Advent Calendar, Dec 23: Handel Messiah By Sir Colin Davis & London Symphony Orchestra 1966

Many People's Favorite Recording

You’ll find online the most elaborate expressions of tribal passion for one or the other Messiah recording, and almost invariably they are accompanied by total recall of their chosen vinyl record covers, and other details pertaining also to whatever audio equipment people made use of when they first heard their favorite recording. I find it very interesting how intensely people bond with the first Messiah they ever heard.

From Amazon:

”My 7th grade general music teacher had told us about this work by Händel called Messiah. I was curious so I bought it. I was 15 years old when I bought this recording upon its original release in vinyl in 1966. It was a boxed set of three records. On the cover was a beautiful glossy color photo of a crucifix carved in ivory from the 12th century. I’ll never forget it. (I've attached snapshots of the original release album covers from 1966.) Believe it or not I picked up that original release boxed set off the rack at the local discount store (à la Walmart) and I’ve been both smitten and spoiled with it ever since. It was the very first time I had actually heard the Messiah, and I was elated.

”Turn the clock forward. I went on to study piano in music school where I received my performance degree. Fellow classmates talked about how they wanted to buy “the Colin Davis Messiah“ so it evidently had a reputation among music students. Eventually I wore out the original vinyl recording so I bought it again, same recording on vinyl but with updated packaging and new literature enclosed. Turn the clock forward again. Being an audio-video buff I always had a VCR. When I upgraded to my S-VHS HIFI recorder I was informed that it was also a good audio source because it had the second VHS-HIFI audio track overlayed on the video track. So I took my vinyl recording of Messiah, copied it onto a 2-hour VHS cassette, and didn’t have to flip records anymore.

”Present day. I now own the recording on this 2-CD set which I continue to play over and over again at Christmastime and Easter. Again, this was the first recording of the Messiah I had ever heard and I cannot listen to any other recording other than this one. I also reluctantly go to performances of Messiah rarely because I know it will not be anywhere near what I have at home.

”This vintage masterpiece is pure perfection, kept remarkably stylistic and purely baroque. All four soloists, clearly coached by Sir Davis, sing in a simple, straight baroque vocal style that is captivating, mesmerizing, and pure. Each member of the chorus, where reviewers have remarked was rather small, are powerful and equally stylistic at the same level of the soloists.

”I don’t have the best words to describe this recording which I’ve been listening to now for 55 years. I guess there’s nothing to say except that it is straight from God.”

—Bruce D. Smith

(Amazon Review)