Review: Handel’s Messiah continues to be magical

When Handel’s Messiah, that quintessential music for the Advent season, was first performed in Dublin in 1742, the orchestra consisted of strings, two trumpets, timpani, harpsichord and a portable organ, and there were some 32 in the choir.
These days, performances generally seek authenticity, and are given with Baroque-sized forces similar to those Handel originally wrote for.
But that has not always been the case. As early as 1784, the Messiah began to be played on a huge scale, in a per