Handel , The British Broadcasting Corporation Choir Symphony Orchestra - Messiah

Thursday 1st July 2004
Handel , The British Broadcasting Corporation Choir Symphony Orchestra - Messiah
Handel , The British Broadcasting Corporation Choir Symphony Orchestra - Messiah

STYLE: Classical
RATING 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 9415-9121
LABEL: Pearl GEMCDS9456
FORMAT: CD Album

Reviewed by Tony Cummings

The larger-than-life English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) was celebrated for many things, one of them his stirling work of rescuing Handel's Messiah from the stifling clutches of the bloated 19th century traditionalism and from the purist efforts with their parsimonious handful of strings and oboes. His recording of Handel's masterpiece here is not the exotic rendition of the work in 1959 which has come to be known as 'The Beecham Messiah', but this finest recording of the work which took place in Westminster Central Hall in 1927 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Thanks to the technical wizardry of the engineers used on this double CD reissue of the original 78s, the sound quality is startlingly good and they've also used unbroken background ambience between pieces. The soloists, Dora Labbette (soprano), Muriel Brunskill (contralto) and Harold Williams (bass/baritone) all do well with only tenor Hubert Eisdell sounding past his best while the choir passages are stunning in their impact. A piece of musical history.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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Reader Comments

Posted by dan in USA @ 01:31 on Jul 29 2007

Why was Hubert Eisdell considered past his prime? The bottle? I've read the downplaying of his performance before.



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