Handel/Mozart · The Messiah / Der Messias K. 572

Cover: CD Double-Album
Cover: Digital Music Album
EUR 33,00
2 CD
Handel / Mozart:
Der Messias (Messiah), K. 572

Complete recording of Mozart's reorchestration and arrangement
of the English oratorio HWV 56 by George Frideric Handel (sung in German),
performed according to the traditions of the time
by Marlis Petersen (Soprano), Margot Oitzinger (Alto),
Markus Schäfer (Tenor), Marek Rzepka (Bass),
the Hanoverian Court Orchestra and the Maulbronn Chamber Choir
Conductor: Jürgen Budday

A concert recording from the church of the German
UNESCO World Heritage Site Maulbronn Monastery

HD Recording · DDD · Double Album · c. 133 Minutes

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Work(s) & Performance

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his live recording is part of a cycle of oratorios and masses, performed in the basilica of Maulbronn Abbey under the direction of Jürgen Budday. The series combines authentically performed oratorios and masses with the optimal acoustics and atmosphere of this unique monastic church. This ideal location demands the transparency of playing and the interpretive unveiling of the rhetoric intimations of the composition, which is especially aided by the historically informed performance. The music is exclusively performed on reconstructed historical instruments, which are tuned to the pitch customary in the composer's lifetimes (this performance is tuned in a' = 430 Hz).

George Frideric Handel

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he idea of writing an arrangement of Handel’s Messiah was not Mozart’s. He was in fact commissioned to do this by Baron Gottfried van Swieten. Van Swieten had founded the "Society of Associates" (Gesellschaft der Associierten) in Vienna, an exclusive circle that organised private performances of oratorios during Lent and at Christmas. Because of the reforms introduced by Emperor Joseph II, church music had suffered from drastic changes to the liturgy that had almost brought about its total demise. For this reason, the emphasis shifted to private performances. The Viennese aristocracy was part of van Swieten’s circle and its members also acted as patrons. For quite some time before he worked on the Messiah, Mozart been part of these concerts – he played cembalo under the direction of the court theatre composer, Starzer, who had already arranged Judas Maccabaeus. During this period, Mozart had access to van Swieten’s private library and was able to study scores by Bach and Handel, which he found deeply stimulating for his own creative work. In 1788 Mozart himself took over as director of these private concerts. In that same year he arranged Handel’s Acis and Galatea, then in March 1979 the Messiah, and in the following year, the Ode for St. Cecilia and Alexander’s Feast. The rehearsals for the Messiah took place in van Swieten’s apartments. The oratorio was first performed in Count Johann Esterhazy’s palais on 6th March 1789. The number of instrumentalists involved is not known, and there were supposedly only 12 singers in the choir.
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartBaron van Swieten, who was a great admirer of baroque music, wanted Mozart to "modernise" the oratorio. This was a perfectly normal demand – the original work and its composer still commanded great respect, of course, but this was no obstacle to updating something "old-fashioned" to bring it into line with modern taste. Mozart based his arrangement on the first edition of Handel’s score. From this, two copyists produced a working score. For the English libretto and the wind sections of the original, they substituted blank lines so that Mozart could write his own accompaniment and insert the text written by van Swieten. The latter was, in turn, based on the German translation done by F. G. Klopstock and C. D. Ebeling in 1775.
The biggest change was made to the airs, as they were believed to be the form most in need of "modernisation". Mozart in part changed the harmony structure, made cuts, varied the tempi, transposed the airs or assigned them to other vocal parts. Yet he retained the form of the air – with one exception. "If God be for us" (CD II, No. 23) appears in Mozart’s version as a recitative, not as an air. Van Swieten comments: "Your idea of turning the text of the cold air into a recitative is splendid... Anyone who is able to clothe Handel with such solemnity and taste that he pleases the fashion-conscious fops on the one hand, while on the other hand still continuing to show himself superior, is a person who senses Handel’s worth, who understands him, has found the source of his expression and who can and will draw inspiration from it. The mood of this "cold air" obviously had so little appeal for Mozart that he felt this was the one instance where he had to alter the formal structure, which in itself speaks volumes for his sensitivity in dealing with the original.
The choral sections remain almost unchanged. But here, however, Mozart introduces harmony. Woodwinds are added to the horn and trumpet sections and accompany the choral descant parts in unison. The trombones, on the other hand, are given the option of doubling the alto, tenor and base parts and precise stipulations are only made for two of the numbers. Before this version of the Messiah score first appeared in print, Rochlitz made the flowing comments in the music periodical, "Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung": "He has exercised the greatest delicacy by touching nothing that transcends the style of his time ... The choral sections are left as Handel wrote them and are only amplified cautiously now and again by wind instruments."
One other change was made to the choral sections and it had to do with tempo. Mozart intervenes here, usually choosing a slower pace. In addition to slowing the movements down, he also "steals" some pieces from the choir. This applies in particular to certain virtuoso segments in the initial choral sections, which he gives to the soloists. Apart from the explanation that Mozart was doing this to illustrate baroque dynamics, this might also have been done for other reasons. It is quite possible that Mozart had no choir available whom he thought capable of performing these pieces. The airs were also shortened. For example, he cut the middle section of the bass air, "The trumpet shall sound". Of this Rochlitz wrote: "Those [airs], where Handel adhered more strictly to the conventions of his day, have been given a new and unparalleled accompaniment, one that Handel himself would have wanted, but which also incorporates the advances in instruments and taste made since his days; where the airs were too long or became unimportant, like the second part, for example, which was only written for voice and bass, such parts have been cut." Yet in comparison to other contemporary oratorio arrangements, Mozart’s cuts are minimal. They are aimed more at condensing and tightening up what is taking place. As a result, a performance of this arrangement only takes 2 ½ hours, a cut of almost half an hour. Rochlitz is of the opinion that this makes the oratorio "highly enjoyable for any kind of audience."
However, Mozart is not content with changes that are dull or conventional. He puts woodwinds into the airs to better interpret the basic mood. What’s more, he divests the bassoons of their bass function – repeatedly. To preserve the musical flow of an air, he provides the singer with instrumental support in cadences instead of giving him or her the freedom to improvise. And over and above having to adhere to the rules imposed by the contemporary conventions of good taste, Mozart also had to take other circumstances into consideration. For example, in his arrangement he cut out the organ – there was simply no organ available in the Viennese palais where the private performances were held. Another problem that Mozart had to contend with was the change that had taken place in trumpet playing between the time of Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s arrangement of it. The break-up of the social order in the towns had led to the demise of the town piper guilds and, in turn, to the decline in the art of playing the clarion. The trumpets in a classical orchestra were not nearly as powerful as their predecessors, so in order to support the sound of the orchestra, Mozart "downgraded" them with regard to both harmony and rhythm. He modified the original passages or assigned them to other instruments such as the horn in the air "The trumpet shall sound" (CD II, No. 20), thus achieving a more virtuoso effect.
Yet the Messiah remains the work of Handel, despite the Mozart arrangement. Mozart did not write a new composition, he used the original as a template and arranged it – or to use a present-day idiom, he did a "cover version". In doing so, he achieved a synthesis of baroque counterpoint and classical style, which is why this version of the Messiah definitely offers a remarkable alternative to the "original".

