"Kobie van Rensburg's authoritative accompanied recitatives and Lawrence Zazzo's "But who may abide" are impressively dramatic, and Neal Davies's singing is typically vigorous. The outstanding Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, defy any argument that there is a bland uniform tradition of socalled Oxbridge choral singing ... Jacobs juxtaposes brilliance with foolishness ... a lot of the new ideas here are poorly conceived and show a poor grasp of Handel's musical personality"

"As we might expect, René Jacobs brings a livelier and more immediate sense of theatre to Handel's music ... The Clare College Choir, of which the upper strands are provided by women, is very good indeed proving capable of colourfully dramatic declamation ... A result which will disappoint few if any readers"

"En tenor, der kan lade tonen vokse som et lys ud af julenattens mørke. En kontra, der lægger sig som en svagt maskulin skygge, ja næsten som et alter ego, op ad altsolisten. Korsangere, der fraserer med overskud også i langsomme tempi. Og en dirigent, der former mere plastisk, end man er vant til at opleve i det oratorium, vi danskere er blevet helt afhængige af at høre til jul. Man vil få nogle pirrende musikalske aha-oplevelser, hvis man køber denne cd"