SITE RATING: 2/10
SITE REVIEW:
OK, you wanna talk GRAND Messiah?
SLOW Messiah?
Then we're going to talk about Stokowski's 1966 highlights
recording done in "Phase 4 Stereo". Stokowski today is known
primarily among the masses (for better or worse) for this collaboration
with Walt Disney on "Fantasia". But for this recording he chose
sixteen movements from Messiah,
and, for the life of me, I can't see why he bothered. The
soloists are all old-school operatic who chew their way through each
song with relish, the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus are recorded
with so much echo it sounds as if they're down in a well, and the
tempos are ponderous enough to make you believe you're listening to
"March of the Baby Elephants". Stokowski was never known as a
Handellian, and with one listen you can see why - he doesn't understand
baroque tradition at all. Added to that is the scant
tracklisting, including one track for each of the soloists, and the
Overture and Pastoral Symphony to show off the LSO, and there's little
to recommend here for even die-hard enthusiasts.
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