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SITE RATING:  1/10 SITE REVIEW:   Lumbering, mechanical, and rote are just a few of the adjectives that spring to mind in listening to this 1974 recording made by the combined musical departments of the University of Missouri-Columbia, under the baton of Ira C. Powell. With tempos that wouldn't be out of place during the last ice age, the glacial speed taken by Powell accounts for the reason why, despite having the luxury of a double-LP set, nearly half of Handel's oratorio needed to be cut.  Add to that the unrestrained sawing of the University Symphony Orchestra and out of tune playing throughout, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a more teeth-grinding listening experience.  Tenor Robert Bohon is both shrill and unaccomplished, with wide-open vowels that bespeaks more of a Broadway "belt" than classical tendencies.  The Missouri-Columbia University Chorus of 1974 is singularly poor, sledge-hammering the choruses mercilessly, bludgeoning everything to a bloody pulp.  Alto Tacey Brewer has a simple, pleasant tone, while untrained, is pleasant, while soprano Cindy Purdy is similarly simple and unadorned, with a pure, white tone that is undercut only by the wayward tone of the orchestra.  Bass Martin Loring is perhaps the brightest star here, injecting much-needed passion into his arias, but even he sounds far too young to be tackling this role.  There's nothing here worth seeking out for the curious, unless you have an affinity for "bad" Messiahs.

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