Handel: Messiah, HWV 56 (1754 Version)

Handel continued to revise his oratorio Messiah after its first performance in 1742, changing the scoring and adding soloists to suit the forces available to him. Here you can enjoy the 1754 version with five soloists instead of four, but it’s the pure energy of this performance that will strike you. Everything about it seems newly minted, from the sweetness of “Every Valley Shall Be Exalted” to the sheer vitality of the “Hallelujah” chorus, exultant but never rambunctious. Conductor Hervé Niquet and his musicians bring out the operatic scope and flow of this perennial masterpiece—and it’s thrilling.