Forty Days with the "Messiah" by David Winter
This CD features an intimate and relective recording of Handel's Messiah, recorded live in the Spencer Leeson Hall, Merchant Taylor's School, Batchworth Hill, Middlesex. The twenty-two track recording includes some of the more intimate movements of the work, including "Comfort Ye My People", "He shall feed his flock", "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace" and "I know that my redeemer liveth". The work is performed by just four members of St Margaret's Choir and accompanied by five strings and a chamber organ. Introductory notes to the seven sections of the work featured in the book "Forty Days With the Messiah" are included in the sleeve notes. The CD itself draws mainly on the arias, with some accompanied recitatives, and two reflective choruses. The recording is designed to provide a reflective basis for meditation, both as a companion to the book, and as a tool in its own right.