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Christie productions are not always good even from his own perspective. His Serse CD is dull and heavy, his Orlando DVD is a disaster, though that is mainly due to the ridiculous staging concept and the truly lamentable singing. His Semele DVD is worthy only for Bartoli fanatics. His Rodelinda and Giulio Cesare DVDs are worth getting, though the latter is not as good as it has been made out to be in my opinion.
_________________ "If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2007 6:17 am Posts: 151 Location: venice
The main point could be that he made the violnist play handel as if th " Dear Saxon" were Paganini or Tartini. Christie seems not to conceive the strings as a whole. Maybe he should look after French chamber music where Christie seems to get the best results.
Rod Corkin wrote:
gustavs9 wrote:
Christie seems a very skilled performer of Handel..
the setting of the opera is not impressive though..
Christie productions are not always good even from his own perspective. His Serse CD is dull and heavy, his Orlando DVD is a disaster, though that is mainly due to the ridiculous staging concept and the truly lamentable singing. His Semele DVD is worthy only for Bartoli fanatics. His Rodelinda and Giulio Cesare DVDs are worth getting, though the latter is not as good as it has been made out to be in my opinion.
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:24 am Posts: 13232 Location: London, England
gustavs9 wrote:
The main point could be that he made the violinist play Handel as if the "Dear Saxon" were Paganini or Tartini. Christie seems not to conceive the strings as a whole. Maybe he should look after French chamber music where Christie seems to get the best results.
Well Christie is not unique in that respect, but he has done some worthy Handel CDs. But there are some French Baroque recordings from him you can recommend?
_________________ "If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2007 6:17 am Posts: 151 Location: venice
In thses pieces Christie gets his best, in my opinion, particularly the magnificat of Charpentier.
Rod Corkin wrote:
gustavs9 wrote:
The main point could be that he made the violinist play Handel as if the "Dear Saxon" were Paganini or Tartini. Christie seems not to conceive the strings as a whole. Maybe he should look after French chamber music where Christie seems to get the best results.
Well Christie is not unique in that respect, but he has done some worthy Handel CDs. But there are some French Baroque recordings from him you can recommend?
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2007 6:17 am Posts: 151 Location: venice
This is an oratorio that Handel loved particularly. Very religiously inspired. It needs great concentration to be appreciated , otherwise it may seem dull in the second part, but I am afraid that Christie , excellent in the first part gave his contribution in the second with the slow arias.
Rod Corkin wrote:
But how could I have forgotten Christie's crowning achievement, one of the all time great productions...
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:24 am Posts: 13232 Location: London, England
gustavs9 wrote:
This is an oratorio that Handel loved particularly. Very religiously inspired. It needs great concentration to be appreciated , otherwise it may seem dull in the second part, but I am afraid that Christie , excellent in the first part gave his contribution in the second with the slow arias.
Well I have read about these apparent 'dull' moments in Theodora but I have never once heard them (and I have heard this piece a lot!). The quality is consistent throughout in my opinion and there has never been a better oratorio than this before or since, which I presume is why Handel rated it so highly. However this is technically beyond the scope of the secular forum, I really shouldn't have mentioned it here.
_________________ "If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:24 am Posts: 13232 Location: London, England
gustavs9 wrote:
In thses pieces Christie gets his best, in my opinion, particularly the magnificat of Charpentier.
I tend to agree looking at these videos. They sound very at home here, but again these are religious pieces so I am moving this topic to the general forum.
_________________ "If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin
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