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


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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
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

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.

The Compleat Messiah All Content Copyright © 2012 Bret D. Wheadon
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