With so many excellent recordings of Handel’s Messiah, it is difficult to see that BR-Klassik considered that there was special merit in preserving this lackluster performance. The orchestra is soporific, not in small part due to Djistra’s phlegmatic conducting. The choir is at best generic (especially in the first part). The soloists are second rate. Julia Doyle has a pretty voice but her lack of breath control is unignorable while Lawrence Zazzo constantly botches attempts at show-off runs although his singing of He was despised (mercifully with no runs) is emotional and the highlight of the concert. However, I would have walked out of the hall well before this part of the oratorio,