UKH

So it looks as if I'm not going to see a live performance of the Messiah this year again. (In 2019 I went along and sang alongside Peterborough Choral Society as another bass. I sat next to a well experienced member of the society. At the end of the practice session, he said that he thought that I was doing pretty well as he thought that I was sight reading a good deal of the music {which I was}. That was in Peterborough Cathedral, and I probably would have considered joining the Choral Society, but then the pandemic came along).

I digressed too much. The point is, which is your favourite version of the Messiah?

I mainly listen to the Cambridge King's College one with Sir David Willcocks, but there are several others. I used to have one on tape, by the Huddersfield Choral Society.

I'm wanting to consider other recordings to buy. Should I go back in time to Dublin??

I like period performances. Here's one, albeit not on original instruments but with that lightness of touch and transparency, by Polyphony and the Britten Sinfonia, with Stephen Layton conducting.

youtube.com/watch?v=lXjYsBZTBTA&

My favourite version was not recorded (deffo a good thing!). For my 45th birthday (ahem, nearly 15 years ago) I commandeered the church for an afternoon, invited all my musicky friends (who include some able to sing the solos) and a couple of good organists and we sang it. A lot of fun. My daughter sat next to my mum - her first Messiah, and I knew it would be my mum's last.

Thank you for that. I certainly like what I'm hearing so far. I have not uncovered who the soloists are (I like them not to have too much warble. More in the style of Emma Kirkby).

I also like the lesser grandiose versions some times. 

One of the most enjoyable performances, I attended on my own with a moderate audience was in the Church on Front Street in Philadelphia (which was almost puritan) long ago (1983-1984) in the middle of a crisp bright day.

That's certainly impressive. I'll come next time if there is a next time.

Sorry for the self-invite, it could be rejected. :-}

I have the Trevor Pinnock/English Concert recording, which, I think, is wonderful. For something different, I also have a 1959, 3LP set of Sir Malcolm Sargent and the RPLO recorded at Huddersfield Town Hall in 1946 - of its time, but beautifully sung. 

I'm pondering what, if anything, to do for my 60th, but I need to get a move on.

Back to Messiah: any version is good if it includes "He shall purify", which is sometimes omitted (such a rollicking sing), and even better if it doesn't exclude (as so many do) "If God be for us", to be sung as if climbing an exposed but easy ridge in glorious sunshine.

I have several recordings at home, but always go back to the one with William Christie / Les Arts Florissants, and Sandrine Piau, Barbara Schlick, Nathan Berg, Andreas Scholl and Mark Padmore as soloists.

CB

Ha. Just re-read the op. The same Huddersfield recording! ☺

I've only heard one version and that was when dozing in the back of your car (which was novel, you were usually the one dozing!) on the way back from some climbing/walking trip or other.

In a state between sleep and wakefulness it inspired in me strange and disturbing visions!

Does everyone stand up at a certain point or is it just a Yorkshire thing?

Not just a Yorkshire thing.

It is supposed to relate to King George.

Hi Nick,

I hope that you are just the same as ever, and not too restricted to hear a local Welsh version of the Messiah. Mind you, I had been intending going to the Royal Festival Hall last night to see the Philharmonia perform the Messiah. I didn't, but part of the reason was that my daughter was up here from London.

I was considering going to Wigmore :Hall to see the Dunedin Consort in the coming week, but now I'm not sure with the Omicron viral variant. Perhaps I'd better stay with these greatly entertaining recordings that keep me in some degree of state of stability and equanimity.

Meantime, when will we be able to go for a climb in the pass together, or on a wee pad up some Munro in Knoydart or similar? It would be good to see you again.

Rob

I've seen it many times, in many different settings, on different scales, and it never ceases to astonish me. Pure, timeless gold.

We've got to get some stuff straight here.

Georg Friedrich (not George Friderick) was working for the Elector of Hannover, another Georg. He took some time off to travel to London, and liked it so much that he stayed and became very successful. Unfortunately for him, his Hannover Georg suddenly became King George III of England, who was initially not amused to find his truant Georg Friedrich living it up in Soho. Georg Friedrich however composed the entire "Messiah" in a mere 23 days, and when the King heard the "Hallelujah" chorus he was so moved that he rose to his feet (he was a very musical King). If your King stands up then you'd be well advised to do so too, and so has been the custom ever since. I don't think the Royal performance was in Yorkshire.

That having been said: yes, as Gordon said: it is pure gold. 

Here I am listening to it again in the middle of the night - a superb, huge recent powerful performance from Sydney. And what really stands out for me, as always, far more than the Hallelujah, is the truly fantastic final Amen Chorus. Just mindboggling. Has ever a great piece of music ended so perfectly, powerfully and concisely as this?

As you say, he wrote the whole oratorio in just 23 days (I believe in Dublin.) It's so astonishing that one really has to wonder if his brain was supercharged on laudanum or something. The whole thing just explodes out into musical history and lands perfectly, fully formed for all time. (I wonder just how many times it's still performed round the world every single month - probably dozens.) 280 years old, and it'll just never die.

No, it's absolutely standard, as you'll discover if you ever see it performed at the Albert Hall.

I absolutely love that tradition: it's huge sense of occasion. Really thrilling. I remember seeing it performed a few years ago at the big church in Wirksworth and, incredibly, only about 4 of us stood up at the intro, which made me feel a bit of a twit - stunned that most there were unaware of the tradition. But we stood our ground and then a few other daring people stood up, getting the sense of some important tradition. I think by about halfway through it, most of the congregation had stood up, but I was astonished that in this old, historical town, many of its inhabitants seemed to be completely unaware of the tradition (started by George III).

When you see it somewhere big, with a huge audience, like the Albert Hall, there's a kind of thrilling whooshing sound as everybody stands up.

I was taken to see it at the Civic in Uppermill by my prospective father in law and no-one warned me about the standing up so it came as a surprise. But I'm pretty sure it only happened at the Hallelujah Chorus.

The whole evening was rounded off by a communal rendition of "Pratty Flowers" so I got it in my head it was a Yorkshire evening.

Yes, it's done just at the Hallelujah Chorus. Then everybody sits down again.