Generally his philosophy is to do things fast, very fast. In some cases this works; in others (notably "Let us break their bonds asunder") it doesn't. The French Choeur des Musicians de Louvre sings very well and is very well recorded, with each of the four voices distinct in character and the counterpoint exceptionally clear. Their non-native English is noticeable only rarely, usually in pronouncing "the" as "theh" rather than the more musical "thuh". The orchestra is also fine, except for the allegedly-historical vavleless trumpets which are even worse than most attempts on this justifiably-extinct instrument.
The solo cast is huge: In addition to the usual SATB there is a second soprano, a mezzo-soprano, a countertenor, and a baritone. The shining stars of the cast, by far, are alto Charlotte Hellekant and tenor John Mark Ainsley.
Hellekant is a true alto, not the usual mezzo-soprano in drag. Her voice is phenomenally warm, dark and deep, with immense dynamic range. Her vibrato is a bit tight but after a few notes you forget that. She sings "He was despised" with incredible intensity, redefining what this piece is. The first section is tragic, very slow, mournful, piano to pianissmo and very emotional. The middle section is a dramatic switch to forte spitting and snarling that exceeds even Anne-Sophie von Otter's excellent rendition (with Marriner 2). Then she builds even further intensity in the repeat, an incredible tragic full-voice triple-piano, with fine ornamentation added. She lives in Handel's house. She puts more thought and feeling into this section than anyone I've ever heard, and I have more than 30 Messiah CDs. Her sense of baroque music is perfect, remarkable in that most of her other performing and recording seems to be romantic and modern stuff. The only problem is -- this one piece is all she does! Minkowski erred in giving the other alto sections to the mezzo and countertenor, who are not in her league.
Unlike Hellekant Ainsely doesn't break new ground. His conception is fairly conventional, but it's done to perfection. He is musical and sincere throughout: warm and lyrical in the slow parts, exceptionally fast and clean in the running sixteenth notes. IMO he's about tied with Phillip Langridge (on Marriner 1) for best Messiah tenor.
As to the other soloists, I could take them or leave them. Nothing really bad, but nothing memorable either. I was particularly disappointed in soprano Lynne Dawson. In her earlier recording with Christophers she is magnificent. But here she is darker, tighter, and somehow seems too rushed to live here. I hope this is just incompability with Minkowski and not time taking its toll.
Westenberg remains my favorite Messiah, but this one also is a must-have.
These difficulties are caused by the unusual tempi, which are - as some other reviewers have already indicated - quite fast in some of the passages. With such fastly performed passages, for instance the famous Halleluja-Chorus, one has the feeling that Minkowski just wanted to get them over and done with, so that he could get to those passages that he really likes to work on.
For my taste, Handels magnificient music needs a bit more time to develop its majestic sound. I also got Minkowski's recording of Charpentier's Te Deum. There I had the same "problem" with the famous Prélude. In both cases I have talked with some friends of mine. They also listened to the recordings, and all of us agreed that the tempi are just to quick.
There are, however, also some splendidly performed passages in this recording, such as for instance the Chorus "For unto us a Child is born". Nevertheless, my favourite recording is still Trevor Pinnock's version from the year 1990.
In my eyes, Pinnock's is the Messiah to have, whereas I would recommend Minkowski's only to those who like to compare different versions of a single piece of music.
