George Frideric Handel: Messiah - Claus Guth, Jean-Christophe Spinosi (2009)
Ο Μεσσίας του Χαίντελ σε μία κινηματογραφημένη παράσταση για την τηλεόραση. Η δραματοποιημένη με τρόπο ανατρεπτικό εκτέλεση του ορατορίου δείχνει τον γήινο χαρακτήρα του υψηπετούς μουσικά έργου.
Οι προσωπικότητα του Χριστού, η ριζοσπαστική για την εποχή του διδασκαλία του και οι βασικές αρχές της ως οδηγός ζωής του σύγχρονου ανθρώπου παρουσιάζονται από τους τραγουδιστές και τη χορωδία ως δικά τους δρώμενα επί σκηνής και όχι με τη μορφή της καθιερωμένης ακαδημαϊκής συναυλίας .
Claus Guth, stage director Christian Schmidt, stage and costume design Jürgen Hoffmann, lighting design Ramses Sigl, choreographer
Hannes Rossacher, video director
Recorded live at the Theater an der Wien, 2009
English subtitles
Handel's The Messiah is quite possibly with Mendelssohn's Elijah
in close running the greatest oratorio ever written, and one of the
greatest choral works. Some might be put off by that this performance is
a staged performance like an opera, but Peter Sellars' production of
Theodora worked wonderfully in the same way so there was a good chance
that Messiah could work(although it is more "opaque" libretto wise) too.
And it did on the most part, but it is true- personal opinion as it'll
work for others- that the dancer and the sign language performer no
matter how very expressively done they did their jobs were unnecessary,
even when you know why and where they were fitted in in the story the
production is trying to tell. The picture, sound and video directing are
excellent quality though, the production values while not opulent are
not ugly either, more very detailed and atmospheric if summed up, and
the staging from Claus Guth is thoughtful. To have 8 characters instead
of 4 and to not have as big a chorus was an interesting move and it
worked very well within Guth's concept of making Messiah a human drama,
the individualised characters, contrasted in most cases too to one
another, really bring a sense of intimacy that is most moving. The
production is impeccable musically, the conducting is tight yet nuanced,
the orchestra give the score the style and emotional intensity Handel's
music needs and the chorus- all having a sense of personality and
identity in performance and how they were directed- sing with much
involvement and the Hallelujah and Amen choruses are the meaning of
uplifting. The soloists are terrific, Martin Pollman is very amusing
while Susan Gritton and Cornelia Horak sing with crystalline diction and
with tones that are rich and pure. Their sense of drama is very
committed too. Florian Boesch has the right amounts of sonority and
flexibility to his voice and he does not disappoint dramatically either,
very firm and imposing. Richard Croft as ever sings intelligently and
commandingly, some of his gestures are on the stock side but for what
he's singing and what he's portraying in Guth's concept it doesn't
distract at all. Particularly impressive was Benjun Mehta, his
counter-tenor voice is sympathetic, knowing and controlled. He Was
Despised either moves or bores the listener depending on how it's done
and on their tastes but Mehta gets a lot out of the aria, the words are
very intelligently shaped and it is a very moving interpretation. All in
all, could have gone either way in execution, reading of it could raise
concerns for some, but thanks to how musically impeccable it is Messiah
with a humanised actually works. 8/10 Bethany Cox
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