New Year's Concert - Händel "Messiah"

Soon Messiah would be degraded to an institution marketed shamelessly with much pathos and martial choral regiments, a spectacle in which Handel’s intimate thoughts on the Christian events of Christmas and Easter seemed hopelessly lost. A long time would pass before a change of approach and a historical reorientation occurred.

We can count ourselves lucky to hear this oratorio, almost popularised to death over two centuries, in the present day – especially in such stylistically conscientious, sensitive, but splendidly vital and spirited performances as those offered for over seven decades by the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin. They transport Handel’s true intentions.