5 comments about Handel - Messiah / M. Marshall · Quirke · Robbin · Brett · Rolfe Johnson · Hale · The Monteverdi Choir · The English Baroque Soloists · Gardiner.

1. This recording of this wonderful work has many virtues. It is a small ensemble with skilled singers and a very gifted conductor. Remember this is contrapuntal music with many simultaneous lines - not just a melody with harmony.
   
   Gardiner lets us hear everything and it is wonderful. He also makes everything we here a choice. It is all on purpose. That doesn't mean deliberate or frozen. Heavens no! This piece is alive and every note is going somewhere for a reason. There are surprising interpretations as well. Sharp stacattos, dramatic pauses, strong contrasts. If we take just "Worthy is the Lamb" and the final "Amen" fugue as a case, we note that he comes in strong on the first statement of "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!". But on the second repeat, it is more of a marvellous contemplation. And the Amen begins very soft as if the chorus is part of the beatific vision and builds. After the first orchestral interlude the chorus comes in strong, but the tempo never picks up. It is rather slow throughout. That allows for a more massive feeling as things seem to mount to the infinite. It may not be my personal preference, but I certainly admire and respect Gardiner for showing me another approach and convincing me of its power and worth.
   
   While this version lets the music carry the drama rather than letting the singers emote as if this were a romantic era opera, there is plenty of emotion and range in this recording. The ornamentation is tastefully done and does add to the expessivenes of the work. "The Trumpet Shall Sound" sounds terrific. Sometimes the natural trumpet can be played out of tune, but Crispian Steele-Perkins nails it. The "Hallelujia Chorus" is actually sung rather than roared and that is nice change. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of energy and power, but it is full volume all the way through. And every word can be understood.
   
   Just imagine if we had heard it this clearly from our childhood and we could have avoided all those misunderstanding of what was being sung!
   
   This is a recording I am very happy to own and it is music making I am grateful to be able to hear again and again. This is wonderful stuff!



2. I have had this recording since the LP days and it has stood the test of time.



3. Having sung and played this piece since my elementary school years, I was on the verge of a major case of "Messiah burn-out". There are only so many mediocre and frankly horrible performances of this work one can stand before this insidious malady wrecks one's enjoyment of this over-exposed work of genius.
   
   When I first heard Gardiner's recording in the late 80's, I was instantly cured and have weathered many more lousy performances since with no waning of my enthusiasm for this work (I can't say the same for Orff's Carmina Burana and Beethoven's 9th). I even shelled out the extra dollars for the unneccesary three CDs (it's nice to know it can now be purchased on a two CD version).
   
   Quite frankly, the choral singing cannot be bettered. The excitement that Gardiner's forces convey with their clean, crisp and often breath-taking performance make this recording a first choice.
   
   Since this recording was released, there have been a number of outstanding period performances that have been added to the catalog. They have much to offer too. I, for one, will always revert to this version, though, in homage to its role in restoring my enthusiasm for the piece.



4. With this and other period recordings we have swung as far as possible from the mamoth Messiah performances associated with English choral festivals. The chrous and instrumentalists here are stipped to the bare essentials, and maybe further than that. I very much favor a professional chorus like the Monteverdi Choir, and its' gratifying that Gardiner doesn't ask them to sing without vibrato, although the strings in the orchestra definitely do, giving that "white" zingy sound that may grate on your ears (it does onmine).
   
   But I am not here to gripe about period recordings, just to say that Pinnok, Higginbottom, McCresh, and others give us a more robust, exciting Messiah than Gardiner. He bleaches out all expressive accents and dramatic phrasing. At times the accompaniments are so mincing and bland as to be wimpish, erasing Handel's enormous exuberance. A Messiah without fervor makes no sense to me, but clearly others reviewers love this one.
   
   From a musical standpoint, the best thing this set has going for it are the soloists. Margaret Marshall, Anthony Rolf-Johnson, and Robert Hale are the standouts, and each can hold his or her own against all comers. For their participation I offer gratitude, but Gardiner's conducting leaves me cold--not a nice way to feel at Christmas.



5. Some believe Handel's "Messiah" is best performed by massive choirs accompanied by gigantic orchestras playing modern instruments. I do not. Those performances, whatever their overpowering grandiosity, end up being ponderous and remote. They simply lack the immediacy, intimacy, and direct emotive power of this smaller ensemble accompanied by period instruments.
   
