VIDEO |
|
LABEL: |
CALVARY
TEMPLE / WORLD WIDE PICTURES |
CATALOG
NUMBER: |
442546 |
UPC
NUMBER: |
31635001284 |
NUMBER OF TAPES: |
1 |
RUNNING TIME: |
100
MIN. |
YEAR
RECORDED: |
1992 |
RELEASE
DATE: |
OCTOBER
12, 1999 |
ASPECT
RATIO: |
1.33:1 |
AUDIO: |
UNKNOWN |
REGION: |
N/A |
CONDUCTOR: |
C.
EDWARD THOMAS |
ORCHESTRA: |
UNKNOWN |
CHOIR: |
THE
CHOIR OF CALVARY TEMPLE |
SOPRANO: |
BRIGIT
ENNS, HEIDI TOEWS, KATRINA VAN
HUMBECK |
ALTO: |
BERNICE
GIESBRECHT,
DOROTHY KENNEDY |
TENOR: |
RICK
BOWERING |
BASS: |
JIM
FRANKLIN, TIM STURBY |
|
|
VIDEO SAMPLES |
OTHER
RELEASES |
|
|
|
SITE RATING: 1/10
SITE
REVIEW: Another
attempt to make Messiah "palatable" to the
masses, the Calvary Temple church in Winnipeg,
Canada presents Handel's oratorio as a
modern-day passion-play, with actors, sets,
and costumes - oh, and a hefty helping of
evangelical earnestness. If you can get
over the pronunciation of Messiah
as "Muzziah", the leaden tempos and brick-like
playing, and the amateurish singing, then
perhaps you might enjoy this lengthy video...
but I doubt it. The orchestra is
teeth-grindingly out-of-tune and plays with
leaden grace; the toothy tenor soloist has a
nice tone, but spreads his vowels to a
distracting degree; the shepherd and
shepherdess-coiffed choir sings like ...well,
like a normal church choir, with wispy tenors,
booming basses, wobbly sopranos, and heavy
altos; the bass soloist (adorned with one of
the worst toupees in recorded history - it
looks like a stuffed poodle) is one of the worst Messiah
soloists I've ever heard, chewing his way
through his melismas with all the aplomb of a
past-his-prime Vegas showman. The
mezzo-soprano sings with a pleasant,
unchallenging tone, but is undercut throughout
by the horrid playing of the orchestra.
This howlingly bad performance is made
all the worse by the earnestness of everyone
involved - is apparent that they believe they
are presenting something worthwhile, when all
this video really deserves is an encore
appearance on Mystery
Science Theater 3000.
|
|