The "greatest hits" album is generally the province of traditional symphony orchestras and large popular choruses; ensembles from the historical performance movement, generally intent on the exploration of specific musical moments, have avoided the format. Yet there's a place for such recordings by authentic performance groups, as this release by The Sixteen and their director, Harry Christophers, shows. The new listener who has been moved by the "Hallelujah" chorus from Messiah, HWV 56, ought to have a place to go next, ...
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The "greatest hits" album is generally the province of traditional symphony orchestras and large popular choruses; ensembles from the historical performance movement, generally intent on the exploration of specific musical moments, have avoided the format. Yet there's a place for such recordings by authentic performance groups, as this release by The Sixteen and their director, Harry Christophers, shows. The new listener who has been moved by the "Hallelujah" chorus from Messiah, HWV 56, ought to have a place to go next, and that place should not by default be the London Philharmonic Orchestra and its ilk: the size of the ensemble here, with 16 singers, give or take a few, and roughly that many instrumentalists, is closer to what Handel would have known. The selections on the album were recorded between 1990 and 2018 in a group of four London churches that have been skillfully knitted together sonically by remastering engineers. They include the "Hallelujah" chorus and the other favorites one would...
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