by Handel

Chesky Records

Georg Frideric Handel
Messiah
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Choral Society
Sir Malcolm Sargent, conductor

Norma Procter, Contralto
John Shirley-Quirk, Bass Baritone
Elizabeth Harwood – Soprano
Alexander Young – Tenor
Arnold Grier – Organist

Claude Debussy once remarked that it was amazing that Betthoven’s Ninth Symphony had not been buried under the prose it had provoked. The same is true of Messiah, which, in spite of changing views as to how it should be presented, remains the most beloved and most often performed oratorio ever composed.