Joseph Haydn : The Creation - Paul McCreesh / Gabrieli Consort & Players - Chetham's Chamber Choir - 2CDs - 2008.

Joseph Haydn : The Creation - Paul McCreesh / Gabrieli Consort & Players - Chetham's Chamber Choir - 2CDs - 2008.

Gabriel : Sandrine Piau - Soprano
Uriel : Mark Padmore - Tenor
Raphael : Neal Davies - Bass
Adam : Peter Harvey - Baritone
Eve : Miah Persson - Soprano

Gramophone Awards 2008 : Winner of Category - Choral

BBC Music Magazine : Disc of the month - May 2008

Classics Today Rating :


Eac / ape (img + cue) / wav.
Recovery : 3%.
Total rar size : 2CDs / Covers : 508 MB / 6 parts.
Total playing-time : 108':56 .
Included : Full Covers, Full Booklet, CDs all in 300 dpi.

Tracklist :

CD 01 : Joseph Haydn : The Creation - Paul McCreesh -
Chetam's Chamber Choir - Gabrieli Consort & Players.

Gabriel : Sandrine Piau - Soprano
Uriel : Mark Padmore - Tenor
Raphael : Neal Davies - Bass
Adam : Peter Harvey - Baritone
Eve : Miah Persson - Soprano

01. Part One: The First Day : Introduction: The Representation Of Chaos [0:06:19.10]
02. Recitative And Chorus : "In The Beginning God Created The Heaven And The Earth" [0:03:11.24]
03. Aria And Chorus : "Now Vanish Befor The Holy Beams" [0:04:06.40]
04. The Second Day: Recitative : "And God Made The Firmament" [0:02:01.40]
05. Solo with Chorus : "The Glorious Heav'nly Hierarchy" [0:02:16.16]
06. The Third Day : Recitative : "And God Said : Let The Waters .." [0:00:38.47]
07. Aria : "Rolling In Foaming Billows" [0:04:09.66]
08. Recitative : "And God Said: Let The Earth Bring Forth Grass" [0:00:30.32]
09. Aria : "With Verdure Clad The Fields Appear" [0:05:11.70]
10. Recitative : "And The Heavenly Host The Third Day Proclaimed" [0:00:10.38]
11. Chorus: "Awake The Harp, The Lyre Awake" [0:02:09.53]
12. The Forth Day : Recitative : "And God Said : Let There Be Light.. " [0:00:39.53]
13. Recitative : "In Brightest Splendour Rises Now The Sun" [0:03:05.40]
14. Chorus And Trio : "The Heavens Are Telling The Glory Of God" [0:04:14.21]
15. Part Two: The Fifth Day : Recitative : "And God Said : Let The Waters Bring .." [0:00:30.67]
16. Aria : "On Mighty Pens Uplifted Soars The Eagle" [0:08:10.32]
17. Recitative : "And God Created Great Whales" [0:02:37.65]
18. Recitative : "And The Angels Struck Their Immortal Harps" [0:00:17.50]
19. Trio And Chorus : "Most Beautiful Appear, With Verdure Young Adorn'd" [0:06:52.62]
20. The Sixth Day : Recitative : "And God Said : Let The Earth Forth The Living Creature" [0:00:23.66]
21. Recitative : "Straight Opening Her Fertile Womb" [0:03:27.10]
22. Aria : "Now Heaven In Fullest Glory Shines" [0:03:37.44]


CD 02 : Joseph Haydn : The Creation - Paul McCreesh -
Chetham's Chamber Choir - Gabrieli Consort & Players

01. Part Three : Recitative : "In Rosy Mantle Now Appears" [0:04:22.09]
02. Duet With Chorus : "By Thee With Bliss, O Bounteos Lord" [0:10:31.52]
03. Recitative : "Our Duty Have We Now Perform'd" [0:02:15.66]
04. Duet : "Graceful Consort!" [0:08:03.19]
05. Recitative : "O Happy Pair" [0:00:33.29]
06. Chorus: "Praise The Lord, Uplift Your Voices" [0:03:42.45]


Reviews :

