“It is difficult in no common degree to write anew concerning The Messiah,”1 said the music writer Henry F Chorley in 1859. The piece was, of course, 117 years old at the time, and there has only been more written on this landmark composition since. Handel’s Messiah is not just a popular classic, after all: it’s also a hugely important work.
The approach of Christmas in Australia always bring a veritable flood of Messiahs of varying quality, but the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra's offering, while using modern instruments, could otherwise hardly have been bettered.
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