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Saturday 4th December 2010 7:00pm Royal Concert Hall
HANDEL Messiah
Martene Grimson Soprano
ORCHESTRA DA CAMERA
Conductor - Richard Laing
NOTTINGHAM HARMONIC CHOIR Due to illness, Countertenor Andrew Radley was replaced at short notice by Christopher Ainslie
Review: Monday 6 December 2010.
VIEWS of Handel's Messiah have changed dramatically during the last 40 years
- from the heavy, over-elaborate versions favoured by post-Victorians to a
rediscovery of the scintillating celebration Handel devised.
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This concert always comes at the start of Advent, when we are all finally becoming aware that it really isn’t long until Christmas, even though the shops have been anticipating it for months. Come and have an evening to escape from the bustle and let Handel’s glorious music wash over you and renew you.
Handel’s inspired Messiah, written in only 21 days, also looks forward to Christmas, telling the story of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, through prophetic, narrative and explanatory extracts from the Bible. Although Messiah is the work by which most people in the world know Handel, it is almost a misfit in his output. He was not generally a religious composer and was not employed as a church musician, but rather wrote operas and music for royal occasions. His oratorios appear to be simply operas with religious themes. At the time they were written in England, they were not allowed to be staged nor acted. They could only be performed in a church, not in a theatre.
Handel’s operatic techniques are apparent in Messiah. The choir plays parts ranging from a vituperative mob hurling insults round the Cross to a choir of Angels singing of Jesus’ birth and praising Him in Heaven.
Many of the soloists’ arias are familiar and well-loved, but they make even more impact in the context of the whole work.
If you have never heard the whole of Messiah before, or have only heard versions which are heavily cut and there is no sense of continuity, come and be prepared for a totally different, thrilling, emotional experience!
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For printing:
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