Handel Messiah - Sandrine Piau & Choeur de Chambre de Namur

When Italian opera went out of fashion in London in the 1730s, Handel switched to composing Englishlanguage oratorios. Handel had already gained some experience in this genre in Rome, where opera was under papal ban. Messiah, written in 1741, is his eighth oratorio and uses texts from the King James Bible and the Coverdale Psalter.

In three parts, he extols the theological significance of Christ, the biblical Messiah: first, Old Testament prophets announce his coming; in the second part, Christ’s death on the cross, resurrection and ascension are dealt with (culminating in the all-toofamiliar Hallelujah); and in the final part, his redemptive role for humanity is explained in greater detail.

Handel’s Messiah is the Anglo-Saxon counterpart to Bach’s St Matthew Passion and is frequently performed around both Christmas and Easter. Originally written for a relatively small instrumentation, a tradition of performing this oratorio with increasingly larger orchestras and choirs emerged during the 18th and 19th centuries. For this performance, the Belgian National Orchestra is working together with the Choeur de Chambre de Namur and British conductor Ian Page, who is familiar with the Anglo-Saxon performance tradition (from mammoth concerts at the Royal Albert Hall to performances with period instruments).

Ian Page, conductor
Sandrine Piau, soprano
Benjamin Williamson, countertenor
Patrick Grahl, tenor
Johannes Weisser, baritone
Choeur de Chambre de Namur, choir