Handel: Messiah (Remastered) The Academy of St Martin in the Fields & Sir Neville Marriner

• George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759): Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1:
• 1 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 1, Symphony 03:04
• 2 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 2, Recit. Comfort Ye, My People (Tenor) - No. 3, Aria. Every Valley Shall Be Exalted (Tenor) 06:23
• 3 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 4, Chorus. And the Glory of the Lord Shall Be Revealed 02:58
• 4 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 5, Recit. Thus Saith the Lord of Hosts (Bass) - No. 6, Aria. But Who May Abide the Day of His Coming? (Alto/Bass) 04:29
• 5 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 7, Chorus. And He Shall Purify the Sons of Levi 02:08
• 6 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 8, Recit. Behold, a Virgin Shall Conceive, and Bear a Son (Alto) - No. 9, O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion 06:01
• 7 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 10, Recit. For Behold, Darkness Shall Cover the Earth (Bass) - No. 11, Aria. The People That Walked in Darkness Have Seen a Great Light (Bass) 06:14
• 8 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 12, Chorus. For Unto Us a Child Is Born 03:35
• 9 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 13. Pifa "Pastoral Symphony" 02:53
• 10 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 14, Recit. There Were Shepherds - No. 15, And the Angel Said Unto Them - No. 16, And Suddenly (Soprano) 03:10
• 11 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 17, Chorus. Glory to God in the Highest 01:45
• 12 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 18, Aria. Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion (Soprano) 04:11
• 13 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 19, Recit. Then Shall the Eyes of the Blind Be Opened (Alto) - No. 20, Aria. He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd (Alto/Soprano) 04:59
• 14 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: No. 21, Chorus. His Yoke Is Easy and His Burthen Is Light 01:58
• Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2:
• 15 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 22, Chorus. Behold the Lamb of God 02:59
• 16 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 23, Aria. He was Despised and Rejected of Men (Alto) 11:17
• 17 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 24, Chorus. Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs 02:07
• 18 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 25, Chorus. And with His Stripes We Are Healed 01:27
• 19 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 26, Chorus. All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray 03:27
• 20 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 27, Recit. All They That See Him Laugh Him to Scorn (Tenor) - No. 28, Chorus. He Trusted in God That He Would Deliver Him 02:51
• 21 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 29, Recit. Thy Rebuke Hath Broken His Heart (Soprano/Tenor) - No. 30, Aria. Behold and See If There Be Any Sorrow Like Unto His Sorrow (Soprano/Tenor) 03:49
• 22 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 31, Recit. He Was Cut Off Out of the Land of the Living (Soprano/Tenor) - No. 32, Aria. But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul in Hell (Soprano/Tenor) 02:23
• 23 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 33, Chorus. Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates 02:58
• 24 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 34, Recit. Unto Which of the Angels Said He at Any Time? (Tenor) - No. 35, Chorus. Let All the Angels of God Worship Him 01:42
• 25 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 36, Aria. Thou Art Gone Up on High (Alto/Bass) 03:10
• 26 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 37, Chorus. The Lord Gave the Word 01:03
• 27 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 38, Aria. How Beautiful Are the Feet of Them That Preach (Soprano) 03:17
• 28 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 39, Chorus. Their Sound Is Gone Out into All Lands 01:09
• 29 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 40, Aria. Why Do the Nations So Furiously Rage Together? (Bass) - No. 41, Chorus. Let Us Break Their Bonds Asunder 03:08
• 30 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 42, Recit. He That Dwelleth in Heaven Shall Laugh Them to Scorn (Tenor) - No. 43, Aria. Thou Shalt Break Them with a Rod of Iron (Tenor) 02:34
• 31 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: No. 44, Chorus. Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth 03:41
• Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 3:
• 32 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 3: No. 45, Aria. I Know That My Redeemer Liveth (Soprano) 05:14
• 33 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 3: No. 46, Chorus. Since By Man Came Death 01:50
• 34 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 3: No. 47, Recit. Behold, I Tell You a Mystery (Bass) - No. 48, Aria. The Trumpet Shall Sound (Bass) 10:10
• 35 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 3: No. 49, Recit. Then Shall Be Brought to Pass (Alto) - No. 50, Aria. O Death, Where Is Thy Sting? (Alto/Tenor) - No. 51, Chorus. But Thanks Be to God Who Giveth Us the Victory 04:57
• 36 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 3: No. 52, Aria. If God Be For Us, Who Can Be Against Us? (Soprano) 04:40
• 37 Handel: Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 3: No. 53, Chorus. Worthy Is the Lamb That Was Slain - Amen 06:37
• Total Runtime 02:20:18

Info for Handel: Messiah (Remastered)

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields was founded in 1959 by Sir Neville Marriner and a group of London’s leading orchestral players. Originally formed as a small conductorless string group, it spearheaded the 1950’s Baroque revival.