   Gardiner's recording of the "Messiah" is, far and away, my favorite. It is clear and crisp. The tempo and instrumentation are lively. The vocals are close, personal, and genuinely moving.
   
   This is what the "Messiah" should be. The layers of pomposity afflicting so many grandiose recordings have been stripped away, leaving an immediate sound and starkly human story with which the listener connects directly.
   
   The soloists all are wonderful. I suppose that some modern ears, unaccustomed to the sound of a counter-tenor, may find Charles Brett's voice a little off-putting at first. I have grown to love it.
   
   But I particularly like the use of the boy soprano, Saul Quirke, who tells us of "shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night" when "lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid."
   
   Sore afraid indeed! No other recording of this passage that I have heard so effectively communicates the terror these shepherds must have felt. I connect with them as human beings, and I share their relief as Saul Quirke's clear, innocent, unaffected voice reassures them: "Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." The boy soprano then accomplishes a perfect segue: "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heav'nly host, praising God, and saying . . . ."
   
   "Glory to God in the highest," the chorus comes in, "and peace on earth, good will towards men." With this recording, I can I feel I'm there with the shepherds, in the cold of night, sharing their amazement and wonder. Thanks to the small size of the choir, perhaps, it feels as though the angelic host is directly addressing me, a human mortal.
   
   Truly, no other performance of the "Messiah" puts me there, smack dab in the middle of the action, like this one does. My other recordings of the "Messiah" gather dust. This one gets played again and again - always fresh, vibrant, and moving.
   
   Eric Alan Isaacson

1 comments about A Christmas Carol and Other Favorites: A Christmas Carol, the Gift of the Magi , Dick Spindler's Family Christmas.

1. This is another classic by Jim Weiss. Some literature just needs to be heard over and over. We have been slowly collecting many of these cds. My children love them. These are especially great as another winter, indoor activity, a bedtime story after you have read to your children, for long or short car rides, airplane trips. They are also a great for a variety of age groups. Great for families and great stocking stuffers. I am a teacher and children should be listening to stories with a vocabulary level about three years above their current grade level. Children have to be taught or trained to be good listeners and these cds certainly help. Have your children become listeners at an early age.

5 comments about All I Want for Christmas Is You.

1. This is an awesome cd....amazon was the only place I could find it and I had been searching music stores for quite a while. Highly recommended!!!!!



2. The version of the title song she recorded with vince vance is far
   superior to this version.The rest of the cd is just ok



3. Several people have attempted to recapture the magic created by Lisa Layne when she recorded "All I Want for Christmas Is You." Once you hear her sing it, everyone else comes in a very poor second. This amazingly talented lady and this song are unique. Now that she has her own Christmas CD, please know that you will be getting a rare treat when you can hear an entire album of her vocal stylings and that she has other albums available as well. Not only that, she is also appearing live in Branson, Missouri, at the God and County Theatre through 2008! I cannot say enough positive things about Lisa. Not only is she beautiful and talented beyond belief, she is friendly, funny and memorable. Buy her music and see her in person. I promise you will be thrilled! Visit Lisa's website as well at lisalayne.com to find out more and to join her fan club!



4. This is a must CD for the Holidays. I recommend this CD to one and all.



5. All I can say is this CD has that swank country sound that is fabulous and you rarely hear anymore.

No comments about Little Bit Of Heaven.

2 comments about Great Choruses From Messiah.

1. This excerpt disc comes from Shaw's mid-Sixties Messiash, one of the first (along with Mackerras on EMI and Colin Davis on Philips) to offer the small-scale chorus and orchestra that have now become standard. There's only a primitive attempt to osund 'authentic,' but that hardly matters in the choruses.
   
   What does matter is Shaw's superb selection of professional New York singers. Making up the Robert Shaw Chorale for more than twenty years, they remain the gold standard for choral singing on records. The unity and balance to be heard here are miraculous, and even though Shaw wasn't the greatest Baroque conductor, this aspect of his Messiah is glorious. Too bad that RCA doesn't get some of the edge off the recorded sound.



2. Awesome!!!! I love the Messiah and these people sing it fast!

No comments about Christmas Classics.

5 comments about O Holy Night.

1. My husband had this CD a few years ago, and it was destroyed during a move. We couldn't find a replacement for the longest time (no stores carried it in our area), then I came across it here this year. He has the BEST version of "O Holy Night" I have ever heard. All of his songs on here are very good, that one just happens to be our favorite!!



