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SITE RATING: 0/10 SITE
REVIEW: Easily the
most crass, inept Messiah I've ever heard,
several copies of this 1997 studio production
have been showing up on eBay and other
second-hand sites, with little in the way of
helpful information given. Sometimes going by
the title "A Christmas Gift" this is the worst
Christmas present you're likely to find under
your tree. I've dug around and
discovered that this hack-job was produced by
"inspirational author" Don Boyer, and
featuring pre-recorded tracks by the London
Symphony Orchestra (who ought to know better),
and directed by Don Wyrtzen, a staff member at
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in
Fort Worth, Texas. This is the kind of
shoddy penny-pinching production that gives
Christians a bad name. The soloists all
sound as if they're soft-rock artist
wanna-be's, with wispy vocals and no apparent
classical technique; the "choir" is a small
group of recruited vocalists who sing
indifferently - murdering the melismas,
drowning in regional dialects, and marginally
following the bouncing baton of Wyrtzen, while
the LSO, unknowingly blemished by the entire
affair, plays valiantly in the background.
A travesty. Avoid, avoid at all
costs.
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