RECORDS Excerpts From Handel's “Messiah”

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28792, 13 January 1959, Page 12

RECORDS Excerpts From Handel's “Messiah”

Both Columbia and RCA have issued excerpts from Handel’s “Messiah,” the former on a series of E.P. 45’s and the latter on a 12-inch L.P. Columbia’s perform-

ance is by Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting the Huddersfield

Choral Society and the Liverpool

Philharmonic Orchestra, with Elsie Morison (soprano), Marjorie Thomas (contralto), Richard Lewis (tenor) and Norman Walker (bass) as soloists.

The excerpts are arranged as follows: SELM. 1512: Let Us Break Their Bonds; Hallelujah; Worthy is the Lamb; Amen. SELM. 1513: He Was Despised; I Know That My Redeemer Liveth. SELM. 1517: Behold the Lamb of God; Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs; All We Like Sheep, He Trusted in God. SELM. 1518: Thy Rebuke . . . Behold and See; He Was Cut Off . . . But Thou Didst Not Leave; Why Do the Nations; Behold, I Tell You a Mystery . . . The Trumpet Shall Sound. SELM. 1519; And the Glory of God; And He shall Purify; For Unto Us; Glory to God. SELM. 1520: Behold a Virgin . . . O Thou That Tellest; Then Shall the Eyes of the Blind ... He Shall Feed His Flock.

Sir Malcolm Sargent uses the Mozart-Prout edition and his performance is much that which has become traditional. Elsie Morison sings prettily and Richard Lewis is if anything too careful in his phrasing of “Thy Rebuke,” in which he produces some beautiful tone. Marjorie Thomas lacks solidity in the lower part of her voice but sings “He Shall Feed” well. Norman Walker is not in his best form, singing without much fire. The recording is poor; the orchestra sounds woolly and far in the background. RCA’s “Highlights from ‘Messiah’ ” on R5L.3505 are performed by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Ernest MacMillan. The numbers are: Overture; Ev’ry Valley; O Thou That Tellest; For Unto Us A Child Is Born; He Was Despised; All We Like Sheep; Hallelujah; I Know That My Redeemer Liveth; Behold, I Tell You a Mystery . . . The Trumpet Shall Sound; Amen.

Jon Vickers, is a dramatic tenor who has achieved considerable success at Covent Garden. On this disc, made at the beginning of his career, he shows a good strong voice, very clear enunciation and in spite of one or two lapses of intonation he gives a good robust performance of “Ev’ry Valley.” Mary Palmateer, the contralto, is the weakest of the soloists. She phrases fairly well, but she has a hard, dry voice. Lois Marshall, also beginning her career when this record was made, sounds nervous with a strong beat coming into her sustained tones. But she sings “I Know That My Redeemer” quite well. James Milligan, the bass, has a good voice and is very moving in the recitative preteeding* “The Trumpet Shall Sound.” The orchestra plays cleanly throughout, but the choir is variable. Most of the choruses are slightly spiritless and “Hallelujah” is curiously dull, mainly because of a feeble soprano section. The performance is also in the Mozart-Prout version and is recommended to anyone wanting a performance in this edition. The recording is quite good. But the

e best set of “Messiah’* excerpts s is Sir Adrian Boult’s performance s with the London Philharmonic a Orchestra and Choir and a fine - set of soloists, in a edition taken

from Handel’s original scores, on Decca LXTM.S3B3.

KATHLEEN FERRIER Decca LXTM is a fine record of one of England’s best singers. It is a broadcast recital which the contralto, Kathleen Ferrier, gave in Norway in 1949. She sings the following songs: Hark! The Echoing Air (Purcell); Like as the love-lorn turtle, from “Atalanta” (Handel); How Changed the Vision, from “Admeto” (Handel); Verborgenheit (Wolf); Der Gartner (Wolf); Auf Ein Aites Bild (Wolf); Auf Einer Wanderung (Wolf); Altar (L. I. Jensen). Her singing of the Handel and Purcell songs is very beautiful in tone and phrasing, if a little lacking in spontaneity at times. And no other Purcell songs or Handel opera are available at present. The Hugo Wolf songs are also very well sung, although she does not enter into the spirit of a song as a truly great lieder singer does. Whatever the quality of her Norwegian, vocally and musically she is wonderful in the Jensen song which ends the recital. The record contains the only example of Kathleen Ferrier’s speaking

voice. It also contains, unfortunately, a generous amount of applause after each song. The recording is adequate.

JOHN McCORMACK

Unless it was Caruso, there has' never been a singer more widely i esteemed than the great Irish; tenor, John McCormack. His! fame continues, for RCA has > issued an LP (RPL.3031) of his: most popular Irish songs. The songs are:

Little Town in the Auld County Down; Macushla; Where the River Shannon Flows; Somewhere a Voice is Calling; Then You’ll Remember Me, from “The Bohemian Girl" (Balfe); The Foggy Dew; When Irish Eyes Are Smiling; There is a Flower That Bloometh, from “Maritana” (Wallace); Molly Bawn; Molly Brannigan; Mother Machree; Kathleen Mavourneen; The Rose of Tralee; I Hear You Calling Me.

The original recordings were I made between 1911 and 1930. Four j are electrical recordings and the remainder were made by the acoustic process, which recorded! McCormack’s wonderful voice; very welt The transfers to LP' have been excellently done. Indeed, the delightful traditional. song, “Molly Brannigan” sounds; clearer on this disc than it does on a new special pressing in its • original form. Some of the songs are traditional, two are from stage I works and the remainder are I ballads, some charming and some: sentimental. But it is wonderful how McCormack takes the excess sugar out of a song with his subtle rhythmic variation. His enunciation is magnificent. Perhaps RCA will again present John McCormack as the incomparable lieder singer and bel canto operatic artist which‘he also was.