Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Handel’s Messiah
Usher Hall - 31/03/22
Handel’s Messiah at the Usher Hall marks the return of the SCO Chorus to live performance after two years. Amateur choirs have taken much longer than professional musicians to return to full rehearsals and singing in front of an audience. It’s a cause for celebration and even after all this time a close-run thing. A number of chorus members have been ill with Covid over the last few weeks, and on the night the choir was about 10 short of its usual strength. But what a magnificent sound they and the orchestra made in the Usher Hall!
Last Easter in my review of the BBC broadcast ‘Messiah’ from the Coliseum, I regretted the waste of a talented cast and conductor on a series of elaborately filmed excerpts from the oratorio, rather than providing the experience of an ensemble working together. This sense of a unified experience is what we have tonight. Maxim Emelyanychev, as ever, puts his distinctive mark on the style of performance, but in a way which brings out the best in the musicians. He directs from the harpsicord, with a second harpsicord on stage as well as a chamber organ. As far as I can hear, the second harpsicord provides back-up at the points when Emelyanychev is conducting, or while he plays a line or two of decoration to the accompaniment. Otherwise it’s a medium size chamber orchestra of around three dozen players, including six wind instruments, with two trumpeters and the timpanist arriving in time for the Hallelujah Chorus.
The three parts of the ‘Messiah’ reflect on Birth, Death and Resurrection, but within each section there are lighter and darker moments, livelier and more solemn music. The choir and orchestra are responsive to the different moods, music and – as important - words. Charles Jennens’ libretto uses the text of the old and New Testaments, but it’s his selection that matters in the retelling of the story. So the prophecy of the birth of Christ in part I starts with a statement of consolation, “Comfort ye my people”, then celebrates with expectation: “Every valley shall be exalted.” But God also promises to “shake the heavens and the earth” and it’s foretold that “darkness shall cover the earth” before “the Lord shall arise upon ye.” Great words! But a reminder, in the plain language of the day, of the ardours as well as the joys of Christian belief. Musically there are fast speeds for “Oh thou that tellest good tiding to Zion” and “Unto us a child is born”, with a lightness of touch in the string playing which is replicated in the chorus, with separated or staccato notes. There’s more strenuous string playing for the shaking of heaven and earth, while the chorus later has its confident outbursts as the choir of heavenly angels.
The four soloists are well-chosen to work with these chamber forces. Rising star, tenor Hugo Hymas, is already experienced in baroque repertoire, and he embarks fearlessly on the high opening of “Comfort ye.” It’s nicely sung, and the relatively light accompaniment provides the opportunity for his voice to ring out in the Usher Hall, although the slowish pace gives little room to hide! Most of the solos have interesting, decorated notes. I get the impression that Emelyanychev has worked with the singers individually to find what kind of ornamentation is best for each of them. Xavier Sabata, the Catalan counter tenor, sings the alto part. His opening section is a tough sing, as he is up against a fast and furious orchestra in “Thus saith the Lord of Hosts”, and we have difficulty hearing him. He has an attractive flexible voice and fares better later in the oratorio. Counter tenor (and treble) voices work well in the Messiah, and Sabata here is reminiscent of Iestyn Davies in Edward Higginbottom’s all-male version with the Academy of Ancient Music and the Choir of New College Oxford. Matthew Brook is the bass-baritone. An expert story-teller, he can deliver both power and gentleness in his expressive voice, as well as the confident sincerity of “The trumpet shall sound.” The outstanding singer is Anna Dennis. She’s the last of the soloists to sing in Part 1 and after the sometimes arduous Old Testament prophecies her soprano provides a suitably ethereal quality as we move to the New Testament realisation of them in “There were Shepherds abiding in the Field.” Most of Dennis’s appearances have been in baroque oratorios and operas, although she’s also interested in contemporary music. To hear her lovely voice overlapping with itself, watch this 50 second trailer for Current Rising at the Royal Opera House last summer.
Part II combines choruses of great certainty “Behold the lamb of God” and “Lift up your heads”, with solo recitatives and arias which portray the cruelty of the crucifixion, “He was despised” and “All these that see him, laugh him to scorn.” The choir’s radiant hymn-like tones in the anthems contrast with the lighter staccato “All we like sheep.” The Part II solos have a lighter accompaniment, often just the string principals. The sparser sound suits the solemnity of the mood. In contrast, the Hallelujah Chorus allows the newly arrived trumpeters and drummer to underpin the joyous outburst. They sound good but a surprisingly large number of traditionalists obscured my view at this point!
Part III opens with “I Know that my Redeemer Liveth,” which unusually lacks a recitative introduction recitative. It’s a highlight of Anna Dennis’s performance and it’s sung in a different style. Her earlier solos were distinguished by beautifully ornamented lines. But here, accompanied by a few quiet strings, she sings the aria simply and beautifully. It’s a different statement of belief to the blazing anthem which precedes it, but Dennis’s serene presence makes it count just as much.
The SCO Chorus rightly has the last word, with a radiant “Worthy is the Lamb” and Amen Chorus. Gregory Batsleer, their chorus master, is to be congratulated for bringing the choir in good heart and voice through the last two years.
Postscript. On the bus home, two young audience members discuss whether they’ve understood “the story.” This, as David Kettle’s programme notes show us, was also a problem for the first London audiences, used to oratorios in which soloists played the part of biblical characters. However, one is full of praise for “that song which went ‘He was despised and rejected. A man of sorrows.’” 280 years after their Dublin premiere, Mr Jennens and Mr Handel can take another bow!
