This may not be your father's "Messiah," but it is Handel's. Conductor Christopher Hogwood went back to the composer's original orchestrations to perform the most famous oratorio ever with an orchestra of fewer than 40 instruments, many of them from the period, and a chorus of less than 30 men and boy trebles from the Westminster Abbey Choir. The result is a subtle, lighter version of the music, performed in the perfectly tuned Westminster Abbey, with choruses that float and dance rather than plodding. Emma Kirby, Carolyn Watkinson, Paul Elliott and David Thomas perform the solos. Hallelujah, indeed!
