A Christmas Medley - Bryn Terfel, Joan Plowright and Chorus

[ctomarctus]

2:48 OMG....I thinks I am in love!!!

[pgzzz]

I watched this live and it was fabulous !!

[serbobass]

Thank God it's not another counter tenor rendition on You Tube...

[CountertenorJ]

@serbobass I'd hate to listen to it in the correct registration. This aria was specifically written for the ALTO castrato Guadagni. Luckily, I'm not as dismissive of good singings and love Mr. Terfel's singing of this alto aria.

[DantheManSings]

@CountertenorJ Well actually it's not an Alto aria, when Handel wrote the Messiah he wrote many of the arias to be very flexible, seeing as he never knew what types of voices he would have available. I do agree with you that Mr. Terfel does a wonderful job on this aria!

[CountertenorJ]

This version of "But who may abide" was specifically written for Guadagni -- an alto castrato. It was originally written for bass (which is why the recitative is a bass recit.). It is not quite clear why he did not make the recit. for Guadagni as well. But after Guadagni agreed to sing it, he re-wrote several of the arias for him -- such as this one and "Thou art gone up on high."

[successofafailur]

i thought he did a decent job at the performance. the only critique i can give is at "for he is like" goes a bit too fast and the 8th notes aren't distinct enough

[chaoticflame5]

I agree that he probably should have taken that section a little slower, though, for how fast he was going, those eighth notes were very good. He got all of them, and they were on pitch.

[sasha42196]

OK, I like when he sings Welsh songs. But please, Bryn Terfel is not a baroque singer and that was not good.  And what is the matter with his face at 2:50?!

[nicmalauren]

LMAO - The face was brilliant!

[barmanjoe]

Well maybe if you paid attention to the words that follow, it may become clear to you as to why the face is being made...

[Chachboon]

AWESOME! A shame the end of the Mathias is cut off! NOWELL!

[SuperDaveOkie]

Bryn never ceases to amaze me. Give me a real singer doing baroque any day!