Search - Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra, Mormon Tabernacle Choir :: George Frideric Handel: Handel's Greatest Hits

A blast from the past

Alan Majeska | Bad Axe, MI, USA | 09/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There is some great music making on the 45 minutes included in CBS's CD, "Handel's Greatest Hits." I became familiar with this program in 1972 from a Columbia LP, and bought this CD in the late 1990s. Whether or not you like this disc will depend on your preference for Handel's music performed by period instruments or modern instruments, or chamber orchestras (either period or modern) versus a full orchestra.



I have to confess I like Handel played by modern orchestras, and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy is no exception. True, it is not "authentic":it is not the sound Handel heard in the "Water Music" excerpts, or the "Messiah" or "Judas Maccabeaus" choruses. But it is heartfelt, spirited, and beautiful. Ormandy was so musical, and who cares if he conducted Handel in the spirit of Richard Strauss? Ormandy's Handel is not slow, nor does it have overly thick textures like Strauss's great orchestral works. When I was in college (1977-1981) the period instrument movement was just getting under way via Hogwood, Pinnock, Gardiner, et al. and admitting to liking Ormandy, Stokowski, or Bernstein conducting Bach and Handel was the equivalent of being a heretic to the orthodox teachings of a Christian church! For a time when in my twenties, I scoffed at Ormandy's recordings of Baroque music, but now, as a middle aged man, I quite enjoy them. I believe there is a place for period AND modern instruments, chamber AND full orchestra recordings of Handel, Bach, and other Baroque masters, just as there is a place for Roman Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, Nazarenes, Pentecostals, and other churches, all with different beliefs about the same basic ideas: salvation with God through Jesus Christ: how people are saved for eternity, in the service of Christendom.



The Philadelphia tracks are my favorites: Ormandy and his orchestra toss off the "Water Music" suite (Ormandy's own compilation, not the famous Hamilton Harty one recorded by Szell and Steinberg) like child's play: listen to those gorgeous Philadelphia strings. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir makes a joyful (and beautiful!) noise in the choruses, "See, the Conquering Hero Comes" and "Hallelujah, Amen!" from JUDAS MACCABEAUS, and "For unto us a Child is born" and "Hallelujah" from MESSIAH. I prefer faster tempos in the MESSIAH choruses, but that's my personal opinion. (These are from Ormandy's famous 1958-59 recording of MESSIAH). "Largo" from XERXES, played by the Philadelphia under Ormandy, is also heartfelt and beautifully shaped and phrased; who could resist the Philadelphia strings in chorus playing this familiar piece?



Igor Kipnis plays "the Harmonious Blacksmith" air and variations from Suite 5, on a grand harpsichord with great results. The other tracks are of interest and involve E Power Biggs playing "The Cuckoo and the Nightengale" a movement from Handel's Organ Concerto No. 13, and "Awake, the Trumpet's Lofty Sound" from "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day," which Handel reworked in his oratorio SAMSON.



For me, this CD has nostalgia value from my youth, a time when great music was beginning to make a serious impression on me. For you this may not have the same meaning, but at the low price, I'd grab it for Ormandy's joyful and committed "Water Music" Suite."