Handel's Messiah and Bach's Magnificat Jennifer Vyvyan (soprano), Norma Procter (contralto), George Maran (tenor), Owen Brannigan (bass-baritone), Eileen McLoughlin (soprano), Heather Harper (soprano), Alfred Deller (counter-tenor), Wilfred Brown (tenor), Maurice Bevan (bass), London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Kalmar Orchestra/Pierre Colombo Eloquence 484 0411 (1954/55) 200.47 mins (3 discs)
Stentorian and often ponderous, the first of Adrian Boult’s recordings of Messiah is very much of its time, though his London Philharmonic forces are captured in remarkably detailed mono sound.
The best recordings of Handel’s Messiah
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Paul Riley