Recommended Reviews

As it approaches the 30th anniversary of its foundation in 1996, the Irish Baroque Orchestra continues to produce landmark recordings such as this complete Messiah, made in October 2024, the result of annual performances of the work, first performed in Dublin’s New Music Hall on Fishamble Street on April 13, 1742, to an audience of 700. Peter Whelan favours a version with 13 singers (who provide the ‘step-out’ soloists) and an orchestra of 17 (but without oboes or bassoon), a lithesome ensemble far removed from the excesses of the large-scale choral-society tradition and based, as far as one can tell, on Watkins Shaw’s edition.

Immediately one is drawn in by the gentlest approach to the opening Sinfonia, setting the scene for Guy Cutting’s supplicating tenor aria, ‘Comfort ye’. With closely placed microphones, all of the solo contributors engender an alluring intimacy. Hilary Cronin’s diaphragm is given a tremendous workout in ‘Rejoice greatly’, in the common-time version which Handel latterly preferred. Attention to dramatic detail has not been bettered. Has there been a more astonishing modulation than occurs in the soprano recitative ‘Thy rebuke’, as Handel shifts through the tritone from F minor to B major?

Three singers share the alto movements. Helen Charlston luxuriates in ‘He shall feed his flock’ and Alexander Chance and Nathan Mercieca make light work of the duet version of ‘How beautiful are the feet’ – a refreshing choice. One might have wished for a just a little more characterisation in the tenor’s ‘Thou shalt break them’ on the word ‘dash’, but Frederick Long storms his way through in ‘Why do the nations’ and Edward Grint is suitably stentorian in ‘The trumpet shall sound’, which at almost eight and half minutes in duration can become a marathon for performers and listeners alike but here avoids any sense of dawdling. Whelan eschews the older tradition of delaying final cadences in recitatives, which results in some eyebrow-lifting harmonic clashes.

The Irish Baroque Choir’s first entry in ‘And the glory’ reveals a unanimity of approach to phrasing and diction in total accord with the strings’ bowing and articulation, coupled to a most pleasing shading of dynamics. The choral blend is outstanding throughout, particularly in softer passages, for example in the reverential final ‘Amen’.

Other delights abound in this exceptional release. The instrumental Pifa is a true shepherd’s dance, nothing dirge-like here, and overall, this fresh and exhilarating Dublin performance dispels decades of overblown Messiah baggage. A vivid and captivating recording, highly recommended.