George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) The Messiah Oratorio -- complete. Heather Harper (soprano) Helen Watts (contralto) John Wakefield (tenor) John Shirley-Quirk (bass) Ralph Downes (organ) Leslie Pearson (harpsichord) William Lang (trumpet)si London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Sir Colin Davis. Let me say at once, notwithstanding any qualifications, that I haven't enjoyed any performance of Messiah --live, radio, or record -- half as much as this one for 20 years or so, since the dawnings of my musical sophistication. I put this subjectively, because I don't think everyone will feel the same. This not a traditional Messiah. It is a modern one, by which I mean that it is one which sweeps away the late eighteenthand the nineteenth-century glosses and aims at a performing style as near to Handel's as can be (though occasionally the aim is, I think, a little off-centre -- but more of that below). Of course, we can never quite return to Messiah as Handel gave it in Dublin in 1742 or at the Foundling Hospital in the 1750s: first, it is impossible totally to recapture the performing conventions of those days; second, performances with 25 singers and an orchestra of 35 wouldn't be generally acceptable nowadays -- and in a sense rightly, for instruments and vocal techniques have changed, and merely to use the numbers Handel used (and evidently preferred) would not give us the sound he heard. This new version has an orchestra of 31 strings, two oboes, two bassoons (Handel used four of each), trumpets, tympani, harpsichord and chamber organ, with a choir of 40; a mixed choir, with female sopranos and (to judge by the sound) altos of both sexes (of which I heartily approve) -- the women provide warmth and body of tone, the men definition and attack. The choral singing is marvellously agile; it compares with that of traditional performances like a panther to an elephant. And you can actually hear it: with so few voices the textures are light, and every note can be heard -- and the orchestra too can be heard even when the choir is at full blast. Colin Davis -- as may be guessed from the fact that the work, given without a single cut, fits on to three discs -- favours lively tempi; lively, not just fast. Traditionalists may be a shade disconcerted to hear "And the glory of the Lord" taken at a pretty good allegro (which is how Handel marked it). It sounds suitably joyful. "And he shall purify", too, is brisk, and Mr Davis (or it may be the doing of that excellent chorusmaster, John Alldis) has the semiquaver runs so precisely articulated that it comes very near to the German way of aspirating each note. The same goes for other choruses, notably "All we like sheep" and "For unto us" -- this last splendidly done, light and joyous as I have never heard it before (though I do wish they would say gov-ernment", not "gov-a-ment"; and here and there ensemble imperfections show up as they would not with a big chorus). Among the other choruses on which I find I have particularly commented in my detailed notes are "Glory to God" -- spirited, and with dynamics nicely managed, though Handel's trumpets da lontano are just a shade too distant at first; "Behold the Lamb", which is no less solemn for its comparative lack of weight, and in which some moderately sharpened rhythms sound just right; "Lift up your heads", which has a delightful vitality; "Let us break", which is admirably athletic (so difficult to sing!) in texture than I can ever remember hearing before -- and presumably Handel actually meant these violin parts to be audible. Slightly on the debit side I would place "Since by man came death", the two slow a cappella passages of which are oversophisticated in dynamics and accentuation, and the "Amen", which after a vigorous "Worthy is the Lamb" doesn't sound quite imposing or climactic enough -- the contrasts between full forces and those episodes for just the violins seem underdone.

• published: 18 Jun 2014