Handel: Messiah Oratorio, HWV 56 (CD)

Gerald Finley’s magnificent intoning of the bass arias, alone worth the price of this two-CD set” Financial Times, Critics Choice
“Finley gives the performance of a true musician.” Opera News
“Gerald Finley’s noble ‘The Trumpet Shall Sound’ rivals any on disc.” The Telegraph
“…the tenor Michael Schade and the bass Gerald Finley excel” The Independent

Composer: George Frideric Handel
Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Performers:

Gerald Finley
Christine Schäfer
Michael Schade
Anna Larsson
Arnold Schoenberg Choir
Concentus Musicus Wien

Recorded: 17-21 December 2004, Musikvereinssaal, Vienna
Released: November 1, 2005
Number of Discs: 2
Label: Deutsches Harmonia Mundi
ASIN: B000BDGWC6

What the critics say

Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 17 December 2005. FT Weekend Magazine – Critics Choice

Looking for a stocking-filler? This Messiah carries the warning “Handel with care”. Neither of the female soloists sings with clear consonants, and Harnoncourt’s tempi can be strangely deadening: “Unto us a Child is Born” suffers most. The upside is Gerald Finley’s magnificent intoning of the bass arias, alone worth the price of this two-CD set. Harnoncourt is revelatory in the most unexpected places, with immaculately conceived contributions from the Concentus Musicus and Arnold Schoenberg Chorus.

Richard Wigmore, The Telegraph, Classical CDs of the week:

If you think you know how Messiah “goes”, this new recording, made at concerts in Vienna’s Musikverein, might make you think again. Take the “Hallelujah” chorus. In place of the familiar hearty extroversion, Harnoncourt begins quietly, prayerfully, reserving jubilance for the first entry of the trumpets. Other choruses, too – “And He Shall Purify”, “For Unto us a Child is Born”- are unusually gentle, their lines shaped with fastidious elegance.

As so often with Harnoncourt, the minutely detailed phrasing can sound contrived. But what this Messiah loses in Anglican robustness, it often makes up for in delicacy and reflective beauty. Predictably, too, Harnoncourt and his superb choir are marvellously dramatic in the Passion sequence of Part 2, culminating in a ferocious “He Trusted in God’.

The accented English of the soprano and mezzo soloists may disconcert some listeners, though Handel would not have worried one iota. Both sing strongly, if rather impersonally. The men sound much more involved. Michael Schade delivers a vividly theatrical “Thou Shalt Break Them”, whileGerald Finley’s noble “The Trumpet Shall Sound” rivals any on disc.

William R Braun, Opera News, March  2006 , vol 70 , no.9

The most notable aspect of Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s recent recordings is how little they sound like “Nikolaus Harnoncourt recordings.” Much in the manner of his 2005 Mozart Requiem (though admittedly unlike his recent Verdi Requiem), there is very little here in the line of prickly iconoclasm. Yes, there is a hearty drone under the “Pastoral Symphony,” and some wild extremes of expression in “Glory to God” catch the ear off guard. But mostly there is something of a Beechamesque lightness of heart about the enterprise. There’s an almost Victorian alto soloist (Anna Larsson) instead of the currently fashionable countertenor, and there is some generic dynamic shaping of the choral lines in “Their sound is gone out.” The continuo cellist tries out some similar ideas in his exposed moments. Tempo is completely flexible in “The people that walked in darkness.” And the performance even momentarily sags dramatically during “He shall feed His flock,” as Messiah always does. Moreover, the Austrian choral singers consistently mispronounce the final consonants of “cities,” “arise” and “his” in a most charming way. Larsson sings of “eyess” and “earss,” and only the Canadian baritone Gerald Finley can sing “the.” It is all utterly endearing.

Harnoncourt clearly views Messiah as an operatic drama. He binds the first three choruses of Part II into a single dramatic scene worthy of a prima donna. “Lift up your heads” mostly moves at what could be called “strut tempo,” but there’s a sudden misterioso at “Who is this King of Glory?” In deference to the way Handel reserves the soprano soloist until the angel’s command, he has the alto lead off “He shall feed His flock,” but in keeping with the sublime optimism of “If God be for us,” the soprano version is sung. He splits the long solo sequence of Part II between soprano (“Thy rebuke” and “Behold, and see”) and tenor (“He was cut off” and “But thou didst not leave”) in a most persuasive way. Several opportunities for cadenzas are passed by in the interest of long lines. And, mercifully, there is none of the usual unmotivated frenzy about the choruses “He shall purify” (light and prancing) and “His yoke is easy.”

Larsson is not ideally agile in quick music. (Indeed, the choral basses are more fluent than she is.) Christine Schäfer has a full-bodied but pure soprano; in “I know that my Redeemer liveth” her sound is reminiscent of Sena Jurinac’s. She also does a lovely “How beautiful are the feet,” while Larsson takes “Thou art gone up on high.” Michael Schade crosses into verismo for “He that dwelleth” but is otherwise sweet-voiced. Finley gives the performance of a true musician. He is incapable of dully inflecting two consecutive syllables in the same way. He offers a few light variations in “The trumpet shall sound,” most of them in his bright upper range. Happily, he is allowed the full version of “Why do the nations,” which fires an exciting response from the well-drilled Arnold Schoenberg Choir.

