Ensemble Caprice – Handel: Messiah, HWV 56 (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Leaf Music is proud to present a new recording of highlights from Handel’s Messiah, featuring soprano Karina Gauvin and bookended by two new choral works by Montreal-based composers, Jaap Nico Hamburger and Matthias Maute. Maute also conducts Ensemble Vocal Arts-Québec and Ensemble Caprice in these vibrant new choral recordings, which will be available for purchase, download, and on all streaming platforms as of November 5, 2021.

Matthias Maute conducts Ensemble Vocal Arts-Québec and Ensemble Caprice in performances of Handel’s Messiah throughout the month of December, including Maison symphonique in Montreal (Dec 12) and Palais Montcalm in Quebec (Dec 17). See the complete schedule here

While Handel’s masterpiece has been heard and recorded often, the musicians experienced a feeling of renewal this year: “During the live recording, in an empty hall, it felt like we all were hearing this famous oratorio for the very first time,” says Maute, “After the long drought brought on by the pandemic, this first reunion of choir and orchestra in a wonderful concert hall felt like the rebirth of the spirit of music!”

While sanitary restrictions necessitated a small number of singers – the ensemble has just 12 voices – this is not out of character for the work, though many are used to hearing massive musical forces for the bombastic Hallelujah chorus. Handel himself had a choir of only 16 singers at his disposal when he travelled from London to lead the first performance of his oratorio in 1742 in Dublin. “The flexibility and lightness of a12-voice choir reveals fascinating layers of the work,” comments Maute.

Tracklist:
1. Ensemble Caprice – Hope and Belief (02:09)
2. Ensemble Caprice – No. 4, And the Glory of the Lord (02:34)
3. Ensemble Caprice – No. 7, And He Shall Purify the Sons of Levi (02:20)
4. Ensemble Caprice – No. 12, For unto Us a Child Is Born (03:55)
5. Ensemble Caprice – No. 13, Pifa “Pastoral Sinfony” (02:34)
6. Ensemble Caprice – No. 14a, There Were Shepherds Abiding in the Fields (01:22)
7. Ensemble Caprice – No. 17, Glory to God in the Highest (01:41)
8. Ensemble Caprice – No. 18, Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion (08:38)
9. Ensemble Caprice – No. 21, His Yoke Is Easy (02:14)
10. Ensemble Caprice – No. 24, Surely He Has Borne Our Griefs and Carried Our Sorrows (03:40)
11. Ensemble Caprice – No. 26, All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray (03:36)
12. Ensemble Caprice – No. 28, He Trusted in God That He Would Deliver Him (02:13)
13. Ensemble Caprice – No. 37, The Lord Gave the Word (01:13)
14. Ensemble Caprice – No. 44, Hallelujah (03:22)
15. Ensemble Caprice – No. 45, I Know That My Redeemer Liveth (06:43)
16. Ensemble Caprice – No. 53a, Worthy Is the Lamb (03:12)
17. Ensemble Caprice – No. 53b, Amen (03:22)
18. Ensemble Caprice – O magnum mysterium (02:43)