Judge me if you will, but I have to be honest: Messiah is probably my least favorite among Handel’s oratorios. And the fact that every concert hall in the planet schedule a performance of it in the third week of December does not make it any favor. I ask you – when was the last time when you heard a truly outstanding performance of Messiah, with A-team soloists, chorus and orchestra? I don’t think I could give one single example. This evening, for instance, we had top level choral singing from the Gabrieli Consort, all voices well contrasted yet in perfect balance, tenors particularly admirable. They would have been even more impressive if conductor Paul McCreesh had given them time to sing. The way these singers had to spit consonants and rush through passagework with the egg timer on made me feel almost sorry for them. In his recording with his own orchestra, tempi were all of them on the fast side, and yet one never feels there the sense that everybody is trying to get the bothersome thing done in time for dinner as tonight. First, his beat in the recording is a little bit more sensible than here (you just need to compare the Hallelujah chorus there with the messy performance this evening). Second, this evening one did not feel any expressive gain in singers and musicians a bit desperate trying to keep up with high velocity. Third, there is no comparison in terms of clarity in the recording and this concert. Although the chorus proved to have amazing dexterity, at that tempo, their melisme made only made sense in terms of athleticism, very little in terms of music. The Kammerorchester Basel – usually a good ensemble – here sounded mostly impressionistic in terms of phrasing and grey in terms of color. There was very little sense of story telling, let alone of any religious feeling. I am not meaning this was exciting in an operatic way (as in the Minkowski video, for instance) – it just felt exhausting for all involved.
Even with low expectations, one can still be disappointed when it comes to soloists in a Christmastime performance of Handel’s Messiah. Mary Bevan’s breathy soprano, often hard to hear, brought me very little joy. Replacing Helen Charlston, mezzo Caitlin Hulcup, usually a reliable single, was clearly ill at ease with the tessitura and had very little leeway to do anything in terms of phrasing and interpretation. I have to confess I had fun with Ashley Riches’s singing of the bass part straight from the Church of the Quivery Brethren. He roared famously in an over the top approach that could have gone wrong in many different ways, but the tone is focused, the breath is long and the diction is very clear. Benjamin Hulett alone offered an exemplary account of tenor part – dulcet in sound flexible, tonally varied and stylish.
I HEAR VOICES 
I detest ‘Messiah’.
When I worked with the Chicago Symphony Dr Margaret Hillis, a pedant of the first water, was allowed to conduct ‘Messiah’ every damn year in the wildly popular and lucrative ‘Sing-A-Long Messiahi’. There may have been two performances in the packed Orchestra Hall, I have blocked out the memory, it was satanic in its soulless boringness. Surely Jesus wept from above to witness the abomination of hundreds of the rich and vain drunken intelligentsia singing along to Handel’s once devout masterpiece.
Poor Handel. He deserved better.
I haven’t listened to it for 40 years since I left Ms Hillis’ employ. A fine chorus master but not a musical atom in her gift. Her chorus was like an exquisitely trained pack of pure bred hounds. She was also fond of the ghastly bore ‘Elijah’ which I had to snooze through, or try to, sitting in in the most horribly narrow and hard seats I have ever suffered to sit in..
Thanks for the memory!
🤪
Now I feel guilty and Grinch-like.
It’s just that sometimes when one has seen the Emperor (Empress) with no clothes the venom comes pouring out of long-festering wounds.
I am contrite.
hahahaha, Jeffrey! Don’t feel bad. Now breathe 🙂