Among the many felicities in this performance I would like to single out just one - notice what an absolute pianissimo the chorus achieves by the end of "All We Like Sheep." I don't think that the sense of horror over "and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" has ever been conveyed more forcefully on record.
Handel: The Messiah
Soloists, Huddersfield Choral Society and Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Conducted by Malcolm Sargent
Recorded July 12-16 and September 26, 1946
Columbia Masterworks Set MM-666, nineteen 78-rpm records
Link 1 (FLAC files, part 1, 173.77 MB)
Link 2 (FLAC files, part 2, 189.86 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 174.7 MB)
As I mentioned earlier this year, when I posted several galleries of Steinweiss record covers of which this "Messiah" set was one, somebody at Columbia had a really wicked sense of humor, making this Masterworks Set No. 666! I suspect Goddard Lieberson himself had a hand in this - he was head of Masterworks by this time. Am I the only one who finds this funny? Look at this picture of the two spines for the two albums - dotted with crosses, as if to ward off the evil influence of the fatal number:
Thanks Bryan - not sure I have ever heard this set, and am eager to hear Baillie and Ripley.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Always love to hear Isobel Baillie (I have an LP set with Baillie on my LP blog) and Sargent as well!
ReplyDeleteBryan,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for this! I am looking forward to comparing it with Sargent's later Liverpool effort. In that record, Marjorie Thomas melts my heart in He was despised.
I will soon be offering a Messiah, done in 1977 with Boston's Handel and Haydn Society under Thomas Dunn. In that record, David Evitts is the big draw.
Fred
Is that Dunn recording available somewhere? I have the LP's but not a good setup for recording them to my PC. Thanks!
Delete666 - he he he. I'm never sure whether Sargeant was under-rated, or just a bit ordinary, but I've never warmed to him. Maybe this is my chance! Thanks for Isobel Baillie
ReplyDeleteThanks very much Bryan!
ReplyDeleteI grew up listening to this exact recording (on the 78 RPM disks!) and have always both enjoyed and have been haunted by the vocal depth of this "Masterwork". It is sad however, that Contralto Gladys Ripley succumbed to cancer just nine years later, as did Norman Walker, to a debilitating stroke in the same year of 1955, and left professional singing. James Johnstone- after a brief career- happily returned to private life in his native Ireland several years later, never to record again. Only Scottish Soprano Isobel Baillie sustained a long career as, not only a recitalist, but as a college teacher and lecturer as well. She left us as an octogenarian in 1983 and has well earned her place in musical immortality. This historic recording may not be described as a "perfect" work, but is indeed a splendid one.
ReplyDelete