Handel’s Messiah (Pentatone), the traditional Christmas work despite its Passiontide credentials, with spirited, lean performances from the Rias Kammerchor Berlin and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, conducted by Justin Doyle, with top soloists Julia Doyle, Tim Mead, Thomas Hobbs and Roderick Williams. Alpha & O: Music for Advent and Christmas (Resonus) by the Choirs of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, director Edward Wickham, offers plainchant and contemporary works by Judith Weir, Hannah Kendall, Diana Burrell, Christopher Fox and more.
The well-drilled combination of mixed and girls’ choirs makes a winning, ethereal combination. For old carols made new, from plainchant to Away in a Manger to a medley written in 2017 by Rosephanye.
Read more on msn.com