SITE RATING: 5/10
SITE
REVIEW:
This
lengthy excerpts disc, taken from a 1952
release by the Toronto
Mendelssohn Choir and Toronto Symphony
Orchestra, conducted by Sir
Ernest MacMillan, was originally released by
RCA Victor on three LPs,
and reissued on CD by Attic Records in
celebration of the Choir's 100th
Anniversary. A clean mono transfer, this
performance is very much
of the times, with slow, chunky tempos, rather
square singing, and a
blunt, rather than smooth approach.
There's little here to entice
the modern ear - tenor Jon Vickers' tone
is bright and forward,
but more declamatory than heartfelt; bass
James Milligan sings with
more tenderness, and a pleasing timbre, but
the mono sound reveals its
limitations here, with distortion in the upper
ranges. Soprano
Lois Marshall possesses a lovely natural,
unaffected tone, while
contralto Mary Palmateer sings with perhaps
too much gravitas in her
brief appearance. The Toronto
Mendelssohn Choir sings with more
force than feeling, while the Toronto Symphony
Orchestra seems hedged
in by the blocked tempos encouraged by
MacMillan - and MacMillan makes
some odd directing choices as well, such as
slowing down the tempo
during "For unto us a Child is born" when
approaching the word
"wonderful". Much of the attributed
faults here can be attributed
to the recording technology of the times,
which required greater
emphasis taken in order to get greater
fidelity; his contemporaries
suffered much the same setbacks in similar
recordings of the day.
But to modern ears, it sounds painfully
forced and unnatural.
There appears to be some minor source
damage evident, with some
fluctuations and drop-outs audible, which may
account for why this
recording hasn't received a full digital
release. Of curiosity
to collectors of historical Messiahs,
but otherwise missable.
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