Moreover, the “Messiah” is a piece of modern music built out of very old words, but what it offers is not blind faith in them. It is instead the working out in song of a purposeful ...

The leaner, swifter Messiah turns out to be far more exciting. But tradition (often defined as the memory of the last bad performance) dies slowly. “There is this custom that any music dealing ...

“Brothers” by Alex Van Halen (Harper): Though highly anticipated, the elder and surviving Van Halen brother’s memoir -- voiced entertainingly with help from New Yorker staff writer Ariel ...

Performances in N.Y.C. Advertisement Supported by Critic’s Notebook The church’s urgent and eloquent version of Handel’s classic oratorio remains an inspired communal rite. By Zachary Woolfe ...

The podcast angels sing: Christmas music from 'Messiah' to the Muppets : Here & Now Anytime Charles King's new book "Every Valley" tells the backstory of "Messiah," a staple of the Christmas ...

It's probably the most-heard piece of classical music on Earth, the most sung, and the most recorded. It's "Messiah," by German-British opera composer George Frideric Handel. "It has been in near ...

“Messiah” was first performed in Ireland in 1741, and quickly became a favorite of music-lovers of the era. While it originally was considered appropriate for the Easter holiday, over the ...

It is also deprived of one of the most beloved works of sacred music: George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah.” To many Westerners, Handel’s “Messiah” is as embedded in Christmas pageantry ...

But it is also a tribute to the overwhelming effect of the Messiah, which is a feat of sustained inspiration arguably unsurpassed in the canon of Western classical music. “Comfort ye ...