[JohnR]

Does this piece deserve a thread all it's own?  I only have one recording, being Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by Neville Marriner, but would welcome suggestions for a second copy.

I first encountered this piece at a performance in Berkeley, where at one point (and to my great surprise) the audience was divided into four and each quarter expected to perform one of the four vocal parts. Clearly not everyone was as surprised as me, as the performance proceeded remarkably well. What a memorable experience though.

Definitely recommended (by me anyway) as a choral/vocal piece, and it's even in English in case anyone should want you to sing along

[Randy]

Not sure how many Messiahs I have, four or five, but I usually go most often to the 1980 recording on Decca with Emma Kirkby conducted by Christopher Hogwood. The main reason I do is the sound of the choir which in this case is the Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, choir. I love the sound of the boy trebles much more than female sopranos in this work.  The weakness of this version is the tenor who is terrible.

http://www.amazon.com/Handel-Messiah-Watkinson-Elliott-Hogwood/dp/B000004CXU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1244482259&sr=1-1

The recent Jacobs on Harmonia Mundi is excellent, also.

[BradJudy]

FIM has been saying they are going to release a K2 version for a while now, but it never seems to make it past the "upcoming releases" list. 

[Val]

Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan with great BIS sound as a bonus.