Edinburgh Royal Choral Union: ‘Messiah’
Usher Hall - 02/01/23
I was able to attend last year’s ERCU Messiah, albeit in April due to a certain pesky virus, and enjoyed it enormously. It is very satisfying to be able to report that this year’s event took place as usual, on 2nd January in the Usher Hall, and was equally enjoyable. This was the 135th New Year performance of Handel’s masterpiece in Edinburgh, a tradition that has endured and matured over the years. The Usher Hall was sold out, a rare and wonderful thing, and the place was buzzing.
I have my own tradition with the New Year Messiah, as I sang in the choir in the 1973 version, while still at school, and in 1984, with Philip Ledger conducting, I sang the bass solos, towards the beginning of my career. ERCU has preserved that tradition of using promising young soloists, and we heard an interesting quartet of youthful singers yesterday.
The tradition of employing fascinating conductors was equally upheld, in that Sir James MacMillan, Scotland’s pre-eminent contemporary composer, was this year’s musical director. By his own admission, Sir James is not a professional conductor, and this turned out to be his first ever performance of Messiah. His name on the posters and the programme was almost certainly one of the principal reasons for the concert sell-out, and it was undoubtedly interesting to see and hear one of the world’s greatest composers interpreting one of the finest of all oratorios. I can report that Sir James did not get in the way of the music, and there were no clunking faux-pas, but neither were there any great insights into Handel’s genius, and I missed the dramatic input that John Butt finds with the Dunedin Consort, and frankly, that Michael Bawtree, ERCU’s music director for 15 years, found in last year’s Messiah. Even heavily cut, Handel’s oratorio, with words fashioned from biblical and liturgical sources by Charles Jennens, and first performed in Dublin in 1742, is a masterpiece of story-telling, and I didn’t really get any sense of the scope of the story from prophesy to resurrection which has been such a crucial part of the work’s success over the centuries. Speeds were generally uncontroversial, and Sir James has obviously absorbed the contemporary style of Handel performances which we expect nowadays – a small orchestra with lithe strings, a harpsichord and cello continuo, with occasional telling entries from the great Usher Hall organ, played by the great Edinburgh organist, John Kitchen, and punchy trumpets and drums to announce the big moments of the piece. I missed the trumpets in the Part One chorus ‘Glory to God’ and assume they had negotiated a second half only appearance, but at least the fantastic trumpet solo in Part 3 with the bass soloist was superbly played by Andy Connell-Smith.
The soloists, as I wrote earlier, were all young professionals, and I was delighted to see three Scots in an all British line-up –a tip for the SCO and RSNO that this is what we should be hearing more often. The SCO’s recent ‘Israel in Egypt’ had no Scottish soloists out of six on stage!
I felt the ladies yesterday had a slight edge in the performance, but all four were excellent. Paul Grant, very much a baritone rather than a bass, delivered his solos powerfully and well. The speeds chosen were modern and quick without appearing over-fast (my own recording of the Part 2 aria, ‘Why do the Nations’, on DG Archiv with Marc Minkowski, is the fastest on record!), and Mr Grant brought a fine technique to bear on Handel’s tricky vocal lines, especially at modern pitch. I find the original pitch written for by Handel (around 415 Hz) a better pitch for a bass, whereas modern pitch, a semitone higher at 440 Hz, suits a baritone better. The low notes were a bit of a struggle for Mr Grant, but the compensation of easier top notes won the day, especially in the splendid ‘The Trumpet shall sound’ aria, where his duet with the ringing tones of Mr Connell-Smith’s trumpet was thrilling. My only caveat with that aria was that Mr Grant occasionally sang too subtly - you can’t be subtle up against a ringing modern trumpet, you need just to go for it! By contrast though, his recitative, ‘Behold! I tell you a Mystery!’ was beautifully interpreted.
Kieran White was the tenor, trained at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire, who famously sings right at the beginning, and is not then heard for over an hour. This young singer has a light bright tenor, set very high in the range, and I was interested to see that he studies with Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, with whom I have sung on many occasions. Jean-Paul is what we call a haut-contre, a voice set between tenor and countertenor, and I can see that Mr White could fit that bill too. I would like to hear more support in the technique. For the moment, he can get by singing largely with head voice, but that is very dangerous for the longevity of his voice, which, I feel, needs to be anchored more solidly in his breathing technique. Nonetheless, he gave a fine account of his arias in Messiah and is one to watch.
A singer who is very much one to watch is the Edinburgh mezzo, Catherine Backhouse. I have followed Catherine’s career over the past few years and am delighted that she is emerging as a very interesting artist indeed. Previously, I have heard her in higher mezzo roles, singing more Romantic era music, and I must confess that I wasn’t sure what her Handel singing would be like? The Messiah solos are famously low, written for a singing actress in 1742, Mrs Cibber, a deep contralto, and, notoriously, mezzo sopranos have struggled with the tessitura over the years. Ms Backhouse has developed an excellent chest voice to go with the superb top and she really nailed all the alto solos yesterday. Her last aria, which comes at the beginning of the second half (allowing a pleasant relaxing end of performance, only needing to join in with the Hallelujah Chorus and the final Amen) is the deeply moving ‘He was despised’. This, in the wrong hands, can be a truly boring part of the Messiah, as it is slow and long, and I must confess I have slumbered through many dreary performances in the past. However, Ms Backhouse gave a performance of dramatic edge and overpowering Angst as she described the mocking and taunting of Christ by the baying crowd, and the time flew by. Scotland is blessed at the moment with several world class mezzos, and I am convinced that Catherine Backhouse can join their ranks soon.
Catriona Hewitson, also born in Edinburgh, was the superb soprano soloist who dominated the performance with her lovely voice and relaxed manner. I heard her as Tytania in Scottish Opera’s recent ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, and was most impressed, and she was equally at home in Handel. With a voice of rather more power and edge than most Handel sopranos, she managed to sing with impeccable baroque style, and also with rare interpretative skill. Her every solo was poised and well-imagined, from the stunning announcement of shepherds and angels in the first Part, through the Beautiful Feet, to the paean to the Redeemer in the third Part. Her final solo, accompanied beautifully and gently by Greg Lawson on his famous ‘Lev’ violin and Christian Elliott, on cello, was sublime. Mr Elliott’s cello continuo, matched by Michael Bawtree on harpsichord, was a delight throughout the concert.
Indeed, the Edinburgh Pro Musica Orchestra was a fine band, with, I felt, a particularly strong double bass section. As for the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union, they are on fine form at the moment, expertly trained by Mr Bawtree, with strong voices throughout the four parts. The tenors, usually a problem for amateur choirs, held their own impressively, only tiring slightly at the end. All the parts sang with precision and gusto, and coped admirably with Sir James’ tempi. It can be a problem nowadays, with the fashion for fast tempi, that an amateur choir can’t keep up with some of the runs, but that was not the case here, and there was a rousing cheer for the choir at the end.
Many congratulations to the organisers for filling the Usher Hall, and to the performers for filling the hall with marvellous music. Handel’s masterpiece is one of the wonders of music, and it was well-served by ERCU and the other performers. Here’s to next New Year!
