Messiah

In 2009, director Claus Guth successfully overcame the challenge of making oratorios visually arresting by turning this most popular example—Handel's Christmas perennial—into a sort of opera. But this production mounted at Vienna's Theater an der Wien is no highbrow alternative to Jesus Christ Superstar. Instead, Guth inserted the entire score—well performed by the Ensemble Matheus, the Arnold Schoenberg Choir, and an excellent team of soloists (sopranos Susan Gritton and Cornelia Horak, alto Bejun Mehta, tenor Richard Croft, and bass Florian Boesch)—into a scenario of his own about a businessman who dies (most probably by his own hand), and the grief of his family and friends. Much of the work is set at the dead man's funeral, with the soloists representing his relatives and the chorus other mourners, but there are also flashbacks showing the deceased's last days (he's played by a dancer who remains mute), and a woman appears periodically to give the audience messages in sign language. Messiah is thus transformed into an existential reverie on life and death rather than the scriptural work Handel had in mind, but the result is an intriguing gloss, beautifully captured here. Presented in DTS 5.0 (DTS-HD 5.0 on Blu-ray) and PCM stereo, this is recommended. (F. Swietek)