Handel – Messiah (Complete) (3 CD Set) / Hunt, J. Williams, Spence, Minter, J. Thomas, W. Parker, PBO, McGegan

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When it was first issued, this was billed as the “do it yourself” Messiah, since the presence of alternate versions of many of the arias and choruses allowed you to assemble any of the many different versions that Handel conducted in his lifetime. That gimmick aside, this performance really doesn’t stand up against much of the “original instrument” competition–particularly Trevor Pinnock, The Sixteen, or Harmonia Mundi’s own later version with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants–perhaps the best of all. –David Hurwitz