So what is your favorite recording of the Messiah? I clearly haven't heard all of them (or even a small fraction), but have been to enough live performances that I'm critical of recordings.
Here are my favorites..
For a period Messiah you can do much worse than John Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir. This is a disk rather than a disc - Philips 434-298-2. The mezzo is astounding in this recording. Hunt it down and buy it is my recommendation.
The gold standard that I measure recordings against is the Royal Philharmonic conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. It is old and quirky, but a complete delight - the tenor and bass are great. RCA Gold Seal 09026-61266-2 (my copy says 1959).
All Messiahs are compromises but the best IMHO is the Garielli Players and Consort with Paul McCreesh conducting. A big lush sound, but not too big or too lush to loose detail. The recording engineer was brilliant (thanks to Mike who is a great recording engineer in his own right for pointing this one out). If you have to own one Messiah, this is my recommendation. Archive 453-464-2 This one is on the iPod.
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