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Beecham's 'Messiah'
Posted by Ignatius on February 7, 2026, 3:24 pm
Upon reading Ralph Moore's recent review of Beecham's classic '59 recording of Handel's old warhorse in its Pristine remastering, I immediately dug out my dusty RCA copy. I'm glad I never got rid of it, and I'm completely satisfied with the sound, so I'll hold off the considerable coin needed for Pristine for now. The solo singing is simply stupendous! Vickers rings out gloriously. The others too sing with a sureness that has almost disappeared. If only we could field this sort of talented quartet today! Thanks Ralph for reminding me of the great merits of this set.
Re: Beecham's 'Messiah'
Posted by Ralph Moore on February 8, 2026, 3:59 pm, in reply to "Beecham's 'Messiah'" Edited by board administrator February 8, 2026, 4:00 pm
I accidentally deleted a comment on this Message Board from our colleague Nick Barnard with no possibility of retrieval, so my apologies and I reproduce the gist of it here: he was wondering just how much of the orchestration of this Messiah was by Carlos Salzedo, helping out Goossens. As he says, it's one of those things mentioned in passing in various places without ever providing absolute clarity! Perhaps somebody out there knows?
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Upon reading Ralph Moore's recent review of Beecham's classic '59 recording of Handel's old warhorse in its Pristine remastering, I immediately dug out my dusty RCA copy. I'm glad I never got rid of it, and I'm completely satisfied with the sound, so I'll hold off the considerable coin needed for Pristine for now. The solo singing is simply stupendous! Vickers rings out gloriously. The others too sing with a sureness that has almost disappeared. If only we could field this sort of talented quartet today! Thanks Ralph for reminding me of the great merits of this set.
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