Handel: Messiah
- 艺人
- The Sixteen
- 语种
- 英语
- 厂牌
- Coro
- 发行时间
- 2008年09月01日
- 专辑类别
- 录音室专辑
专辑介绍
Carolyn Sampson, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mark Padmore, Christopher Purves
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Hot on the heels of their landmark appearance on BBC Four’s Sacred Music programme Harry Christophers and his award-winning ensemble The Sixteen are releasing a brand new recording of Handel’s Messiah. On this disc The Sixteen and Harry Christophers are joined by four soloists, all revered Handelians who have had a long association with the choir - Carolyn Sampson, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mark Padmore and Christopher Purves. Indeed, Carolyn, Mark and Christopher all sung as members of the choir before embarking on successful solo careers.
The Sixteen has performed Messiah over 150 times and over the years the two have become synonymous with one another. Arguably the most famous oratorio ever written and certainly Handel’s best known work, Messiah needs little introduction. Composed in a staggering 24 days, Messiah was first performed in Dublin in 1742 where it received a rapturous welcome.
Harry Christophers first conducted Messiah in 1985 and has been celebrated by audience and critics alike for his gripping and inventive interpretations ever since. Over the years ‘The Sixteen’s Messiah’ has become almost legendary with audiences flocking to performances year after year and, of course, Harry’s interpretation of this great masterpiece has changed and developed.
This exceptional new recording demonstrates an accomplished expertise, honed over the past 23 years.
The Times
9th August 2008
****
“Smoothly yet energetically planed on the period instruments of the Sixteen orchestra and impeccably refined chorus, the text is lovingly caressed rather than ebulliently dramatised. The Hallelujah chorus is no rambunctious run, Part II's “lift up your heads” didactic rather than celebratory. Floating over the top are Carolyn Sampson's porcelain soprano, and the alto Catherine Wyn Rogers, whose He was Despised acquaints us with grief indeed.”
BBC Music Magazine
September 2008
*****
“Three of the four outstanding soloists - fine Handelians all - cut their teeth in the choir, and Catherine Wyn-Rogers has been a regular soloist. Crucially they don't stand apart, regally dispensing arias between familiar chorus; pre-eminently this is an 'ensemble' Messiah with everything (including the superb instrumental playing and imaginatively realised continuo) directed towards the unfolding of an involving theological narrative.”
Gramophone Magazine
November 2008
“The Sixteen's choral singing has clarity, balance, shapely moulding of contrapuntal lines and plenty of unforced power. This fine team performance is a safe recommendation for anyone wanting to acquire an all-purpose &period& Messiah.”
International Record Review
“a Messiah of splendid vitality and authority, a summation of Christophers’s and The Sixteen’s Handelian enterprise.”
Gramophone Classical Music Guide
2010
“Over the past few decades Harry Christophers and The Sixteen have performed Messiah about 150 times. This new Coro recording presents them to better advantage than their uneven 1987 version for Hyperion: the choir remains excellent 21 years later but the orchestra and soloists are a vast improvement. Only one member of the choir and two orchestral players repeat their roles in the 2008 performance, and the violin section has swelled from seven to 12, which helps to produce a stronger theatrical sound. Christophers's interpretation nowadays is just over four minutes longer than it was in 1987, so there are no radical changes in his overall pacing, but taking a few things a notch slower suggests an increased confidence and maturity.
The contribution from the oboes is more telling and to the fore than one usually hears, although the prominence of the organ as a continuo instrument is seldom convincing (nor is the use of theorbo accompaniment in recitatives).
The Sixteen's choral singing has clarity, balance, shapely moulding of contrapuntal lines and plenty of unforced power. When necessary, resonant homophonic grandeur is achieved without pomposity. The contrast between the playful and solemn parts of 'All we like sheep' is wondrously realised, and the soft sections of 'Since by man came death' are breathtaking.
Three of the soloists earned their spurs as members of The Sixteen. Mark Padmore, a choir member in 1987 and here making his third (and best) Messiah recording as a soloist, could be a little lighter in 'Comfort ye', but his evangelical communication of words is highly effective in 'Thy rebuke hath broken his heart'. Carolyn Sampson and the orchestra's violins relish an equal dialogue in 'Rejoice greatly', and her coloratura sparkles with clarity and assurance.
Christopher Purves sings 'For behold, darkness shall cover the earth' more softly than one usually hears, and 'The trumpet shall sound' is lyrical and suave (with splendid obbligato from Robert Farley).
Christophers conducts with finesse and integrity. This fine team performance is a safe recommendation for anyone wanting to acquire an all-purpose 'period' Messiah.”
The Guardian
28th September 2008
“Harry Christophers thinks he has conducted the work more often than any living Handelian and it shows in this lush, refined, meticulous reading, with superb soloists”
最新简评（共3条）
- @cacacoo123：Glory to the god !
- @植子轩( )：发布好几个版本的messiah呢……
- @ophelia✿(drowned.)：无损转320K