Handel - Messiah / Cleobury, Dawson, Summers, Brandenburg Consort

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George Frideric Handel’s most famous oratorio, Messiah, is a grand and inspiring anthology of passages from the Old and New Testaments relating to Christ before, during, and after his life on Earth. Messiah’s power, lyricism, sincerity and profundity make it one of the supreme musical creations as well as an outstanding example of devotional art. This live recording from the handsome twelfth century Pieterskerk in Leiden, Holland provides a superbly atmospheric setting, cutting away to
eighteenth century Bible prints and religious paintings by Rembrandt. Featuring the internationally acclaimed Choir of King’s College, soloists Lynne Dawson (soprano), Hillary Summers (alto), John Mark Ainsley (tenor) and Alastair Miles (bass), and the Brandenburg Consort conducted
by Stephen Cleobury. 140 minutes.

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Handel’s perennially beloved oratorio is marvelously well served by everyone involved–musicians and filmmakers alike–in this 1993 production. Though Messiah is still best known as a showcase for enormous forces, choral and orchestral, many historically informed performances in recent decades have shown that the piece works splendidly with the less overwhelming but more precise and transparent smaller groups of period performance ensembles, and this fleet, stirring account by the Brandenburg Consort is no exception. Under conductor Stephen Cleobury’s sensitive baton, they play with a driving, quicksilver intensity that belies their small numbers and brings every requisite dollop of excitement to such numbers as “And He shall purify” or “Why do the nations,” the instrumentalists matched each step of the way by the ringing tones of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. Handel tinkered with his masterpiece for a decade after its premiere; Cleobury here presents the 1852 version (with recitatives and airs for four vocal soloists, SATB) and is blessed with a superb quartet of vocalists. Tenor John Mark Ainsley is particularly outstanding, displaying a lovely and noble voice, and tossing off some dazzling ornamentation in “Every valley.” Hillary Summers’s ardent rendition of “He was despised” is another highlight, the consort providing delicately beautiful accompaniment, while Lynne Dawson and Alastair Miles are fully the equal of their vocal partners. The passionate intelligence that marks the musical presentation finds a perfectly sympathetic visualization in Dirk Jan Bijker’s tasteful direction, which captures the proceedings with a clarity and unobtrusive inventiveness regrettably rare in concert videos. The original broadcast was an early HDTV presentation, and the images gleam almost as crisply and warmly as the music itself. –Bruce Reid