Echoes of The Sacred Land

Mozart's arrangement of Handel's Messiah, made in 1789, relates to his involvement in the circle of musical connoisseurs surrounding the Baron Gottfried van Swieten, Viennese nobleman and aficionado of the monuments of Baroque music. It is, as the booklet here aptly puts it, a "cover version" (the German participle, charmingly enough, is "gecovert") of Handel's work, neither a radical rethinking nor a light rescoring. Mozart adds a good deal of wind scoring, often arranging things so that the winds peek out with a wink toward the end of an aria.

Recorded in 1995, this Esther was first issued as Collins Classics 7040-2 early the following year. Like Hogwood, Harry Christophers recorded the original 1718 version of what has gone down in history as Handel’s first English oratorio.
In point of fact, the complex and still largely unresolved history of Esther suggests that it was not originally composed as an oratorio at all, but rather as a staged work that would have formed a companion to the near-contemporary Acis and Galatea.

Gunn’s composition’s always aspire to Grand Canyon-style grandeur. Heroic themes, vocal chants, and African-influenced percussive rhythms propel Gunn’s flute through expansive compositions with synthesizer orchestrations and a filigree of acoustic guitar and piano. I’ve been a big fan of Malkin’s music since I reviewed his terrific Thousand Pieces of Gold over a year ago. An Emmy award winner who has scored many television shows and movies, Gary brings a wealth of thematic genius to this latest in the National Park Series from Real Music.