Handel’s most popular and joyous oratorio, a work of unfailing melodic invention and dramatic expressiveness, has become almost a British national institution, regularly performed by all manner of choirs and orchestras. This new recording provides the only modern re-construction of Handel’s unique London performances in 1751, when he used boy trebles not only for the choruses but for the arias as well. It is both a celebration of the British chapel choir tradition and a window onto a particular time and place in the history of Handel’s own performances of his masterpiece.

George Frideric Handel
Messiah
             Disc 1
1– 19    Part I
20–21   Part II

             Disc 2
1–21     Part II (continued)
22–31   Part III

All we like sheep have gone astray (Chorus; Part II):

Total Playing time: 2:22:19  DDD
Recorded 3-8 January 2006 in St John's Smith Square London
Released 2006
Naxos 8.570131-32 [2-CD set]

"The choir is as good as any you’ll hear in this music... The soloists...couldn’t be more ideally chosen...and the three trebles who share the work here are fabulous... This is a very intelligent, articulate, and consummately musical - as well as entertaining - Messiah. I was pleasantly surprised by this ‘treble’-voice version. In fact...it’s becoming one of my favorites, simply because it renders this beloved and time-worn work with respect for its innate structural and expositional integrity - no fancy, quirky self-indulgences, no artificial additives, just pure, unprocessed, organic Handel. A pleasure!"

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