Colin Davis's 1966 Messiah

HANDEL Messiah – complete.

Heather Harper (sop), Helen Watts (contralto), John Wakefield (tenor), John Shirley-Quirk (bass), Ralph Downes (organ), Leslie Pearson (harpsichord), William Lang (trumpet), London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Colin Davis.

Philips AL3584-6; AL3584-6 (three 12 in., 96s. 9d. plus 17s. 3d. PT).

Let me say at once, notwithstanding any qualifications, that I haven't enjoyed any performance of Messiah – live, radio, or record – half as much as this one for 20 years or so, since the dawnings of my musical sophistication. I put this subjectively, because I don't think everyone will feel the same. This not a traditional Messiah. It is a modern one, by which I mean that it is one which sweeps away the late eighteenthand the nineteenth-century glosses and aims at a performing style as near to Handel's as can be (though occasionally the aim is, I think, a little off-centre – but more of that below). Of course, we can never quite return to Messiah as Handel gave it in Dublin in 1742 or at the Foundling Hospital in the 1750s: first, it is impossible totally to recapture the performing conventions of those days; second, performances with 25 singers and an orchestra of 35 wouldn't be generally acceptable nowadays – and in a sense rightly, for instruments and vocal techniques have changed, and merely to use the numbers Handel used (and evidently preferred) would not give us the sound he heard.

This new version has an orchestra of 31 strings, two oboes, two bassoons (Handel used four of each), trumpets, tympani, harpsichord and chamber organ, with a choir of 40; a mixed choir, with female sopranos and (to judge by the sound) altos of both sexes (of which I heartily approve) – the women provide warmth and body of tone, the men definition and attack. The choral singing is marvellously agile; it compares with that of traditional performances like a panther to an elephant. And you can actually hear it: with so few voices the textures are light, and every note can be heard – and the orchestra too can be heard even when the choir is at full blast. Colin Davis – as may be guessed from the fact that the work, given without a single cut, fits on to three discs – favours lively tempi; lively, not just fast. Traditionalists may be a shade disconcerted to hear "And the glory of the Lord" taken at a pretty good allegro (which is how Handel marked it). It sounds suitably joyful. "And he shall purify", too, is brisk, and Mr Davis (or it may be the doing of that excellent chorusmaster, John Alldis) has the semiquaver runs so precisely articulated that it comes very near to the German way of aspirating each note. The same goes for other choruses, notably "All we like sheep" and "For unto us" – this last splendidly done, light and joyous as I have never heard it before (though I do wish they would say gov-ernment", not "gov-a-ment"; and here and there ensemble imperfections show up as they would not with a big chorus). Among the other choruses on which I find I have particularly commented in my detailed notes are "Glory to God" – spirited, and with dynamics nicely managed, though Handel's trumpets da lontano are just a shade too distant at first; "Behold the Lamb", which is no less solemn for its comparative lack of weight, and in which some moderately sharpened rhythms sound just right; "Lift up your heads", which has a delightful vitality; "Let us break", which is admirably athletic (so difficult to sing!) in texture than I can ever remember hearing before – and presumably Handel actually meant these violin parts to be audible. Slightly on the debit side I would place "Since by man came death", the two slow a cappella passages of which are oversophisticated in dynamics and accentuation, and the "Amen", which after a vigorous "Worthy is the Lamb" doesn't sound quite imposing or climactic enough – the contrasts between full forces and those episodes for just the violins seem underdone.

