There are very few recordings of Baroque vocal music in the Bernstein discography, to which most listeners will probably say “Thank God!” But look at the bright side: at least he didn’t behave like Herbert von Karajan (another Baroque disaster), who thought that because he was German he had to record lots of Bach. There are only two Bach choral music recordings and two Handel choral music recordings by Bernstein. In one of each (Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Handel’s Messiah), Lenny opts for his own arrangement of the works in question, which makes them either anathema on their face or fascinating historical documents, depending on whether or not you collect Bernstein. In his other two recordings–Bach’s Magnificat and this one–he plays the music more or less straight, and the result is curiously uninteresting and lacking in character, whether idiomatic or perverse. Now I’m not one of those guys who thinks that “authentic instruments” are necessary for a great performance of Baroque music, and this recording really was a noble endeavor in its day. I seriously doubt that the likes of Sir Malcolm Sargent and the Huddersfield Choral Society would have done much better, but times have changed, and as a result this disc is for Bernstein fans only.
