About a Messiah recording

13 months have gone by since I first started practicing Messiah, and just over 10 months since the performance. Last Wednesday I bought it on CD with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields live from Dublin (Philips 470 044-2, reissue of 470 045-2). It has received fairly good critics, so I was very disappointed when I discovered that the tenor soloist didn't manage to sing "Comfort Ye" with any expression or intensity that I hoped for. He even missed on the pitch a couple of places. "Ev'ry Valley" was somewhat better, but still a boring performance. He has a good tone in his voice, but it lacks expression (or so I think, anyway). On the bright side the soprano part of the chorus was much more convincing that of the odd amateur choir, but I would not expect any less. My favourite track on this CD must be "And He Shall Purify", which is very easy and on time, and with plenty of dynamics. I agree that this is a recording that is easy to like, because there are no obvious faults or bad sound, but neither is there anything out of the ordinary. The price was nice, though, a double CD for the price of a single. If you have not bought a recording of Messiah for yourself yet, I would not recommend this recording. There just has to be a better one out there. But if you want several different recordings in your collection, this would probably be one of those that you'd want.