Handel’s magnificent Messiah is the perfect marriage of theater and church, its choruses, arias, and recitatives, telling the Christmas and Easter stories, unrivaled in their dramatic and musical invention. Each number—from the stately tenor solo “Ev’ry Valley Shall Be Exalted” and the fizzing “For Unto Us a Child Is Born” to the great “Hallelujah Chorus”—is Handel at his brilliant best. There have been hundreds of recordings over the decades, but few are as fresh and spontaneous as this classic 1997 interpretation, conductor Paul McCreesh’s singers and players bringing the joy of this dependable masterpiece to compelling life. Remastered in Spatial Audio in 2021, this beautifully shaped performance sounds as electrifying as ever.
- Andrew Parrott, New London Chamber Choir, Taverner Consort & Players & Henrietta Barnett School Choir
- Inga Nielsen, Helen Watts, Philippe Huttenlocher, Aldo Baldin, Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling, Stuttgart Bach Collegium, Peter Schreier, Arleen Auger, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Walter Heldwein, Wolfgang Schone, Adalbert Kraus, Helen Donath, Kurt Equiluz, Julia Hamari, Hildegard Laurich, Frankfurt Kantorei, Wurttemberg Chamber Orchestra of Heilbronn, Kathrin Graf, Helrun Gardow, Nobuko Gamo-Yamamoto, Verena Gohl, Siegmund Nimsgern, Stuttgart Figuralchor der Gedachtniskirche, Doris Soffel, Ann Murray, Hanns-Friedrich Kunz & Niklaus Tüller
- Academy of Ancient Music, Paul Goodwin & The Choir of the AAM
- Helmuth Rilling, Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart & Bach-Collegium Stuttgart
- Eberhard Büchner, Helen Donath, Marjana Lipovšek, Peter Schreier, Robert Holl, Rundfunkchor Leipzig & Staatskapelle Dresden
- Timothy Dean, Helen Kuchared, Rodney Macann, Jenifer Smith, The Choir and Orchestra of Pro Christe & Neil Mackie
- Jaroslav Krček, Capella Istropolitana & Jiří Stivin