Haydn – The Creation

Soloists; Gabrieli Consort and Players /  Paul McCreesh 
Archiv Produktion  477 7361AH2 

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There have been various attempts to improve upon the original, flawed English Creation text, and Paul McCreesh’s version is wholly successful, “retaining all the Milton-inspired quaintness of van Swieten’s text while rectifying his mistranslations and clumsy Germanic word order,” wrote Richard Wigmore. However, the performance is much more than an exercise in musical rhyme and metre. Rather, the participants have delved deep into the work’s emotional heart and delivered a rendering of intense feeling. McCreesh “is acutely responsive to the work’s mystery and awe”, and his soloists, “superb individually and as an exceptionally sensitive ensemble”, contribute tenderness and lyricism.