Pifa - There were shepherds abiding in the field - Glory to God in the Highest

I was very fortunate to be part of a special performance of Messiah in December 1980. A global Handel conference was held in Ann Arbor and this performance was one of the special events. Ed Parmentier was our conductor and I know he had some special help in putting together the details of the performance, but I do not remember their names. We also had some very fine talent as the soloists. The glorious Emma Kirkby as the soprano (and this recording only hints at the beauty of her voice and presence), Renee Jacobs was the countertenor (alto) and he has gone on to great things as a conductor of opera, Marius van Altena was our tenor, and Max von Egmond was the bass. The chorus had something like 26 voices (I was one of the six tenors) and we a university group Prof. Parmentier renamed the Early Music Ensemble. The orchestra was Lyndon Lawless' Ars Musica whose loss we still lament. There were a few extra musicians added for the specialty instruments, but all told, the entire performance was done with less than 50 people. Here Emma Kirby is the narrator and the angel announcing the birth of Jesus to the Shepherds.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• glory to god csmatteson
• Ed Parmentier
• Emma Kirkby

[jasperschweppe]

Since Marius van Altena is my father, I'm very interested if some of the recordings of the tenor solo parts are still existing?

Could you please let me know?

[csmatteson]

@jasperschweppe Yes. I have his performance that night. How is your father doing? He inspired me a lot when I was young. And he was very kind to us in the chorus for that performance. you can email me directly at cmatteso@umich.edu

[csmatteson]

Do you have more information on Teri Noel Towe's article and book? I would LOVE to get copies.

[olialto7]

By the way, this performance was praised by Teri Noel Towe, who wrote the article comparing recordings of Messiah between the period of 1930 (ish) to 1990. He/she also lamented the fact that the University of Michigan was unable to underwrite the release of a complete recording (I quote directly from the book). It may also be of interest to mention that that Towe felt Parmentier's Messiah held its own with Hogwood's recording, also receiving high praise and recommendation in the same article.

[olialto7]

I have read about this performance in a book: Choral Music on Record, edited by Alan Blyth. As a collector of Messiahs, I had been disappointed that both recordings featuring Emma Kirkby use another soprano for the angelic recitatives; now I am glad that such a recording exists, though I wonder if it is widely available?