With an outstanding solo quartet and a great chorus and orchestra, Davis leads a sterling performance that challenges the supremacy of his 1966 Philips recording of Messiah. Davis leads a dramatic performance; the famous "Hallelujah" chorus appropriately grand, the final "Amen" bristling with brazen energy, both sung with extraordinary tonal coloring and precise articulation by the chorus, which also shines in a lithe "He shall purify" and a vividly virtuoso "For unto us a child is born." Soprano Susan Gritton"s solos are a delight, whether in the measured "Behold, a virgin shall conceive" or her exuberant "Rejoice greatly." The vocal purity of her "I know my redeemer liveth" makes this track a highlight. Alto Sara Mingardo"s darker tones are especially moving in her arias and dramatic in "He was despised." The men are almost as good; Alistair Miles sonorous in the bass arias and Mark Padmore recovering nicely after a somewhat mannered "Evr"y valley." The LSO is in excellent form too, the strings expressive in the orchestral interludes and the brass shining brightly in the big choruses of Part III, where the tympani thwacks are startling in their power. --Dan Davis