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SITE RATING:  0/10 SITE REVIEW:  There are two schools of thought about bringing classical music to the "masses."   The first school, which Leonard Bernstein promoted through programs like his Leonard Bernstein: Omnibus - The Historic TV Broadcasts, is to educate people so that they could learn the history, meaning, and power of great music, expanding their appreciation and knowledge; thereby "raising them up" to the bar of high art.  The second school of thought is to "dumb down" the music to the perceived level of the great unwashed, lowest-common-denominator layman.  The first school is harder; it takes a master teacher, patience, humor, and intelligence.  The second school is easier; it makes everything loud, fast, and flashes bright lights in order to "numb" the audience into a slobbering, dead-eyed pool of sludge.  It was this second school of thought that created Messiah Rocks!    Screaming guitars, thundering drums, banshee-wailing soloists, and mindless sing-alongs, stripping Handel's masterpiece of feeling, inspiration, and art, and turning it into banal Christian-lite pop-rock.  In truth, there is very little of Handel's Messiah to be found here - it's only been sampled - you'll hear fits and starts of it between the entirely forgettable Christian pop songs.  The soloists, pulled from the "Disney Princess" roster and Broadway, have certainly learned to belt; but have mistaken volume for passion.  Keith Lockhart, poster child for classical banality, is a slave to the producer's MTV-inspired vision, while everything sung and played withers and dies before the real Messiah.

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