Interesting recordings
A guy on a audio recording mailing list posted links to some live recordings he'd made of an Orchestra and Choir doing what I think is Handel.
http://www.csp-music.com/asorecordings.html
The ASO Rode recording sounds better, but what I like about the recording is that the orchestra and choir sound pretty amateur. Not to take anything away from them, because they work hard to sound this good, but the subtle edge of bad intonation and mushy attacks is kind of awesome. It reminds me of the Portsmouth Symfonia. It is right on the edge of badness where people who don't have much of an ear for music probably don't notice anything out of the ordinary, but if you're a musician, it drives you nuts.
http://www.csp-music.com/asorecordings.html
The ASO Rode recording sounds better, but what I like about the recording is that the orchestra and choir sound pretty amateur. Not to take anything away from them, because they work hard to sound this good, but the subtle edge of bad intonation and mushy attacks is kind of awesome. It reminds me of the Portsmouth Symfonia. It is right on the edge of badness where people who don't have much of an ear for music probably don't notice anything out of the ordinary, but if you're a musician, it drives you nuts.