Die Schöpfung

Haydn may be prolific in symphonic and chamber music, all of which is very beautiful and very important in the history/development of those genres, but I am of the opinion of having a slight preference to his choral work with Die Schoepfung(The Creation) being the top of the pack. This performance is not quite as good as the Bernstein(hugely emotional and with great luxury casting) and especially Muti(very interesting from a historically-informed perspective, just as magnificently performed and even better shot and recorded) ones, but it is still very fine. For me, its only problem was the occasional balance issue in the otherwise beautifully-sung and dramatically committed chorus singing, with the women being more prominent than the men(the tenor section does sound underpowered here). The performance is recorded with plenty of resonance, making the most of the spacious setting the performance is performed in, and is well-shot and focuses on the right people at the right time at least. The venue is lovingly spacious and beautifully captured on film. The performance as expected is fantastic musically, with the classical style, lyricism and dramatic intensity of the music present all of the time. The orchestra sound glorious and they consistently play attentively and incisively, what was also good was that while on modern instruments there is still a period/historically informed perspective quality to their playing. Peter Schreier(yes Peter Schreier the tenor) proves to be a surprisingly strong conductor, he is very flexible and sympathetic but also has a good ear for musical drama and precision. The three soloists don't disappoint, Rene Pape is the most well-known name and provides some truly warm tone, great connection to the drama and text and silky phrasing, all of three he still has now in fact over twenty years on. Edith Mathis, while not in the same league as Lucia Popp for the Bernstein and Muti DVDs, is similarly very good; she has the lion's share of the solo music and while not in her prime(60s-early 70s) she still sings with confidence, pure but never edgy tone and honeyed phrasing. Christoph Pregardien's sensitive delivery of the text and pleasantly silvery voice(with only a couple of instances where he pushes ever so slightly) were much appreciated too. In conclusion, a fine performance of The Creation but not the best available. 9/10 Bethany Cox