Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Before we sing the praises of this excellent 'Messiah' a word of warning: the recording date is May 1996 and the copyright is from 1999 so I suspect that this is a re-release, probably on the back of the same choir and conductor's acclaimed issue of the complete Haydn Masses earlier in 2009. With that caveat out of the way we can move onto our positive remarks. 'Messiah' received its New World premiere at Trinity Church in October 1770, only 28 years after it was written. Today the same Trinity Church on Wall Street, New York City has a first-rate ensemble of singers, all of who are soloists in their own right. This allows Director of Music Owen Burdick to find just the right voice for each of the thirty solos which are shared out between nine different singers. Of course we have to point out that there are other Messiahs available and that any recommendation from any reviewer has to be personal. This reviewer enjoyed this 'Messiah.' Burdick rightly keeps up the tempo and the relatively small choir give a bright, intimate performance well backed by a lively little orchestra. If handled wrongly Baroque can become stodgy but here we get a good, clean sound and a joyful 142 minutes of sublime music at a very reasonable price.