|
RECORDINGS |
|
| LABEL: |
RTB |
| CATALOG
NUMBER: |
2130319 |
| UPC NUMBER: |
N/A |
| NUMBER
OF DISCS: |
1 |
| RUNNING
TIME: |
UNKNOWN |
| YEAR
RECORDED: |
1985 |
| RELEASE
DATE: |
1986 |
| CONDUCTOR: |
VLADIMIR
KRANJCEVIC |
| ORCHESTRA: |
RTV SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA |
| CHOIR: |
RTV
BELGRADE CHOIR |
| SOPRANO: |
RADMILA
SMILJANIC |
| CONTRALTO: |
N/A |
| TENOR: |
N/A |
| BASS: |
N/A |
|
OUT OF
PRINT.
CHECK
FOR
AVAILABILITY
ON
 |
| AUDIO SAMPLES |
HIGHLIGHTS |
OTHER RELEASES |
NONE
|
NONE |
NONE |
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SIDE
ONE
1.
Sinfonia 4:42
2. No. 3 And The Glory of the Lord 3:15
3. No. 6 And He shall purify the sons of Levi 2:30
4. No. 12 For unto us a child is born 4:08
5. No. 13 Pifa 6:20
No. 14 There were shepherds abiding in the field
No. 15 Glory to God in the highest
6. No. 19 His yoke is easy, His burthen is light 3:24
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SIDE
TWO
1. No. 20
Behold the Lamb of God 3:41
2. No. 22 Surely He hath borne our griefs 2:07
3. No. 42 Hallelujah 3:32
4. No. 44 Since by man came death 2:14
5. No. 51 Worthy is the Lamb that was slain 8:03
No. 52 Amen
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SITE RATING:
3/10
SITE REVIEW:
A pretty
shabby recording from the Cold War era, this LP has all the hallmarks
of Eastern European Communistic rule, with hard, rigid tempos and
conducting, spiritless, frequent off-key playing by the RTV Symphony
Orchestra, and coming to life only when the chorus is allowed to sing
out. In fact, when one considers that Yugoslavia did not
break out of it's Socialist chains until the early Nineties,
performances such as this must have been seen by some as a minor
triumph over the bleak oppression they experienced. But as a
listening experience, it's not the transcendent moment in time you
might expect from a Messiah
being sung by a downtrodden people; but comparing this recording to the
two other Soviet bloc recordings I've heard (the 1987 Dimitriyev
and 1959
Mende), the RTV Belgrade choir
is by far the warmest-sounding, but still suffer from sopranos who
struggle in the upper register and a an overall blocked sound which
makes this one of the more militant-sounding Messiahs
in my collection. Vladimir Kranjčević, who is still alive at
this writing, has amassed an enviable amount of rewards and honors
during his lifetime, mostly in the field of education and the promotion
of Croatian music; but here, there are only a few moments where he
makes the music dance, most notably on a lovely, serene "Pifa".
Although billing itself as a selection of choruses, there is one
soloist, internationally-recognized soprano Radmila Smiljanić, who
shines in her brief "There were shepherds abiding in the field".
The conductor makes some interesting choices in tempos, with
"Glory to God in the highest" suddenly shifting from slow to fast, to
good effect, but his tempi choices are not always so well-thought out,
and lead some choruses to drag, and others to race too fast. An
interesting find due mostly to its rarity, but not essential.
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