10 Dec 2016

Handel - Messiah Part 1

From Music Alive, 7:00 pm on 10 December 2016

Madeleine Pierard (soprano), Christopher Field (countertenor), Henry Choo (tenor), James Clayton (bass), The Tudor Consort with NZ Symphony Orchestra conducted by Graham Abbott.  Introduced by Charlotte Wilson.

Madonna in prayer

Madonna in prayer Photo: Public Domain

 

Messiah has become a fixture at Christmas - although Handel actually wrote it for Easter in Dublin, famously completing the score in just 24 days, to a libretto by his friend, the Reverend Charles Jennens.  Jennens had given Handel the idea and was very excited about it.  He said, "I hope he will lay out his whole genius and skill upon it, that the composition may excel all his former compositions, as the subject excels every other subject."

 

Recorded 10 December 2016, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington by RNZ Concert

Producer: David McCaw

Engineer: Darryl Stack

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