In search of the lost Messiah

Once upon a time I had a turntable, and on that turntable I played a
1959 recording of Handel's "Messiah" conducted by Malcolm Sargent. Oh,
what a sweet piece of music it was! I remember especially the
Pastoral Symphony (aka Pifa): soft, slow, caressing, leaving the world
completely at peace, and perfectly prepared for the recitative that
followed, "There were shepherds abiding in the field..."

But that was before the Authenticity Police had finished their work.
A few years later, I bought CD after CD in a comic (when I viewed the
final, expensive pile) attempt to find something similar. Not a chance:
they all played the Pastoral Symphony in fast, choppy motion, exactly
"correctly". Many didn't even include the repeats: why bother, when all
that is pastoral has been driven out?

Handel himself conducted the work many times (and apparently in many
forms); in what manner did he do it? *I* certainly have no idea.
Scholars apparently do, and who am I to question them?

But I pray for a return of the spirit of Malcolm Sargent to the world
so that I may hear that sweet sound again. Even now, in my ears so
many years later, its beauty is vivid...

And I pray for a world in which deviation from "authentic" is not
considered an automatic abomination, so that interpretations widely
varied can live and grow alongside the faithful.

JdL