RECORDINGS

LABEL: A&M RECORDS
CATALOG NUMBER: 8475
UPC NUMBER: 074644857924
NUMBER OF DISCS: 1
RUNNING TIME: 61:20
YEAR RECORDED: 1990
CD RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 10, 1991
CONDUCTOR: LARRY WHITE
ORCHESTRA: YOUNG MESSIAH ORCHESTRA
CHOIR: FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF NORFOLK CHOIR
SOLOISTS: CYNTHIA CLAWSON
PHIL DRISCOLL
FIRST CALL
THE IMPERIALS
TWILA PARIS
RUFF TASS
SHEILA WALSH
MATTHEW WARD
WAYNE WATSON
AUDIO SAMPLES HIGHLIGHTS OTHER RELEASES
DISC ONE

1 Overture     4:21
2 And the Glory of the Lord     3:09
3 Comfort Ye My People     2:41 (Performed by: Matthew Ward)
4 Every Valley Shall Be Exalted     3:53  (Performed by: First Call)
5 O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion     4:41  (Performed by: Imperials)
6 For Unto Us a Child Is Born     4:23
7 Glory to God     2:33
8 He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd     4:18  (Performed by: Russ Taff, Sheila Walsh)
9 He Was Despised and Rejected of Men     4:07  (Performed by: Wayne Watson)
10 Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs     3:27
11 Behold the Lamb of God     3:12
12 How Beautiful Are the Feet     2:48  (Performed by: Twila Paris)
13 Lift up Your Heads, O Ye Gates     3:20
14 I Know That My Redeemer Liveth     5:26  (Performed by: Cynthia Clawson)
15 The Trumpet Shall Sound     4:23  (Performed by: Phil Driscoll)
16 Worthy Is the Lamb     3:15
17 Hallelujah Chorus     4:03
SITE RATING:  0/10
SITE REVIEW:  The first release to try and "re-imagine" Messiah for a new generation (never mind that none of the previous generations needed their Messiah's 'souped-up'), this heavily synthesized version was again watered down for the masses by desperate promoters of Christian Pop trying to tap into the youth market.  So you have wispy pop singers singing fairly faithful renditions of Messiah's arias, (eliminating, of course, all of those tricky melismas), and a Baptist Choir vainly trying to sound hip over the tinny drum tracks and cheap synthesizers.  What's that?  You want to hear "Every Valley Shall Be Exalted" to be done in a rinky-tinky hip-hop rhythm?  No problem!  You want cheesy spoken interludes taking the place of actual arias?  Gotcha!  You need the difficult melismas dumbed-down for the hapless choir?  Check.  It all sounds so cheap, so mindless, so soulless, that it boggles the mind that collector's copies of this disaster are going for upwards of a hundred dollars.  Young Messiah is an insult to Handel, to art, to Christianity, and to all artists who daily strive to reach higher than their own navel to create beautiful music. Feel free to napalm any copy you find.  You'll be doing humanity a favor.
The Compleat Messiah All Content Copyright © 2009 Bret D. Wheadon
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