The actual casting of the soloists is very much of a piece with the total conception of the performance. The voices are on the whole light ones, on much the scale, I would think, of those Handel himself used. I find Heather Harper's singing a pleasure, as always: her clear, bell-like tone is a delight in the group of recitatives before "Glory to God" (what a stroke of inspiration it was, one feels on every hearing, to keep back the soprano soloist until that moment!); "Rejoice greatly" is jubilant and agilely sung – though I do wish the tradition of a slower tempo for the minor section could be forgotten; and "I know that my Redeemer liveth" is done with a most pleasing simplicity and lack of affectation, though there is a certain amount of ornamentation. Helen Watts's fine-drawn line gives pleasure too, in all her music; some might prefer a fuller-toned contralto, but I find her account of "He was despised", and that of "Come unto him", quite as expressive as the more usual kind. Curiously, the opening ritornello is omitted in the da capo of the former, so I wasn't strictly correct in saying, above, that the recording is uncut. About "O thou that tellest" I am less happy, because I do feel that those passages with slow-moving, simple lines are essential moments of repose rather than opportunities for elaboration, and the contrast with the choral entry seems to be spoilt here by the exuberant carrying of the soloist's cadence up an octave. But perhaps I am being hidebound.

Many listeners may prefer a beefier tenor than John Wakefield, but I find his sensitive singing a delight. Things can be done in recording studios, which cannot be done in concert halls or opera houses, to make a small voice seem larger. Not all his vowel sounds are perfect, but the tone is warm and expressive; "Behold, and see", and indeed all that Part II group of tenor solos, are beautifully done, with very finely controlled gradations of tone and care for the words' (and music's) meaning. John Shirley-Quirk is decidedly light for some of the bass music, particularly "Why do the nations", where even a touch of bluster would not be out of place. All his singing, however, is intelligent and clear. I was very impressed by "For behold, darkness shall cover the earth", and "The people that walked in darkness", where he produces a suitably dark, veiled tone, brightening it appropriately at "but the Lord shall arise" in the recitative and at the A major cadence, "have seen a great light", in the Air. He does not sing "But who may abide", which Handel never intended for a bass (it is sung by Miss Watts); but for some reason he is given "Thou art gone up on high", which Handel intended for an alto or soprano.

Which brings us to the vexed question of editions. The booklet published with the set – which gives some of the historical background well enough, but also reproduces a certain amount of sentimental ballyhoo – says not a word about the text used; much but by no means all of what is done corresponds to the Watkins Shaw edition (Novello), which is probably the best of the practical critical editions to be had. But there are some curious things: the treatment of dotted rhythms in "The trumpet shall sound", which although musically quite acceptable is eccentric and would be hard to justify as a faithful reconstruction of Handel's (admittedly problematic) intentions; there are some very inept, unfortunate orchestral decorations in "O thou that tellest", and at one or two other points; and although a lot of trills are inserted in the string parts many obvious cadential trills are lacking. Rhythms are properly sharpened where they should be, once or twice where (probably) they shouldn't. There is a certain amount of vocal decoration in the airs, most of it successful. Above all, it is good to hear the appoggiaturas done as Handel intended them to be; if anyone still imagines this to be nothing more than a favourite hobbyhorse of music critics, let them listen to the splendid matching of musical line to natural verbal stress in these recitatives, or to the enormously heightened expressiveness of some of the phrases (in "Behold, and see", for example) where appoggiaturas have been added. I am sorry that Mr Davis and his editor do not seem to have followed Handel's detailed directions "con ripi [eno]" and "senza rip.", differentiating between passages where all the strings and only a few should play (in fact, some such directions are misguidedly added in the Pifa – the so-called Pastoral Symphony – where Handel specified "senza rip." throughout). And I wish, too, that – again as Handel intended – the bass line were more often reinforced by a bassoon or two. The orchestral playing is first-class, of course, and the harpsichord continuo is generally realized with discretion (though it is not prominently enough recorded, so that sometimes you can only just tell that there isn't a yawning chasm between melody and bass).

In sum, then, not a perfect Messiah but to my taste a very pleasing one, characterized most of all by small forces, light textures, crisp and strong rhythms, lively tempi. To the person who feels that Messiah must be slow and weighty to have its full force as an experience, this set will be unimpressive and may even seem faintly sacrilegious. But I can only say that I feel I have come closer in these last few days to what Handel really meant than any performance has taken me before. 

SS (Stanley Sadie)

This recording is now available as budget-price two-CD Philips reissue 464 703-2