Handel: Messiah

Handel: Messiah

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

1997

Handel’s magnificent Messiah is the perfect marriage of theater and church, its choruses, arias, and recitatives, telling the Christmas and Easter stories, unrivaled in their dramatic and musical invention. Each number—from the stately tenor solo “Ev’ry Valley Shall Be Exalted” and the fizzing “For Unto Us a Child Is Born” to the great “Hallelujah Chorus”—is Handel at his brilliant best. There have been hundreds of recordings over the decades, but few are as fresh and spontaneous as this classic 1997 interpretation, conductor Paul McCreesh’s singers and players bringing the joy of this dependable masterpiece to compelling life. Remastered in Spatial Audio in 2021, this beautifully shaped performance sounds as electrifying as ever.

Symphony

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

3:22

No. 1. Accompagnato: "Comfort Ye, My People"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh, Charles Daniels

3:35

No. 2. Air: "Ev'ry Valley Shall Be Exalted"

Paul McCreesh, Charles Daniels, Gabrieli Consort & Players

3:03

No. 3. Chorus: "And the Glory of the Lord"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

2:50

No. 4. Accompagnato: "Thus Saith the Lord"

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Neal Davies

1:19

No. 5. Air: "But Who May Abide the Day of His Coming"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Susan Gritton, Paul McCreesh

3:50

No. 6. Chorus: "And He Shall Purify the Sons of Levi"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

2:22

No. 7. Recitative: "Behold, a Virgin Shall Conceive"

Bernarda Fink, Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

0:26

No. 8. "O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion"

Bernarda Fink, Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

4:47

No. 10. Accompagnato: "For Behold, Darkness Shall Cover"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh, Neal Davies

2:13

No. 11. Air: "The People That Walked in Darkness"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh, Neal Davies

3:58

No. 12. Chorus: "For Unto Us a Child Is Born"

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

3:36

No. 13. Pifa (Pastoral Symphony)

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

0:38

No. 14. Recitative: "There Were Shepherds" - Accompagnato: "And Lo, the Angel of the Lord" - Recitative: "And the Angel Said Unto Them" - Accompagnato: "And Suddenly"

Dorothea Röschmann, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

1:02

No. 15. Chorus: "Glory to God in the Highest"

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

1:41

No. 16. Air: "Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion"

Dorothea Röschmann, Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

3:46

No. 17a. Recitative: "Then Shall the Eyes of the Blind"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Susan Gritton, Paul McCreesh

0:20

No. 18. Air: "He Shall Feed His Flock"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Susan Gritton, Paul McCreesh

4:17

No. 19. "His Yoke Is Easy"

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

2:03

No. 20. "Behold the Lamb of God"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

3:09

No. 21. Air: "He Was Despised"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Bernarda Fink, Paul McCreesh

12:11

No. 22. Chorus: "Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

1:38

No. 23. Chorus: "And With His Stripes We Are Healed"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

1:43

No. 24. Chorus: "All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

3:20

No. 25. Accompagnato: "All They That See Him"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Charles Daniels, Paul McCreesh

0:39

No. 26. Chorus: "He Trusted in God"

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

2:03

No. 27. Accompagnato: "Thy Rebuke Hath Broken His Heart"

Paul McCreesh, Charles Daniels, Gabrieli Consort & Players

2:03

No. 28. Arioso: "Behold and See"

Charles Daniels, Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

1:30

No. 29. Accompagnato: "He Was Cut Off"

Susan Gritton, Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

0:14

No. 30. Aria: "But Thou Didst Not Leave"

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Susan Gritton

2:03

No. 31. Chorus: "Lift Up Your Heads"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

2:46

No. 32. Recitative: "Unto Which of the Angels"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Charles Daniels, Paul McCreesh

0:15

No. 33. Chorus: "Let All the Angels of God"

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

1:21

No. 34a. Air: "Thou Art Gone Up On High"

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Dorothea Röschmann

2:46

No. 35. Chorus: "The Lord Gave the Word"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

1:05

No. 36. Air: "How Beautiful Are the Feet"

Susan Gritton, Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

2:00

No. 37a. Chorus: "Their Sound Is Gone Out"

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

1:17

No. 38. Air: "Why Do the Nations"

Neal Davies, Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

1:14

No. 39. Chorus: "Let Us Break Their Bonds Asunder"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

1:37

No. 40. Recitativo: "He That Dwelleth" - 41. Air: Thou Shalt Break Them

Paul McCreesh, Charles Daniels, Gabrieli Consort & Players

2:06

No. 42. Chorus: "Hallelujah"

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

3:34

No. 43. Air: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth

Susan Gritton, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

6:23

No. 44. Chorus: Since By Man Came Death

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

2:03

No. 45. Accompagnato: Behold, I Tell You a Mystery

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh, Neal Davies

0:32

No. 46. Air: The Trumpet Shall Sound

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh, Neal Davies

8:18

No. 47. Recitative: Then Shall Be Brought to Pass

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Bernarda Fink, Paul McCreesh

0:14

No. 48. Duet: O Death Where Is Thy Sting?

Charles Daniels, Bernarda Fink, Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

0:53

No. 49. Chorus: But Thanks Be to God

Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

1:56

No. 50. Air: If God Be for Us

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Dorothea Röschmann

4:13

No. 51. Chorus: Worthy Is the Lamb. Amen

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort & Players

7:34

George Frideric Handel

Composer
Gabrieli Consort & Players

Vocals, Orchestra, Ensemble, Choir
Paul McCreesh

Conductor
Neal Davies

Bass
Dorothea Röschmann

Soprano

Christopher Alder

Producer
Dr. Peter Czornyj

Producer, Executive Producer
Reinhild Schmidt

Recording Engineer, Editing Engineer
Andrew Wedman

Balance Engineer
Christopher Alder

Recording Engineer
Oliver Rogalla Von Heyden

Recording Engineer
Jürgen Bulgrin

Recording Engineer