Teresa Frick

Series & Edition

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ublishing Authentic Classical Concerts entails for us capturing and recording outstanding performances and concerts for posterity. The performers, audience, opus and room enter into an intimate dialogue that in its form and expression, its atmosphere, is unique and unrepeatable. It is our aim, the philosophy of our house, to enable the listener to acutely experience every facet of this symbiosis, the intensity of the performance, so we record the concerts in direct 2-Track Stereo digital HD. The results are unparalleled interpretations of musical and literary works, simply - audiophile snapshots of permanent value. Flourishing culture, enthralling the audience and last but not least also you the listener, are the values we endeavor to document in our editions and series.

The concerts at the UNESCO World Heritage Maulbronn Monastery supply the ideal conditions for our aspirations. It is, above all, the atmosphere of the romantic, candle-lit arches, the magic of the monastery in its unadulterated sublime presence and tranquillity that impresses itself upon the performers and audience of these concerts. Renowned soloists and ensembles from the international arena repeatedly welcome the opportunity to appear here - enjoying the unparalleled acoustic and architectural beauty of this World Heritage Site, providing exquisite performances of secular and sacred music, documented by us in our Maulbronn Monastery Edition.

Andreas Otto Grimminger & Josef-Stefan Kindler, K&K Verlagsanstalt

Review

A superior version of Mozart's unique effort

Mozart's arrangement of Handel's Messiah, made in 1789, relates to his involvement in the circle of musical connoisseurs surrounding the Baron Gottfried van Swieten, Viennese nobleman and aficionado of the monuments of Baroque music. It is, as the booklet here aptly puts it, a "cover version" (the German participle, charmingly enough, is "gecovert") of Handel's work, neither a radical rethinking nor a light rescoring.

Mozart adds a good deal of wind scoring, often arranging things so that the winds peek out with a wink toward the end of an aria. The treatments of the flute and bassoon are playful and very Mozartian, yet the music, with the exception of one number, "Wenn Gott ist für uns" (CD 2, No. 23), is Handel's. Even that number, in which the original aria is discarded in favor of a new recitative, has subtle echoes of the original intervallic structure in Mozart's new music, and in the big choruses Mozart plays it straight.

