“John Butt conducts a host of choirs and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in Handel’s Messiah, arranged by Mozart.”
Handel arr. Mozart: Messiah (sung in English)
Nardus Williams (soprano)
Helen Charlston (mezzo-soprano)
Benjamin Hulett (tenor)
Ashley Riches (bass)
Philharmonia Chorus
Bath Minerva Choir
Fourth Choir
Jason Max Ferdinand Singers
LYC Chamber Choir
Voices of the River’s Edge
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Gavin Carr (chorus master)
John Butt
“Our Proms Choral Day culminates with one of music’s everlasting masterpieces, Handel’s Messiah. The choral movements are where this work’s most exciting, most joyous and most explosive music is to be found. ‘I did think I did see all Heaven before me,’ wrote the composer as he finished this musical reflection on faith, one that still brings audiences to their feet nearly three centuries after it was written. Heard here in Mozart’s thrilling arrangement, Messiah is delivered by massed choirs and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under early music specialist John Butt.”
Hello! Could you please subtly mic up the soloists next time! I honestly couldn’t hear the soprano at all over the orchestra. I was high up but I compared notes with prommers and someone in the stalls and we all agreed. Tech is not the enemy of classical music- the Albert Hall acoustic is!
We were in the stalls and could hear the soprano just fine – but the mezzo was often obscured, shame as she had a lovely voice. Maybe it was those extra bassoons and clarinet! The exception being He Was Despised which was exceptional. All in all a fun night, but I think I prefer Mozart’s woodwind in his own compositions. But as you say, the RAH acoustic can do strange things