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SITE RATING: 3/10 SITE REVIEW:
Listening to past recordings of Messiah can be
illuminating. In this, Sir Malcom Sargent's final of
three he
recorded over his long and illustrious career, all of the largess and
heaviness which had permeated Handel's oratorio over the centuries is
on its full display, and to its worst effect. Sargent was
seventy
years old in 1965 when this was recorded; he would die two years later,
and in many ways this Messiah sounds
more like a dirge than many others. Lumbering, with
huge
forces giving the only semblance of grandeur, Sargent's tempi are
positively glacial; the soloists sound mired in tar, with thick,
throaty tessituras; and the orchestra and choir, buried beneath their
sheer numbers, are completely lost within the smothering echo which
permeates the entire recording - all the fine detail is lost, leaving
nothing but a thick sludge for the listener to try and discern the
text. It seems to be sheer luck when an instrument pops out
of
the mire - a flute (another remnant from post-baroque "improvements")
rears it's chirpy head during "O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to
Zion" - the only bright spot in the darkness. I do enjoy John
Shirley-Quirk's performance here - he is clearly in his prime, and
sounds glorious, reveling in the long, languid lines which Sargent
indulges in. But most of the rest of the recording is so slow
and
soporific that its difficult to keep focused. It simply drags
on... and on... Reader's Digest acquired the rights to this
recording ages ago, and continues to repackage and reissue it under
many guises. Even if you prefer the grand, slow tradition,
I
think many listeners would find this Messiah weighs too
heavily on the ear.
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