Messiah (Highlights from the complete oratorio)

Press voices about Messiah (complete version):

Rosette, Penguin Guide 2002

Critic's choice in The New York Times

"This, I felt throughout, is the way the music is supposed to go; this is what Handel meant... Go ye and listen."
- Fanfare

"Suzuki's genuinely devotional spirit gives this Messiah a special place in a distinguished list of recordings."
- Gramophone

Handel's Messiah is undoubtedly one of the best loved, and most recorded, works in the history of music. Over the years, performances have ranged from occasions where the choir numbers more members than the audience, and the orchestra rivals that of Mahler's, to more scaled-down versions.

When Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan recorded the work some years ago, they chose a performance by Handel himself at Covent Garden in 1753 as their model. But most importantly: they sought to recreate the spirit of the work, as it germinated in the mind of Handel, and as it struck the hearts of the first audiences. According to
many reviewers they succeeded!