Goossens 'Messiah' Is Back

Charles T. Downey, NSO makes most of super-sized ‘Messiah’ (Washington Post, December 20, 2013)

T. F. Kelly, First Nights: Five Musical Premiers (including Messiah) (2001)

George Frideric Handel conceived his oratorio “Messiah” on a small scale, for a chamber-size orchestra and chorus, with boy choristers on the soprano part. Such a style of performance is not really suited to the vast, acoustically challenging space of the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, where the National Symphony Orchestra gave its annual performance of “Messiah” on Thursday night. This hall — which holds more than four times as many people as the theater where Handel premiered the work — calls for a larger palette of sound, best provided by the biggest scoring of them all, the in­famous adaptation of Handel’s music by Eugene Goossens. [Continue reading]

Handel, Messiah
National Symphony Orchestra
Choral Arts Society of Washington
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

NSO Messiah:
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