Handel - Messiah (BBC 1982/Hogwood/AAM/Kirkby) [XViD] [twistle]

Handel - Messiah (BBC 1982/Hogwood/AAM/Kirkby) [XViD] [twistle]



George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handel
The Messiah : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_(Handel)
Academy of Ancient Music : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_ancient_music

This is an "authentic" performance of Handel's Messiah, recorded in 1982 in Westminster Abbey for television. The musical interpretation is extremely compelling, and the well-known soloists are superb, true to the style of the music (no excess vibrato here, by pumped up divas), and add their own sparkling embellishments.

Set against this, the video quality and camerawork is poor by modern TV standards, and it is hard not to be distracted and amused by some wonderfully 80s hairstyles (and David Thomas' rather manic gurning!). Nevertheless, having the video element adds greatly to the music.

(NB This is NOT the same recording as the AAM / Hogwood audio release available on, inter alia, L'Oiseaux-Lyre, which was made with Oxford Cathedral Choir in 1980).

I acquired this Video from Avax, where it is available in DVD format (Interlaced MPEG2 : 720x480), so thanks go to Dino63 for making the material available. If people want the original, go search there :)

I have here done a basic conversion on it (AutoGK) to squash it down from 7Gb to 1Gb; there is not a significant video quality drop from the less-than-stellar TV-quality DVD source and this AVI, despite the reduction in resolution. Neither this conversion, nor the original, could really support "zooming": I strongly recommend this is watched unzoomed.

The Audio has been left untouched (Dolby 2.0), and is crystal clear.

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Handel - The Messiah (1754 Foundling Hospital version) / BBC

Academy of Ancient Music / Choir of Westminster Abbey

Emma Kirkby (soprano)
Judith Nelson (soprano)
Carolyn Watkinson (mezzo soprano)
Paul Elliott (tenor)
David Thomas (bass)

Christopher Hogwood (cond.)

Original:
Audio: Dolby 2.0 (AC3) 448kbps
Video: Interlaced MPEG2, 720x480 (NTSC)

This conversion:
Audio: Dolby 2.0 (AC3) 448kbps
Video: XViD 448x337 30FPS

Recorded in Westminster Abbey, 1982.

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