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 expect, nicely paired with pieces of similar impact but lesser renown. The mood is generally triumphal but is intelligently varied so as to give the listener an idea of the unerring dramatic sense that lies behind the popularity of Handel's choruses and of the various ways he used the chorus. There is a lengthy excerpt from Esther, HWV 50, "The Lord our enemy has slain," which is like a self-contained cantata with varied sections, and a chorus from the masque Acis and Galatea, HWV 49, which is made up of different stuff than the big oratorio choruses. The bottom line is that this collection fulfills its worthwhile purpose.
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