Since those early days, the academy has expanded and experimented widely and now divides its time equally between international tours, UK concerts and sessions in the recording studio.

Sir Neville Marriner continues as the orchestra’s artistic and music director and as conductor of the symphony orchestra. Iona Brown and Kenneth Sillito are artistic directors of the chamber orchestra and Kenneth Sillito also directs the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble. The academy makes regular visits to USA, France, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia and Japan.

Audiences in London have the opportunity to hear the academy in concerts at the South Bank and Barbican Centres, and the orchestra performs throughout the UK at the major musical centres.

The academy has a flourishing education program and players take part in a wide range of educational projects with schools and community groups throughout the UK. Projects are tailored to suit each group and provide people of all ages and abilities with the opportunity to work with many of the country’s finest musicians.

With Britain leading the way in music education projects, the academy is now involved in developing projects abroad. With over 1,000 releases to its credit, ranging from baroque and classical masterpieces to the major romantic and 20th-century works, the academy remains the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world. It has won many coveted international awards—including 8 Edisons, the Canadian Grand Prix and a multitude of gold discs—13 alone for the soundtrack of Milos Forman’s film “Amadeus”.

Unlike any other major British orchestra, the academy receives no direct government subsidy and relies solely on its artistic integrity and commercial initiative for its continued success.

In April 1993 the Academy of St Martin in the Fields became the first orchestra to be honoured with the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement.

Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Sir Neville Marriner, conductor

Digitally remastered

Sir Neville Marriner
Sir Neville Marriner & The Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields (or “Marriner and the Academy” as they became affectionately known) led the way in the stereo recording of lighter, more transparent and, quite simply, better played performances of Baroque and, later, Classical repertoire. This happy combination of circumstances provided a whole generation of music lovers with recordings which to this day have stood the test of time. It is hard to imagine a record collection anywhere in the world unblessed by Marriner and his Academy.

Neville himself was the ideal recording artist, first leading from the violin, and later when the group enlarged, as conductor. He had himself “sprung up though the orchestra as one of the team” but remained always unpretentious and self-deprecating. But this was allied to a drive and passion that ensured standards were maintained at the highest level throughout, particularly in the recording studio. The result was that most professional orchestral musicians aspired to be in his orchestra.

Founded in 1958 from an elite group of London’s orchestral players, the very first recording sessions in the Conway Hall in 1961 were for Louise Dyer’s L’Oiseau-Lyre label. When she died the following year, Marriner and the Academy transferred over to Decca’s Argo imprint where many of the famous recordings of the LP era were made. Classics of the Baroque such as The Four Seasons with Alan Loveday were complemented by reference versions of Stravinsky ballets and Strauss’ Metamorphosen, or glowing discs of Delius and Vaughan Williams (a recent box set entitled The Argo Years celebrates many of these recordings) . In 1969, Erik Smith, a family friend and producer who had recently moved from Decca to Philips in the Netherlands, tempted Neville and the Academy to become Philips artists and their first recording, made on a cold January in an East London town hall was of J.C. Bach Symphonies. Over the next two decades recordings continued to flow from Philips, Argo as well as other labels – not least surveys of Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert symphonies – but one composer dominated above all as Neville and Erik delightedly planned a cornucopia of Mozart leading up to the first ever Complete Mozart Edition for the 1991 bicentenary. This included not only the complete Symphonies, Divertimenti and Serenades, but the Piano Concertos with Alfred Brendel, the mature operas and many rarely heard works. When the film Amadeus came out it was of course Neville & The Academy who provided the soundtrack.

Later projects for the label seemed tailor-made for the genial wit of Sir Neville – bubbly Rossini (including three complete operas) and, an idea which initially horrified Molly, Gilbert & Sullivan’s Yeoman of the Guard. Sir Neville was also the ideal accompanist of choice for countless soloists, including for the debut recording of Joshua Bell who would later succeed him at the helm of the Academy . Such was his fame, Neville received conducting invitations from all the around the world and several of these turned into notable recordings for both Decca and Philips. These included collaborations with the London Symphony and London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Cleveland and Concertgebouw Orchestras, the Dresden Staatskapelle and three orchestras of which he was also Musical Director: the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra and Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Until the very end of his life Neville, accompanied by the indefatigable and cheerful Molly, toured the world including China and Japan. All this showed a man who was simply beloved of orchestral musicians the world over. His passing will be universally mourned, but his enormous and remarkable recorded legacy will continue to inspire and delight.

This album contains no booklet.