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In Reply to: RE: Who woulda thunk it? New A. Davis Messiah recording in his own Beechamesque re-orchestration! posted by Chris from Lafayette on October 11, 2016 at 10:18:59
Her reaction to Davis' assignment of the main theme in "I know my Redeember liveth" to the clarinet was as follows: "OMG! That is SO LAME!"
And I guess that, overall, I'd have to say that my own reactions vary between amusement and shoulder shrugging over how lame (yes!) some of the re-orchestrations are. Part of the problem is that Davis' orchestration seems to be on the leash of what he considers "good taste", despite the potential for zest and piquancy in some of the instruments he uses. I re-listened to the "Hallelujah" Chorus, and, sure enough, I did hear the jingle bells that I'd missed the first time through - and the reason I missed them is because they're kind of buried in the overall texture. (We wouldn't want to get things sounding too vulgar and amped up here!) In contrast to the Goossens re-orchestration, which glories in the shock value of its Wagnerian-sized (or is it Strauss-sized? LOL!) orchestra, Davis seems almost embarrassed by many of his orchestration's departures from Handel's original. (OTOH, Davis does write a spirited defense of his instrumental choices in the booklet notes to this album, so if you do buy this album, you'll have some arguments to back yourself up!)
My hopes for the use of the marimba referenced in my previous post were dashed by its predominant use merely as a doubler of the lines of other instruments. I hate to say this, because it sounds like a cliche of how folks in the US think of Canadians, but the whole thing sounds so CANADIAN! (As the "National Lampoon" advised back in the 60's, if your favorite color is gray, then stop denying your Canadian heritage!)
Even so, I do want to note that the orchestral playing and the choral singing are both top notch IMHO. The soloists, not so much - I've already mentioned that Erin Wall lacks the vocal purity and focus I look for in the solo soprano part, and my wife was aghast at the overly vibrato-laden sound of the bass. Needless to say, he couldn't quite articulate his more fioratura-like passages in his arias nearly as cleanly as other singers I've heard. Of the four soloists, I'd say the alto (sorry, I mean mezzo!) exhibits the fewest problems.
I guess I'll conclude with some random comments on a few other individual numbers:"Comfort Ye": The use of the harp here reminds me of the Beecham/Goossens version - if you have to steal, steal from the best!Of course, there are a lot of other coloristic touches in the other numbers, but I hope I've given folks an idea as to what to expect in this recording. Although much of it IS lame, I still enjoyed it overall, so perhaps that's the ultimate recommendation. And, credit where credit is due, Davis did go out and actually put his neck on the line and create this new orchestration, based on principles he presumably believes in - which is way more than most of us can say for ourselves! ;-)
"Thus saith the Lord": Davis throws in the snare drum here - a bit lame, but not as much as the clarinet in "I know my Redeemer liveth".
"The Lord gave the word"/"How beautiful are the feet": Here, Davis uses a tambourine in the more rhythmically active portions - full marks and thumbs up for this idea! Why couldn't he do stuff like this throughout? Also, here is an instance of use of the marimba (doubling the strings of course - c'mon, leave the strings out so we can hear the marimba! And what's with all this doubling anyway? Did Davis learn his orchestration from the works of Robert Schumann? OK - my comment is over the top - I apologize!). ;-)
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