Reviewed: Gramophone 3/2008 : Richard Wigmore

Exciting, moving and wonderfully sung, this big band Creation is a triumph

Haydn and his librettist Baron van Swieten conceived The Creation as the first bilingual oratorio and would surely have been perplexed that Anglophone record-buyers seem to prefer the work in German. The main problem, of course, is that the Baron's command of English failed to match his self-confidence, prompting many attempts to improve on the original. On this new recording, Paul McCreesh's emendations are less radical than those on the two other available versions in English (from Simon Rattle, 4/91, and Robert Shaw, 12/92), but on the whole more successful, retaining all the Milton-inspired quaintness of van Swieten's text while rectifying his mistranslations and clumsy Germanic word order.
Language apart, McCreesh's recording differs from its period competitors – Gardiner (Archiv), Harnoncourt (DHM), Spering (Naxos) and Christie (Virgin) – in scale: where they typically use a smallish professional choir and an orchestra of around 50, McCreesh pits a 113-strong band against a chorus of similar numbers. Abetted by the glowing, spacious acoustics of Watford Town Hall, the big celebratory choruses make a more powerful impact than in any of the rival period versions. Occasionally – say in the rollicking fugue in "Awake the harp", here done at a constant fortissimo – I would have welcomed more nuanced dynamics. But there is no denying the incandescence of the climaxes to "The heavens are telling" and the final "Praise the Lord, uplift your voices".
In all the choruses McCreesh's pacing – eager but never hectic – and rhythmic energy are wonderfully inspiriting. He is acutely responsive, too, to the work's mystery and awe, daring, and vindicating, slower-than-usual tempi for "Chaos" (launched by the most apocalyptic of timpani rolls), the Sunrise and the first morning in Paradise, celestially evoked by the Gabrieli's trio of flutes. A pity, though, that he allows the cannon-fire timpani to pre-empt Haydn's cosmic blaze at "light".
McCreesh's trump card is his solo team, superb both individually and as an exceptionally sensitive ensemble. I can't recall ever hearing the trio near the close of Part 2, "On thee each living soul awaits", sung with such radiant inwardness. Other highlights include Sandrine Piau's graceful, smiling "With verdure clad", here a truly happy song to the spring, Mark Padmore's tender legato in Haydn's portrayal of the first woman, and Neal Davies's deep, velvet softness in "the limpid brook" and his hieratic reverence in the sublime arioso "Be fruitful all, and multiply". Peter Harvey, supple and lyrical, and Miah Persson, with a touch of sensuousness in her vernal tone, are beautifully paired as Adam and Eve. The less consistently cast Rattle recording sometimes generates more fun. But for a Creation in English, this new version – exhilarating, poetic and marvellously sung – becomes the prime recommendation.

Also :

BBC Music Magazine,
DISC OF THE MONTH : May 2008
Performance : *****
sound : *****
"The sheer magnificence of the choruses that provide the oratorio's structural pillars has rarely been so effectively realised on disc. McCreesh also has an exceptional set of soloists. The results are exceptional; overtaking even John Eliot Gardiner's striking version on the same label.

And :

Classics Today : David Hurwitz / 4/7/2008

Paul McCreesh, like Christopher Hogwood, uses the original forces that Haydn expected in this work: that is, triple winds, double trumpets and timpani, and a large body of strings and choristers. The result, quite similar to the earlier recording, is glorious. The eruption of light, the first sunrise, and the pivotal choruses that close each section (not to mention the great duet with choir in Part 3) sound magnificent. So does "Chaos", which is played to the hilt, all of its strange muted colors and quirky harmonies drawn out for maximum effect. This also bodes very well for the accompanied recitatives in Part 2 illustrating the creation of the various animals and the features of the natural world.
The lineup of soloists is very strong, led by the Gabriel of Sandrine Piau. Tenor Mark Padmore handles his aria "In Native Worth" very well, though he's a touch stiff and "English oratorio-ish" in the recitatives, but bass Neal Davies does a fine job with Raphael's music all around, and his is the largest and most important solo part. Peter Harvey and Miah Persson offer warm and believable portraits of Adam and Eve in Part 3. From a purely vocal point of view, this is certainly one of the finest and most stylish Creations available in any format.
McCreesh opts for the original English text, with modifications to modernize the syntax a bit. It works well enough, but I wonder why artists from English-speaking countries feel that they are qualified in this respect. Is it because English is a "literary" language and all those born to it assume that they are inherently superior to those who were not? No matter: McCreesh's polishing doesn't add to or diminish his superb achievement in what matters most--the music. The sonics are impressively full in the choruses, a bit less focused in more lightly scored passages, particularly regarding the woodwinds; but if you're looking for an authentically-sized Creation on period instruments, then this version, or Hogwood's, will surely satisfy.

And :

The Guardian : Andrew Clements / Friday March 14 2008 / ****

This blazing account of Haydn's last masterpiece will come as a shock to anyone who thinks Paul McCreesh and his group base their reputations on small-scale, beautifully detailed performances and recordings. McCreesh has attempted to recreate The Creation as its composer envisaged: here, his own choir, the Gabrieli Consort, join forces with Chetham's Chamber Choir, and the Gabrieli Players boost their normal numbers to sextuple wind with a string section to match. It's an awesome sound - the first climax, with antiphonal drums and trumpets bringing light to the depiction of Chaos that opens the work, is ear-splitting - and McCreesh maintains that theatrical level of drama.
He opts for the original English text, gently tweaked to remove some of its awkwardnesses, with a few rough edges similarly smoothed in the recitatives. And his largely English-speaking team of soloists - especially Mark Padmore, Neal Davies and Peter Harvey - relish its immediacy. It's odd, though, that he cast two non-English speaking sopranos in the female roles. Miah Persson as Eve manages perfectly well, but, more significantly, Sandrine Piau is not quite so comfortable as Gabriel. Yet that is a tiny blemish on a performance that really does reinvent one of the greatest works in the choral canon.

Reach The Creation :
RapidShare :
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Mediafire


More infos about Paul McCreesh / Gabrieli Consorts & Players : Here

Happy listening!