George Frideric Handel - The Messiah
Stadsknapenkoor Elburg - Barokorkest Florilegium Musicum
2CD | APE + CUE + cover
Messiah remains Handel's best known work, although this was not a status that it enjoyed until the last few years of his life, brought about by annual performances in Handel's oratorio seasons and charitable benefit concerts at the Foundling Hospital (an organisation for underprivileged children, and which still exists today as The Thomas Coram Foundation). It was not originally envisaged as a Christmas tradition, but its microcosm of Christian doctrine and faith was intended as a timely thought-provoker for Lent and Easter.