The biggest change for the casual listener is the one from English to the German of van Swieten himself, working from an earlier translation by Friedrich Klopstock and Christoph Ebeling. If "Alle Tale" does not have quite the ringing quality of "Ev'ry valley," "Herr der Herrn, der Götter Gott" gets the message across.
Conductor Jürgen Budday, leading the Hannoversche Hofkapelle, offers a spirited reading that reveals many of the score's smaller details. Although the soprano of Marlis Petersen is a bit outsized for a work that was originally performed with only 12 singers and has, for all the monumentality of Handel's Messiah, a certain intimate quality, this is a superior version of Mozart's unique effort, benefiting from the edge of live performance in a sonically spectacular venue. The booklet is helpful, quoting extensively from a detailed eighteenth century essay on Mozart's effort.

Review by James Manheim - All Media Guide, allmusic.com

Review

A really excellent production with vitality and great energy

The small but enterprising German label K&K continue to regale the discerning collector with lavish productions of selected works in the magnificent setting of the UNESCO World Heritage Maulbronn Monastery in Germany.

After releasing what can only be termed as a rather excellent 'Messiah' they have now turned their attentions to the Mozart arrangement of the same work sung in German. With such miraculous acoustics available, the recording is truly a sonic gem especially with the distinguished and alert playing of the Hannover Chamber Orchestra which infuses the orchestral parts Mozart composed with vitality and great energy.

The quartet of soloists does not include any real big names but they are all of the highest quality. I was particularly taken with Marlies Peterson whose ethereal capacity for high notes reminds one of the more highly rated Renée Fleming. Rzepka is also very strong as the bass whilst the monastery choir sings with élan and perfect diction, being here on home ground.

Booklet notes are suitably ample as are the recording details which include some stunning photographs of the performance. If you are looking for a high quality 'Messiah' in the Mozart arrangement, then you should look no further than this really excellent German production.

Gerald Fenech on Classical Net

A really excellent production with vitality and great energy

ReviewThe small but enterprising German label K&K continue to regale the discerning collector with lavish productions of selected works in the magnificent setting of the UNESCO World Heritage Maulbronn Monastery in Germany.
After releasing what can only be termed as a rather excellent 'Messiah' they have now turned their attentions to the Mozart arrangement of the same work sung in German. With such miraculous acoustics available, the recording is truly a sonic gem especially with the distinguished and alert playing of the Hannover Chamber Orchestra which infuses the orchestral parts Mozart composed with vitality and great energy.
The quartet of soloists does not include any real big names but they are all of the highest quality. I was particularly taken with Marlies Peterson whose ethereal capacity for high notes reminds one of the more highly rated Renée Fleming. Rzepka is also very strong as the bass whilst the monastery choir sings with élan and perfect diction, being here on home ground.
Booklet notes are suitably ample as are the recording details which include some stunning photographs of the performance. If you are looking for a high quality 'Messiah' in the Mozart arrangement, then you should look no further than this really excellent German production.
Gerald Fenech on Classical Net

A superior version of Mozart's unique effort

ReviewMozart's arrangement of Handel's Messiah, made in 1789, relates to his involvement in the circle of musical connoisseurs surrounding the Baron Gottfried van Swieten, Viennese nobleman and aficionado of the monuments of Baroque music. It is, as the booklet here aptly puts it, a "cover version" (the German participle, charmingly enough, is "gecovert") of Handel's work, neither a radical rethinking nor a light rescoring.
Mozart adds a good deal of wind scoring, often arranging things so that the winds peek out with a wink toward the end of an aria. The treatments of the flute and bassoon are playful and very Mozartian, yet the music, with the exception of one number, "Wenn Gott ist für uns" (CD 2, No. 23), is Handel's. Even that number, in which the original aria is discarded in favor of a new recitative, has subtle echoes of the original intervallic structure in Mozart's new music, and in the big choruses Mozart plays it straight.
The biggest change for the casual listener is the one from English to the German of van Swieten himself, working from an earlier translation by Friedrich Klopstock and Christoph Ebeling. If "Alle Tale" does not have quite the ringing quality of "Ev'ry valley," "Herr der Herrn, der Götter Gott" gets the message across.
Conductor Jürgen Budday, leading the Hannoversche Hofkapelle, offers a spirited reading that reveals many of the score's smaller details. Although the soprano of Marlis Petersen is a bit outsized for a work that was originally performed with only 12 singers and has, for all the monumentality of Handel's Messiah, a certain intimate quality, this is a superior version of Mozart's unique effort, benefiting from the edge of live performance in a sonically spectacular venue. The booklet is helpful, quoting extensively from a detailed eighteenth century essay on Mozart's effort.

Review by James Manheim
All Media Guide, allmusic.com

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