SITE RATING: 2/10
SITE
REVIEW: I'm never sure what to
expect from a collegiate recording of Messiah
- some of them can be highly polished and
professional in their performances, and
others... well, let's just say that this 1997
performance by the Indiana University
Southeast Concert Choir and Chamber Orchestra
falls into a latter category.
Everyone is striving mightily, but they're not
ready for Carnegie Hall yet.
Conductor S. Timothy Glasscock relies on no
fewer than nine soloists, and the
notes make no effort to define which sings
what, so I can only tell you that the tenor
soloists are generally good, the bass soloists
sound as if they've never encountered a
melisma in the lives, the alto soloists sound
young, fresh and unaffected, the rotating
soprano soloists are similarly lovely (except
the "Rejoice Greatly" one, who flutters about
like a wounded bird). The choir is
painful to listen to - as is the chamber
orchestra. Pitches are everywhere, any
concept of finesse or shaping is abandoned
entirely, and the angels weep. It's
difficult to judge how much of the tempos by
Mr. Glasscock are his own choosing, or perhaps
simply dictated by the talent restraints of
the choir and orchestra. Needless to
say, by the time the recording plows (and I
don't use that term lightly) into the final
choruses of "Halleljuah" and "Worthy is the
Lamb" I can only imagine the audience bursting
into applause that the entire ordeal was
over. Whew!
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