Special offer. Handel: Messiah
Hilary Cronin (soprano), Helen Charlston (mezzo), Alexander Chance, Nathan Mercieca (countertenors), Guy Cutting (tenor), Frederick Long, Edward Grint (bass-baritones), Irish Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Peter Whelan
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, April 2026, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, May 2026, Choral Choice
My spirits were uplifted almost throughout the recording. A current of gentle zephyrs refreshes every bar of the music...Complementing the instrumental vitality is the invigorating choral singing...
Special offer. Handel: Messiah
Hilary Cronin (soprano), Helen Charlston (mezzo), Alexander Chance, Nathan Mercieca (countertenors), Guy Cutting (tenor), Frederick Long, Edward Grint (bass-baritones), Irish Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Peter Whelan
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, April 2026, Editor's Choice
-
BBC Music Magazine, May 2026, Choral Choice
My spirits were uplifted almost throughout the recording. A current of gentle zephyrs refreshes every bar of the music...Complementing the instrumental vitality is the invigorating choral singing...
About
For the first time, the Irish Baroque Orchestra and its Artistic Director Peter Whelan have recorded what can be considered the ensemble’s signature work, Handel’s Messiah, an annual touring highlight in the IBO calendar.
Surprisingly this is the first recording on historical instruments by an Irish ensemble – given the work, a staple of oratorio music, was premiered in Dublin in 1742. That year, a struggling Handel came to the second biggest city in the British Isles to rekindle his fortune. After the premiere (700-strong attendance, the ladies were asked to come without hoop-framed skirts and the gentlemen without their swords), Handel left Dublin a much richer man.
The Irish Baroque Choir and an array of first-class singers (Hilary Cronin, Helen Charlston, Alexander Chance, Nathan Mercieca, Guy Cutting, Frederick Long and Edward Grint) join the IBO to try and capture something of the atmosphere of that extraordinary moment, in a recording which traces back the origins of this enduring masterpiece.
Contents and tracklist
- Guy Cutting, Edward Grint, Alexander Chance, Helen Charlston, Hilary Cronin, Nathan Mercieca, Frederick Long
- Irish Baroque Orchestra, Irish Baroque Choir
- Peter Whelan
Spotlight on this release
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Awards and reviews
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Gramophone MagazineApril 2026Editor's Choice
-
BBC Music MagazineMay 2026Choral Choice
May 2026
My spirits were uplifted almost throughout the recording. A current of gentle zephyrs refreshes every bar of the music...Complementing the instrumental vitality is the invigorating choral singing which disperses the sponge-fingered lethargy and overblown sounds of some traditional performances.
April 2026
This fresh and exhilarating Dublin performance dispels decades of overblown Messiah baggage. A vivid and captivating recording, highly recommended.
3rd April 2026
Whelan draws a fleet-footed performance from his orchestra and from a choir of just 13, including all the vocal soloists, their singing light and precise enough to sound almost gossipy in places...Whelan is set to be one of the new leading names in baroque music.
30th March 2026
Whelan’s chorus and orchestra play their own vital part in removing the heavy layers of pomp that Handel’s oratorio and its reflective narrative of Christ’s life have often previously attracted...nothing ever seriously impairs the freshness, excitement, uplift and spiritual glow of this wonderful Irish Messiah.
