Whoa, have you ever sing it b4? If it were slower, the poor singer would suffer

​@bekalara3928 F.Y.I. both my parents were professional singers and each sang the solos in Messiah, all over the UK, over 200 times, all listed in the back of their scores. I too have participanted in many performances, so have some idea of how it should go.

@@AndrewLumsden well, then, it sounds to me that we both have preferences. I'm singing this next week, and I KNOW I'm going to ask the conductor to go faster. Also, when I'm in the orchestra, it's SO fun to make it a jig. The violins can actually do the slurring of 2 bows per measure, instead of the slow way of doing 4 bows per measure. I've had to suffer as a violinist playing this piece as well. Way more fun if it's going fast! (only if you have an open-minded conductor!) Also also, I'm of the opinion that Pastoral symphony (before the soprano "there were shepherds" recit.) is the WORST slow. Therefore, I'm glad people are sometimes going faster on slow-tempo baroque pieces nowadays. I was suffering with the slow-tempo karaoke track on this song that I was practicing with yesterday. argh

Andrew: first I disagree with you. If it is too fast, it is only by 5 BPM or so. Second, don’t be such a crank. This woman was probably excited to post her solo online and the first thing you do is come and criticize it. And FYI, I too, have been involved with Messiah, dozens of times, as a chorister, bass, soloist, and conducting the whole piece, so please don’t come back to me about some sort of intellectual superiority. Her performance was completely acceptable, as was the tempo.

This conversation reminds me of one I overheard rather too easily in a Cambridge fast food outlet.