George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Messiah (1741-1750)
Lucy Crowe (soprano)
Alex Potter (countertenor)
Michael Spyres (tenor)
Matthew Brook (bass)
The English Concert & Choir/John Nelson
rec. 2022, New St. Michael’s Cathedral, Coventry, UK
English libretto included
Erato 5419774160 [2 CDs: 167 + DVD: 145]
John Nelson’s recording of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Semele on Deutsche Grammophon (1993) feels like auditory theatre, conducted vividly and cast ideally. In November 2022, Nelson turned his attention to Messiah and achieved similarly riveting results with a series of concerts from which the present recording on Erato derives. The audience was so silent that the recording differs from a studio production only in that it has the energy of an actual two-and-a-half-hour performance.
Messiah is a three-part narrative oratorio based on Charles Jennens’s libretto that tells the story of prophecy, nativity, crucifixion, and resurrection in the first two parts and comments on the resurrection in the third. Comprising versions of arias that Handel composed between the work’s initial conception in 1741 and 1750, pragmatism guided the selection process for this recording. Just as Handel adjusted portions of the work for the singers and instrumentalists available for any given revival (or, in some cases, to address criticisms from Jennens), Nelson chose versions that suited his interpretation.
Nelson’s reading of Messiah is animated throughout by articulation and rhythm, as well as fleet tempi and seamless transitions. His background includes conducting nineteenth-century operas and the English Concert, whose members are experts in Baroque rhetoric, and thus they complement each other.
Messiah is so well represented in the catalogue that I will not attempt comparisons, apart from a few with Trevor Pinnock’s (1988) recording with the same ensemble, because Handel blessed posterity with so many different versions of this protean work. The English Concert (engaged by the live setting?) plays with more fervour for Nelson than Pinnock without losing subtlety or attention to detail. The modest-sized choir articulates all of the layers in Handel’s choral writing clearly while conveying the emotion inherent in them.
Nelsons does not follow Pinnock’s practice of dividing the arias for alto between a contralto and a countertenor. Alex Potter, a countertenor, sings all of the arias written for this voice type (he is joined by the countertenor Rory McCleery in the duet ‘How beautiful are the feet’). ‘He was despised’ receives graceful, nuanced treatment from Potter and the orchestra. At 10:36, Nelson’s timing is about three minutes faster than Pinnock’s reading.
The tenor Michael Spyres, whose performance as the title character in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto I reviewed for MusicWeb, sets a strong opening tone in ‘Ev’ry valley shall be exalted’ and makes ‘Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron’ a captivating moment just before the ‘Hallelujah!’ chorus, which ends ‘Part the Second’. Lucy Crowe is touching in the soprano arias ‘Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion’ and ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth’. Matthew Brook’s bass voice lends power to ‘Why do the nations so furiously rage together?’ and ‘The trumpet shall sound’. The ‘Hallelujah!’ chorus sounds passionate, fresh, and integral to the narrative without being clichéd or bombastic.
When I already own at least one recording of a work, I acquire another when it differs textually (e.g., an alternative or new critical edition) and/or interpretively (e.g., the performance is especially convincing). Christopher Hogwood (1979) remains revelatory as the progenitor of historically-informed performance in this work. Nelson’s entry, which offers a generous appendix with alternative versions of many arias, has become my favourite period-instrument recording because it incorporates scholarship with enthusiasm and love for the music.
Erato’s presentation does justice to this new reference recording: the two CDs and the DVD are in cardboard sleeves inside a slim clamshell box with a handsomely-illustrated booklet containing the full libretto and an essay explaining the oratorio’s genesis and evolution. The deluxe edition includes a bonus DVD of the complete performance in high-definition video.
This release, which features additional rarely-performed versions of familiar arias, is ideal for experienced listeners and anyone approaching this masterpiece for the first time. Given the quality in evidence here, hopefully Nelson and the English Concert will record more Handel (Samson, composed almost immediately after Messiah, would be an excellent place to continue).
Daniel Floyd
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