilling in its intensity, the best I have ever heard. And it has the marvellous Janet Baker, who sings "He was despisèd" wonderfully.

Another very good version is one from the A(ustralian)BC - you get both CD and DVD:

https://shop.abc.net.au/products/cantillation-handel-messiah-deluxe-edition-2cd-dvd

The bass sings it as if he meant it:


Finally, one shouldn't forget The Other Messiah, which was THE Messiah for a long time - the version reorchestrated by Mozart. Some wealthy Viennese patrons commissioned Mozart to produce a German version. By this time, continuo instrumentation had fallen completely out of fashion, so Mozart had to rewrite much of the score. The biggest headache was "The trumpet shall sound", because nobody could play the high-flying trumpet part any more. Mozart briefly considered the unthinkable, leaving it out, but eventually transposed it down for horn. A good performance of Der Messias, such as this one, has much to commend it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000026GW2/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21
 
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I have not heard all versions! However my favourite is Mackerras, for Janet Baker, and Elizabeth Harwood's performance of the 12/8 version of Rejoice Greatly.

Davis is also very good.

Period instrument performances leave me underwhelmed.
 
Gerontius said:
I have not heard all versions! However my favourite is Mackerras, for Janet Baker, and Elizabeth Harwood's performance of the 12/8 version of Rejoice Greatly.

Davis is also very good.

Period instrument performances leave me underwhelmed.
Click to expand...

Always specify your Davis, I presume you mean Colin, otherwise, !%*/*!....
 
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