The story of the composition and first performances of Messiah is a fascinating one. Fortunately it is well told in Thomas Forrest Kelly’s First Nights and Donald Burrows’s Cambridge Music Handbook on the work, because we don’t get it in the current release’s bizarre CD booklet. Instead we get, incredibly, a thorough analysis of Handel’s handwriting. The Messiah text is then crammed onto only four pages, which you’ll appreciate the next time you are packing for a trip on the space shuttle. But as you depart, enjoy Harnoncourt’s “Hallelujah” chorus, which begins in the serene, angelic manner of a cruise ship slipping into the harbor and ends not with a bang but with a heavenly decrescendo.

http://arts.independent.co.uk/music/reviews/article334256.ece

Rating: Four out of five stars

…From the same source comes Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s second recording of Handel’s Messiah (82876 64070 2, two discs), typically based on manuscript sources, hence a number of unfamiliar textures. Harnoncourt is hot on word-colouring and articulation, which means that the score’s narrative element is viewed from fresh perspectives. The chorus “For unto us” is uncommonly gentle, as is befitting a birth song, and although “Hallelujah” opens lyrically, it soon builds to a rousing climax.Among the singers, the tenor Michael Schade and the bass Gerald Finley excel. Schade, in particular, brings a rare dramatic impetus to his opening “Ev’ry valley” and the recitative that precedes it.

Julie Amacher, Minnesota Public Radio, 13 December 2005

When I come across a recording of Handel’s “Messiah” I go directly to my favorite arias and choruses. And yes, I often sing along. Many of us have heard this work hundreds of times. Some of us even attend holiday community “sing-along” performances.

Whether you know this work from beginning to end, or you know only the “Hallelujah!” chorus, I guarantee you’ll hear something you haven’t heard before in this new live recording with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Concentus Musicus Wien.

Even though this is an Easter Oratorio, it begins with the birth of Jesus, which is why we hear it at Christmastime. The Christmas story is my favorite part of Handel’s “Messiah” and the musicians on this new recording tell it so beautifully.

One of the first things I noticed is the tempo. Period instrument performances have a tendency to take this at a much quicker speed, but Nikolaus Harnoncourt slows things down with Concentus Musicus Vienna. The tenor aria, “Ev’ry Valley Shall be Exalted,” is the first place this really jumped out at me.

To confirm my suspicions, I listened to another period instrument performance from 1997 with the Gabrieli Consort and Players. On that recording the smooth, effortless style of tenor Charles Daniels has no trouble keeping pace with the orchestra. In fact, I’m more accustomed to hearing this piece at that faster tempo.

On this new recording, Harnoncourt gives the orchestra, chorus and the soloists room to breathe and shape the phrases. Michael Schade’s sweet tenor does just that in his first two arias, “Comfort ye my people” and “Ev’ry Valley.” Slowing the tempo allows Schade to be more expressive. Another place the tempo variation is very noticeable is in the most famous part of this oratorio. The “Hallelujah!” chorus begins more like a minuet than the bold overture most of us recall. It sounds like it’s gradually revving up for the moment when the king rose at the words “for the lord God omnipotent reigneth.” Harnoncourt also makes this chorus more percussive. The lines, “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords” are almost staccato, with every phrase punctuated to really make the point.

It’s been more than 20 years since Harnoncourt first recorded “Messiah”. He’s had a lot of time to think about what he might do differently, given another chance. Interestingly enough, the tempo on this new release is very similar to that earlier release.

Overall, the sound of this recording is richer and fuller. It maintains a sense of intimacy during the solos and a sense of glory during the choruses. “And the Glory of the Lord” is one of my favorite choruses. On this release, recorded live in Vienna’s Musikverein, the music almost glows, ring ing through the air with joy and celebration.

This oratorio was also a personal favorite of Handel’s. He even suggested that composing the piece was a spiritual experience, exclaiming, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me and the great God himself.” It’s easy to imagine the heavens opening up and displaying their rewards during that chorus.

“Bursting with audacious vitality,” is how Nikolaus Harnoncourt describes Handel’s “Messiah.” He brings those words to life on his latest recording of this oratorio. I think his choice of soloists adds even more positive energy to this performance.

German soprano Christine Schafer’s voice is pure (no vibrato?), yet warm and inviting. Her reading of “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion” confirms that for me.

Swedish alto Anna Larsson has made a name for herself as an oratorio singer and she complements Schafer beautifully on “He shall feed his flock.”

Canadian baritone Gerald Finley’s voice is incredibly flexible. He demonstrates that as he flows gently through the lyrical lines of “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth.”

With this new release, for the first time, you can hear Handel’s “Messiah” in surround sound quality on hybrid Super Audio Cd. Yes, it sounds fabulous, but more important, on this recording you’ll hear a performance that will make you listen more intently to one of the most famous oratorios of all time. In fact, you may feel as if you’re hearing it for the first time.