2. John Berry's voice on the song O Holy Night is so angelic, no one's voice can even come close to it's beauty. I had this on a cassette tape and let a friend borrow it a couple of years ago so she could hear it. Needless to say, I have been trying to find a replacement for sometime now. I finally found the CD here on Amazon and listened to it non-stop for 2 days. Drove my husband and son crazy. Love it, Love it, Love it!!!!!!!!



3. I have over 40 Christmas discs. This is my favorite!! O Holy Night is awesome.



4. I had this cd on a cassette tape and would listen to it non-stop during the holidays. I was thrilled when I found in on cd so I can still listen to it. I got the chance to meet John Berry and listen to him in an intimate session. His voice in person is just as strong as it is on the cd. His "O Holy Night" speaks to your heart and reminds you what the holiday is exactly about.



5. No question, John Berry did righteous by the songs on this album. For
   all I know, he may have recorded them long before the Christmas season,
   but he puts his voice to work in a way that the Christmas season is well expressed.

3 comments about Fry: Santa Claus Symphony / Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

1. This CD has rightly received lots of critical attention and just about as much critical praise. And who is William Henry Fry? A contemporary of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, he was the first native-born American to write music for large orchestra. In his own day he was probably most esteemed as a music critic for major papers and as an opera composer, though his work is derivative. (Belini is said to have been his primary inspiration.) As an orchestral composer, he was known through tours of the Julien Orchestra, which gave the Santa Claus Symphony and The Breaking Heart hearings before appreciative audiences. It's not hard to understand why: The Breaking Heart is just what a 19th-century audience from the swites wanted to hear. It is an extended salon piece that happens to be scored for full symphony orchestra, and though it has all the saccharine and sentimental qualities of its genre, it is beautifully scored and shows genuine craftmanship.
   
   This is true as well of the dramatic Macbeth Overture, written in the last year of Fry's life and apparently never performed. While it, too, has sentimental touches supplied through what sounds like ballet music from one of Belini's operas, it also has some impressive writing for winds, especially the trombones, which give it an especially demonic quality.
   
   The Niagra Symphony, also probably unheard in Fry's day, makes a glorious noise with its battery of eleven timpani and cascading strings and winds, but it is a one-trick pony compared with the other music on this disk, most notably the Santa Claus Symphony, whose program, though naive, provides some truly memorable music. If you're not a fan of the orchestral music that Belini and Verdi supplied for their operas (and I'm not), the opening fanfare and march to celebrate the birth of Jesus may sound unredeemably hoked-up to you. But the jaunty music that Fry supplies for the family Christmas party, for Santa's arrival (complete with sleigh bells and whip), and for Christmas morning around the tree has all the countrified charm of a Currier and Ives print. Fry's metamorphosis of Adeste Fidelis into the grand peroration of the "finale" ends this "symphony" (symphonic poem, really) on just the right celebratory note. Along the way there are some colorful contributions from the strings (the snowstorm, in which a doublebass solo represents a lost and freezing traveler!), the soprano saxophone (a lullaby), and the high bassoon (Santa's music). The Scottish orchestra turns in some very fine playing in all this highly pictorial music, and Tony Rowe conducts with just the right emotional balance so that the composer's naive charm doesn't devolve into bathos.
   
   The recording is excellent too. It conveys a large acoustic admirably without cloudiness: Every bit of coloristic detail is crystal clear. This is music, and music making, that you'll be happy you came to know.



2. William Henry Fry's "Santa Claus Symphony" is actually one movement made up of several mini-movements, or whatever. In the absence of a program, your ears will be confused by the start/stop nature of the "symphony." Luckily, the notes tell us most, or much, of the story that is illustrated by the music--a snowstorm, a party, Santa's arrival, etc. All the listener has to do is know where he or she is. I, myself, started reading the notes somewhat past the double bass solo, so I was as lost as the guy in the snowstorm.

   The "Niagara Symphony" needs no program--and what would that be, anyway? ("Water falls. Water continues to fall. Etc.") This music is static in form and therefore eminently easy to follow. It is also superbly majestic and evocative. Even without knowing the title in advance, the listener will guess he is hearing something epic being described. ("Water. I see water. Lots of it.") Orchestrationally, this piece is the 19th century's answer to Ferde Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite."

