Handel: Messiah. (Opera and Oratorio).

HANDEL: Messiah

[] Dawson, Heaston, Ko,end, Hellekant; Asawa, Ainsley, Smythe, Bannatyne-Scott; Choeur des Musiciens du Louvre, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Minkowski. Text DG Archiv 299 471 341-2

Hold onto your hats. In the world of Handel's Messiah, the ride doesn't get any faster than this. Marc Minkowski's conception of the great choral monument heralds Jesus's arrival bustling with activity. Rarely does Minkowski allow an allegro a second of breathing space. This approach manages to impart some of the excitement of what may arguably be the most important event of Western civilization, but it conveys none of its mystery.

In any of the frequently performed greatest masterworks of Western music -- Bach's B-minor Mass, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, and Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro may serve as examples -- elastic reinvention is practically a welcomed tradition. It is certainly a time-honored one. These are works that are so enormous they stand up to almost any amount of mistreatment as long as the notes themselves are present. Messiah is as mighty a fortress as the rest of them. But in the case of Messiah, we have two masterworks in one, for the text provided to Handel by Charles Jennens is nothing but excerpts from the greatest titan of them all, the Bible. The words are taken largely from the prophets, mostly from Isaiah, and are chosen to impart the awe of Christ's presence and mission on earth (witness the frequency of the word "behold").

Handel's genius was his ability to translate the power of his text through the musical means of his time. He did this through actual word-painting: a rising vocal line on the words "and the Lord shall arise" and laughing coloratura on words such as "rejoice" or "glory" are instances. He further paints text through the color of the musical material: the shape and thickness of the counterpoint, as well as choices of key and tempo. Handel managed to do this while still allowing the words themselves to speak and be heard. He did, after all, work throughout his career directly with his singers, and when he set a word, he placed it in the voice in such a way that it automatically would be colored by the vowel. So, "Shout" is placed in the soprano voice just below the upper passaggio, where it lies in the loudest part of the middle voice. "Glory" is placed at the apex of a vocal line in the alto voice, while "Lord" (same vowel) is placed lower, where it can acquire a warmer timbre. And so forth.

Such subtleties of composition are made virtually indiscernible by this roller-coaster ride of a recording. The chorus and several of the soloists scamper gamely after Minkowski's racing baton; too often, however, scampering after him is the operative phrase. They are good rapid-fire coloratura singers, but they are also artists, who ...