Handel's Messiah: A Streamlined Complete Version

" La Chapelle Rhénane – Handel: “Messiah,” an abridged complete recording featuring 4 vocal soloists and 5 instrumentalists, conducted by Benoît Haller. In 2012, La Chapelle Rhénane dedicated a recording to the most famous oratorio of all, Handel’s “Messiah. "

La Chapelle Rhénane – Handel: “Messiah,” an abridged complete recording featuring 4 vocal soloists and 5 instrumentalists, conducted by Benoît Haller. In 2012, La Chapelle Rhénane dedicated a recording to the most famous oratorio of all, Handel’s “Messiah,” in a complete version lasting nearly 150 minutes. Drawing on this in-depth knowledge of the score, the ensemble now offers a new approach: all the movements and themes of the work in a performance time cut in half, to 75 minutes. Nothing is omitted, no number is left out; it is the repetitions, developments, and ritornellos that have been streamlined, so that every aria, every recitative, and every chorus retains its place in the grand narrative that leads from prophecy to resurrection. Far from betraying the spirit of the work, this approach is fully in keeping with the tradition of its creator. From the premiere in Dublin in 1742 to the London performances to benefit the Foundling Hospital, Handel continually adapted and revised his work so that it would best suit the specific conditions of each performance: he shortened arias, replaced choruses with arias, transposed an aria to a different register, or rewrote an entire page to highlight a particular singer. “Messiah” has never existed in a fixed form, and every performer has always offered their own interpretation. This condensed version allows listeners to rediscover, in a single sitting, the work’s dramatic power and the succession of its great moments. A program likely to appeal to a wide audience, comprising both music lovers rediscovering the work in a new light and those simply curious, for whom this format serves as an ideal introduction to the great Baroque oratorio.