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Too Hot to Handel: The Gospel Messiah (Too Hot) - Here's a crossover project that really works, a jazzy treatment of Messiah. It's the brainchild of conductor Marin Alsop, who premiered the update of Handel's 1742 oratorio with her Concordia Orchestra in 1993. Now Alsop has recorded it with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the Majestic Praise Choir.
The great tenor Thomas Young tops the outstanding solo trio, which also includes soprano Lillias White and mezzo-soprano Vivian Cherry. The arrangements by Bob Christianson and Gary Anderson are so inventive and cool that Messiah diehards will be eager to hear each familiar movement to see what the pair has done. Listeners who don't know the difference between "For unto us a child is born" and "All we like sheep" will enjoy the work as an infectious pop, jazz and blues suite. Handel was the most theatrical of Baroque composers, and he would definitely approve. To order the double CD for $22.50, go to www.toohot2handel.com GRADE: A
CATCH IT LIVE: The swinging Messiah is an appealing alternative to holiday standards. This week, the Florida Orchestra, the Without Walls International Church Sanctuary Choir, soprano Natalie Oliver-Atherton, mezzo-soprano Cheryl Barnes and tenor Robert Mack, with Susan Haig conducting, perform it Wednesday at Ruth Eckerd Hall and Thursday at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Both concerts start at 8 p.m. $22.50-$50.50.
- JOHN FLEMING, Times performing arts critic
Ives: A Song - For Anything; Gerald Finley, baritone; Julius Drake, piano (Hyperion)
All My Heart; Deborah Voigt, soprano; Brian Zeger, piano (EMI Classics)
Anyone who thinks the Germans own exclusive rights to the art-song genre should pay heed to these two new discs of American songs. So, too, should any fan of the pure human voice.
Both types will find the all-Ives disc particularly rewarding. Canadian baritone Gerald Finley is among the finest singers in the world, and this disc presents a generous, diverse portrait. Better still, his voice - warm, thoroughly supported, and resonant across his range - hooks the ear quickly and doesn't let go.
Ives also had splendid taste in poetry and the literary pleasures of this disc are many. The works sung here are fun, thoughtful and emotionally poignant by turns, accurately representing the composer's large output of solo vocal music from 1892 to 1923. Encompassed are raw religiosity (General Booth Enters Into Heaven), parlor-room formality (In Summer Fields) and humor (A Song for Anything). Ives wasn't shy about writing his own texts, and his settings of his own words may be the most touching of the bunch. Julius Drake is, as always, an unfailingly sensitive partner at the piano.
Soprano Deborah Voigt offers more Ives on her disc but delves further into the American songbook by exploring the music of Bernstein, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Amy Beach and a contemporary, Ben Moore. The results are predictably eclectic, with a pool of poets that contrasts James Joyce with the Vietnam War-era lyricist Betty Comden (in Bernstein's So Pretty). Voigt's timbre occasionally is harsh and her vibrato sometimes blurs the impact of the texts. Still, much of the program holds up well, from playful Ives to dramatic Beach. Of all her selections, Moore's robust, tonal music leaves the deepest impression. GRADES: Ives: A; All My Heart: A-
- ZACHARY LEWIS, Times correspondent