Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

Haydn: The Creation

(sung in English)

Sandrine Piau (Gabriel), Miah Persson (Eve), Ruth Massey (alto), Mark Padmore (Uriel), Neal Davies (Raphael), Peter Harvey (Adam)

Gabrieli Consort, Gabrieli Players & Chetham's Chamber Choir, Paul McCreesh

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... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2008, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 17th Mar 2008
Catalogue No: 4777361
Label: DG Archiv
Length: 1 hour 48 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

17th March 2008
BBC Music Magazine

May 2008

Disc of the month
Gramophone Awards

2008

Winner - Choral

Haydn: The Creation

Work length1:48:27

$27.20

$36.80

Miah Persson (soprano), Neal Davies (bass (vocal)), Sandrine Piau (soprano), Peter Harvey (baritone), Mark Padmore (tenor), Ruth Massey (contralto)
Chetham's Chamber Choir, Gabrieli
Paul McCreesh
Recorded: 2006-10-28
Recording Venue: Watford Town Hall, London

Introduction: The Representation Of Chaos

Track length6:12

$0.85

$1.15

In The Beginning God Created The Heaven And The Earth - And The Spirit Of God

Track length3:11

$0.85

$1.15

Now Vanish Before The Holy Beams - Despairing, Cursing Rage

Track length4:06

$0.85

$1.15

And God Made The Firmament

Track length2:01

$0.85

$1.15

The Glorious Heav'nly Hierarchy

Track length2:16

$0.85

$1.15

And God Said: Let The Waters Under The Heaven Be Gathered Together

Track length0:38

$0.85

$1.15

Rolling In Foaming Billows

Track length4:09

$0.85

$1.15

And God Said: Let The Earth Bring Forth Grass

Track length0:30

$0.85

$1.15

With Verdure Clad The Fields Appear

Track length5:11

$0.85

$1.15

And The Heavenly Host The Third Day Proclaimed

Track length0:10

$0.85

$1.15

Awake The Harp, The Lyre Awake

Track length2:09

$0.85

$1.15

And God Said: Let There Be Lights In The Firmament Of Heaven

Track length0:39

$0.85

$1.15

In Brightest Splendour Rises Now The Sun

Track length3:05

$0.85

$1.15

The Heavens Are Telling The Glory Of God

Track length4:07

$0.85

$1.15

And God Said: Let The Waters Bring Forth Abundantly

Track length0:30

$0.85

$1.15

On Mighty Pens Uplifted Soars The Eagle

Track length8:10

$0.85

$1.15

And God Created Great Whales

Track length2:37

$0.85

$1.15

And The Angels Struck Their Immortal Harps

Track length0:17

$0.85

$1.15

Most Beautiful Appear, With Verdure Young Adorn'd - The Lord Is Great

Track length6:52

$0.85

$1.15

And God Said: Let The Earth Bring Forth The Living Creature

Track length0:23

$0.85

$1.15

Straight Opening Her Fertile Womb

Track length3:27

$0.85

$1.15

Now Heaven In Fullest Glory Shines

Track length3:37

$0.85

$1.15

And God Created Man

Track length0:48

$0.85

$1.15

In Native Worth And Honour Clad

Track length3:53

$0.85

$1.15

And God Saw Ev'rything That He Had Made

Track length0:20

$0.85

$1.15

Achieved Is The Glorious Work

Track length9:43

$0.85

$1.15

In Rosy Mantle Now Appears

Track length4:22

$0.85

$1.15

By Thee With Bliss, O Bounteous Lord

Track length10:31

$0.85

$1.15

Our Duty Have We Now Perform'd

Track length2:15

$0.85

$1.15

Graceful Consort!

Track length8:03

$0.85

$1.15

O Happy Pair

Track length0:33

$0.85

$1.15

Praise The Lord, Uplift Your Voices

Track length3:42

$0.85

$1.15

About
Reviews
Explore

About

Recording of the Week, Stunning new Haydn Creation from Paul McCreesh

17th March 2008

An ‘uplifting, overwhelming, charming and comforting’ account of Haydn’s most popular oratorio, sung in a new English adaptation, with soloists including Miah Persson and Mark Padmore.

Reviews

May 2008

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.

18th April 2008

Right from the first notes the sheer scale of the drama is apparent, you feel the full force of order emerging from chaos and light from darkness...bass Neal Davies is particularly impressive as Raphael...If you're after The Creation in English, this might just be the one to buy…and the recording captures the whole spectacle with apparent ease, which is an achievement in itself.

2010

ceived 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 and Robert Shaw), but on the whole more successful, retaining all the Miltoninspired 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 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 – one 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 cannonfire 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. Has the trio near the close of Part 2, 'On thee each living soul awaits', ever been 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.
For a Creation in English, this new version – exhilarating, poetic and marvellously sung – becomes the prime recommendation.

March 2008

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… 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.

March 2008

While yielding to none in joyous exhilaration, McCreesh gives full value to the mystery and awe of creation. Unlike most period practitioners, he often favours broad tempos, whether in a wonderfully creepy evocation of the primeval slime in "Chaos" or the most majestic of sunrises... If you want a Creation in English, this new version - sonically thrilling, marvellously sung and characterised - sweeps the field.

Haydn: The Creation

Downloads

Contents

Recording of the Week, Stunning new Haydn Creation from Paul McCreesh

Download queue