The venerable Kammerchor Stuttgart and Barockorchester Stuttgart under their conductor Frieder Bernius have generally been oriented toward historically informed performances of unusual Baroque and Classical repertory. Handel's Messiah is anything but unusual, but doing only the choruses qualifies: part of why the large-scale architecture of Messiah is so compelling involves the balance between chorus and solos. Would an audience of Handel's time have valued a collection of the choruses? It's possible. At any rate, it's ...
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The venerable Kammerchor Stuttgart and Barockorchester Stuttgart under their conductor Frieder Bernius have generally been oriented toward historically informed performances of unusual Baroque and Classical repertory. Handel's Messiah is anything but unusual, but doing only the choruses qualifies: part of why the large-scale architecture of Messiah is so compelling involves the balance between chorus and solos. Would an audience of Handel's time have valued a collection of the choruses? It's possible. At any rate, it's refreshing to hear a performance of Messiah that's devoid of the longstanding British and American traditions associated with the work. There is just a slight German accent in the choir's diction, but it doesn't detract from the overall effect; Handel himself had a considerably heavier one. The light touch of the choir is entirely divorced from the work's tradition of mighty sounds, but it succeeds on its own terms: if you want a completely different kind of "Hallelujah Chorus", sample...
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