These choruses have never been sung better
Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 12/16/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This excerpt disc comes from Shaw's mid-Sixties Messiash, one of the first (along with Mackerras on EMI and Colin Davis on Philips) to offer the small-scale chorus and orchestra that have now become standard. There's only a primitive attempt to osund 'authentic,' but that hardly matters in the choruses.
What does matter is Shaw's superb selection of professional New York singers. Making up the Robert Shaw Chorale for more than twenty years, they remain the gold standard for choral singing on records. The unity and balance to be heard here are miraculous, and even though Shaw wasn't the greatest Baroque conductor, this aspect of his Messiah is glorious. Too bad that RCA doesn't get some of the edge off the recorded sound."
Three thumbs up!!!
N. Hoyt | Northern Hemisphere, west of Greenwich | 01/19/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Awesome!!!! I love the Messiah and these people sing it fast!"