   But the killer track is the "Macbeth" overture, a superbly dramatic work almost in a league with Tchaikovsky. And "The Aching Heart" is a beautifully-written light piece not nearly as maudlin as its title. It is deceptively simple in the best Viennese tradition.

   Listeners as impressed as I am by this composer might want to check out the Fry piano work on "The Wind Demon and other 19th Century Piano Music" CD (on the New World label).




3. This disc is not what I thought it would be...and I am glad for it! Release from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra is composed of four delightful orchestral tone poems. Each is fun in its own way.

   Yet the Santa Claus Symphony was not what I was thinking it would be. It is amazing how much my expectation of music about Santa has been shaped by twentieth/twenty-first century commercialism. This music was a great antidote to my biases. I enjoy its inventiveness and its palpably felt joy. The carol motif at the end is especially wonderful.

   The best of the other three pieces is the Macbeth overture. It is really a great piece that probably deserves a broader audience. Hopefully this disc will win it one.

   If you want some great, original music, you could do worse than this disc (especially at Naxos prices). I recommend it wholeheartedly.

4 comments about Hot Jazz for a Cool Yule.

1. The songs as heard on-line come across as the old time radio sounds. I am ordering the cd with full intention of enjoying the same feeling of being back in times gone by when listening to this music. Today is only as enjoyable as you remember your yesterdays.



2. "Hot Jazz" is the perfect compliment to gatherings with family and friends. This album conjured-up wonderful yule-time memories. Enjoy this music while decorating your tree and sipping a hot cider.



3. Ok! We all know Santa Baby will always be synonomous with Ms Kitt but in this recording taken from a live radio broacast you get the rare opportunity to hear it covered by Broadway's Carol Woods.



4. I heard this last year on NPR and knew I had to get it for Christmas this year. I just got it a few days ago and I have to say that this is definitely some of the best Christmas music arrangements I have heard in a long time! The stepped up rythm makes these old favorites come alive... it will put a smile on your face and get you up and moving!

5 comments about James Galway's Christmas Carol.

1. If you could own one & only one Christmas CD,this would be it!Classic music taking you back to childhood memories.No modern re-worked garbage that keeps coming out these days.Wow,I am really starting to sound old! :)



2. This is a great collection of Christmas songs. Although you might not be familiar with several of them, once you hear them you will love them. A perfect recording to play while decorating, or just enjoying the Christmas Tree! Wonderful!



3. Although I'm a fan of the Christmas recordings that Sir David Willcocks abd Stephen Cleobury did with the King's College Choir, this little gem of a classical Christmas album has its own unexpected beauties. I discovered this Christmas album in the collection of a family member, and was struck by its transcendent loveliness. It's a joyful, uplifting, and exquisite celebration of Christmas, and specifically the Reason for the Season, and it's a skilful blend of the old and the new. It's a perfect blend of instrumental and vocal, lively and tender moments, and James Galway's flute wraps around you like a rich velvety fur coat.
   
   The opening track of Silent Night sets the tone of the recording almost immediately. The choir sings it beautifully, accompanied by Galway's obligato descant. Although I would have liked them to sing the original John Freeman Young translation that we all know, it's still a lovely rendition. The choir shines on some of the other tracks, such as John Rutter's famous Shepherd's Pipe Carol and the Czech Zither Carol, but most of the time Galway accompanies them, contrasting the tenderness of What Child Is This and I Wonder as I Wander with the boisterous Past Three A Clock. Elsewhere, Galway really shines in the many solos he plays throughout the recording. His rendition of John Ireland's The Holy Boy is beautiful beyond words and reason. In more upbeat mood the Fantasia on I Saw Three Ships blends the well-known carol with other carols, and one can really hear a certain joie de vivre here. It's as if Galway really enjoyed playing this piece, and I think the listener can soak in the infectious gaiety here. By the time you reach the closing minutes of this album, you feel like you're in good Christmas cheer, after you've soaked in the distinctly old-world charm of this Christmas offering, far away from the cacophony of commercialism that has ravaged the season many times.
   
   In short, a self-recommending Christmas album that can serve as lovely background music to a Christmas party and yet it stands up well to serious listening. I'm convinced it appeals to those who haven't yet grown to love the ethereal, plaintive yet crystal-clear timbre of the flute, and I think it has something to please everyone, in varying moods and style.



4. This has been one of my favorites for years - I've been through three copies of it already and I keep replacing it. Can't wait to get the CD version this year!



5. Got what I ordered - good price - got it in the timeframe advertized - no problems