Dunedin Consort - Handel: Ode for St Cecilia's Day - CD Choice

With its dramatic and colourful sound values, this recording of Handel's ever-popular choral piece bids fair to be the most impressive reading of the piece in years - and one that at a stroke become the definitive available version. While taking on board current practices in Handel performance, there is a warmth and affection to the reading that is pleasantly redolent of an earlier era - the best of all possible worlds, in fact. A rich and colourful tribute to music's patron saint, recorded during this year's Misteria Paschalia Festival in Poland, the Dunedin Consort's performance of Handel's Ode for St Cecilia's Day sees them joined for the first time by tenor Ian Bostridge and soprano Carolyn Sampson. Bostridge demonstrates the technical mastery and vocal precision that has seen him win many of the major international record prizes in his twenty-five year career. Highly sought-after for her refined Baroque sensibilities and pure intonation, Sampson's lyric soprano is ideally suited to Handel. Led by John Butt, with singers from the Polish Radio Choir, this rich and colourful tribute to music's patron saint is the latest in their much-lauded Handel discography, which includes Messiah, Acis & Galatea and Esther, each having won widespread acclaim.