SITE RATING: 7/10
SITE
REVIEW: Recorded live
at the Maryland Handel Festival in 1984,
within the Washington Cathedral, ostensibly to
celebrate the anniversary of the 1784
Westminster Abbey performance of Messiah,
this performance is a remarkably clean
document, showing little audience noise or
distortion. Dorati conducts very neatly,
with tempos never breaking out, and the
combined choirs of Maryland University and the
Cathedral Choral Society blending together
admirably. Their performance of "And He
Shall Purify" is excellent, with beautiful
intonation and unity. Unfortunately,
some of the mixing shoves the chorus into the
background, but on the whole, it's an
excellent-sounding performance. Among
the soloists, soprano Edith Mathis comes off
best, with lovely tones and superb control;
the rest of them I was less taken with, with
all of them exhibiting excessive vibrato,
particularly the counter-tenor, James Bowman,
where it became very distracting. Tempos
are generally slow, but rarely did I feel the
performance drag (as on a leaden "Behold The
Lamb Of God"). Overall, a very good Messiah,
out of print in complete form (but still
readily found), but the highlights disc is
generous. ~ BDW
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