The first performance of Handel’s Messiah was in 1742 in Dublin. It was a pared down affair compared with the massed choirs and full strength orchestras Melbourne audiences have come to know.

In a return to “the transparent, vital and intimate soundworld Handel intended”, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra joined forces with the Melbourne chamber choir Polyphonic Voices for last Sunday’s performance – their last for the year – of the Messiah at the Melbourne Recital Centre.

Artistic director of Polyphonic voices Michael Fulcher led the ensemble through its paces with the lightest of touches, his focus mostly on the choir. The leadership of the MCO was largely in the capable hands of its director Sophie Rowell, who on occasion took over full duties while Fulcher sat it out on a large stool at the front of the stage. The gravity of the Messiah’s opening bars soon gave way to a joyous string-led celebration, a feature of the orchestra, that continued throughout the full two hours.

Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and Polyphonic Voices perform Messiah. Photo © Lucien Fisher

For this performance, the configuration of soloists was one soprano, one male alto, one tenor,...