In Handel's day this best-loved of all oratorios was performed by fewer than forty instrumentalists and a chorus, less than thirty strong, of boy trebles and men. That is the tradition to which Christopher Hogwood has returned in his performances with the Academy of Ancient Music. Members of the Academy all play instruments of the period or accurate modern copies. In this recording the choruses are sung by boy trebles and male altos, tenors and basses, members of the Choir of Westminster Abbey. The soloists improvise embellishments in the arias and, in certain cases, join in the singing of the choruses, just as they would have done 240 years ago. The recording takes full advantage not only of Westminster Abbey's fine acoustic qualities, but also of the incomparable architectural splendor of the surroundings.
Roy Tipping
Director
Christopher Hogwood
Conductor
Judith Nelson
Soprano 1
Emma Kirkby
Soprano 2
Carolyn Watkinson
Contralto
Paul Elliott
Tenor
David Thomas
Bass
Simon Preston
Organist and Master of the Choristers
Transformers: The Last Knight60%
Fired Up!61%
A Late Quartet66%
The Choral63%
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh72%
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny65%
Dinosaur65%
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story67%
Superman vs. The Elite69%
Ammonite68%
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim65%
Dean Spanley74%
Singin' in the Rain81%
The Good Dinosaur67%
Hellboy II: The Golden Army67%
Justice League60%
Bumblebee67%
The Meg62%
The Jungle Book72%
Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado65%
