Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Messiah
Comment: This product was just as I had anticipated, excellant, one of the best renditions of Handel's Messiah produced. With the Morman Tabernacle Choir, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and those selected soloists, this was so well presented and simply one of the most inspiring pieces of music ever produced.!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: handle messiah
Comment: dissapointed in disc, recived 2 dics 1 not disc one and disc two, reordered, and the same thing, 2 disc one, and no disc two, returned itme, and heard nothing, so ordered item form privated party, and got both disc's 1 and 2 in gr8 condition
very dissapointed in this, i hopw this will be corrected for future orders
Customer Rating:
Summary: 50 years old and still the best
Comment: Still in print after 50 years? Thank heavens. Our decades old CD got damaged. Thought we'd have to play our nearly worn out vinyl version.
If Handel had been alive in 1959, he'd have teamed up Ormandy, his orchestra, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as his absolute dream team. And been proud of the result.
No one remembers the soloists anymore. Too bad, they were brilliant here. But everyone remembers Ormandy in the golden years of the Philadelphia Orchestra for good reason. They were the best in the world. The MTC was then, and remains today about as good as a large choir gets. There is nothing like them in full voice.
It's analog, incomplete, and not the baroque style. If that's what you're after, look elsewhere. But if you want the core of the Messiah played sensitively and sung brilliantly by the best of the best, buy this one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Ugh
Comment: Like many others here, this recording was my first exposure to Handel's Messiah. I thought it was rather strange for a Baroque piece, but kept listening to it to resurrect the Christmas cheer every year.
Then I listened to John Eliot Gardiner's rendition, and I finally understood what I was missing.
Unlike Gardiner's version, this version lacks the lightness of step and vigor of Handel. Instead, it's a muddy, leaden, over-dramatic mess. The microphones seem to be set quite a ways from a HUGE choir and orchestra, creating a foggy, booming atmosphere.
From other reviews here, it sounds like many people like this simply because of fond memories from their childhood. If you don't have those memories and know even a little bit about classical music, DON'T get this version. Get a version that actually treats it like the Baroque masterpiece that it is.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Best
Comment: I have heard this most of my life as well, almost since it was released. So maybe I am biased, too. But I don't think so. I think this really is the best recording there is.
I have heard this over and over since the early 1960s, and I have heard
many other renditions of Messiah, both recorded and live. This is the absolute best. The interpretation is unique, sensitive, and beautiful. The soloists are superb--just read their names --and the "older" style--a bit slower, perhaps--is much more expressive and touching than the faster versions one is likely to hear these days. This touches the soul, and Ormandy's interpretation is excellent.
This is the version by which I measure all other versions because, after hearing and owning so many others, it stills stands out from all the rest.
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