And the alto solos on the first modern (= aware that Baroque
performance practice exits) *Messiah* -- Sargent, with Jennifer
Vyvian, George Maran, Owen Brannigan; Ralph Downes, organ. The
advertising on the LP album (formatted like a 78 album, with sleeves
bound together) touted both its completeness and the small size of the
choir.
It was subsequently rereleased on a budget label, but the sound was
considerably degraded. I've never seen it in CD.
(Maran, too, is unaccountably underrecognized.)