SITE RATING:
10/10
SITE REVIEW:
The high rating I'm
giving this video is conditional: I
think the appeal of this DVD will be fairly limited, with choral
directors (especially new ones) finding some excellent material which
would be useful not only in their preparations of Messiah,
but in other time-worn
choral works as well. Simon Carrington takes four young
directors
through a 25-minute-each course in how to finesse a single chorus from Messiah.
That's right - only
four choruses are tackled here: "Glory to God in the highest", "All we
like sheep have gone astray", "Surely He hath borne our griefs" and
"Since by man came death." a chamber choir (the excellent
Musica
Beata) is the sole choir present, with a similarly fine Keven Kwan
accompanying on the piano. Simon first listens to the
conductors
do their "take" on the representative chorus, and then steps in to
deconstruct each piece, occasionally trying a completely different
approach, or in some instances, merely fine-tuning what he considers to
be a good interpretation. I was impressed with his direction
-
Mr. Carrington emphasizes throughout the master class that the meaning
of the text should be ascendant over the technical aspects of the music
or style taken - the words need to be understood, and emphasized for
the audience - and - he is particularly emphatic on this point - that
the whole approach should be one of presenting the piece to the one in
the audience who has never heard it before. A difficult
approach
to be certain for those who have heard countless interpretations and
variations on Messiah.
But his passion of the piece is evident throughout the class
- he
keenly feels the personal aspects of the text, and gently chides the
conductors who seem to have placed style over context. The
price
of this DVD (evidently aimed at university music collections) is
somewhat prohibitive, but the ideas found therein are excellent, and
the talent and loving care given to the preparation of Messiah I think
would be highly illuminating to both novice and experienced conductors
looking to make Messiah fresh.
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