Throughout December, Messiah It’s almost inevitable in New York City’s churches and concert halls. To explore some of the options available to eager Christmas Handelians, I attended four of the city’s most famous editions, finding them very different but often deeply pleased with the individual approach to this timeless masterpiece.
Perhaps surprisingly, Handel’s Messiah It is so closely associated with Christmas as it is best performed at Easter. Although the first part Do Relating to the Nativity, the work’s most famous piece – the “Hallelujah Chorus” – closes the second part and celebrates the Resurrection of Christ. But at Easter, one might encounter Baja’s St. Matthew Passion, Another sacred Baroque landmark.
As Handel’s Italian operas began to fall out of favor in London in the 1730s, the German-born composer turned increasingly to English oratorios and choral works on religious themes. Handel created many such works, but Messiah Clearly different from the others. Saul or Theodora, For example, the characters interact in a musical just as they would in an opera. But the soloist is Messiah, The stories, adapted from excerpts from the King James Version of the Bible compiled by Charles Jennens, do not depict individuals but recount events in the life and death of Christ. This unusual performance allowed Handel to revise his work after its Dublin premiere in 1742, often changing the arias and recitatives according to the soloists available at the time. Eventually, a more or less standard version was adopted, and MessiahI’ve heard solo assignments for performances at St. Thomas Fifth Avenue, Trinity Church, David Geffen Hall, and Carnegie Hall are consistent.
Beyond this, the four differ greatly in the types of instruments they use and, most importantly, in the size and composition of their choirs. The St. Thomas and Trinity orchestras employ period instrumental ensembles: the New York Baroque Orchestra and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, respectively. Although there are roughly the same number of orchestra members in the four performances, both use instruments modeled after Handel’s era, playing with more bite and color than members of the New York Philharmonic and the New York Oratorio Society Orchestra . The Historic Performance in Performance (HIP) approach used by St Thomas’ and Trinity Church is also consistent with their warmer, more reverberant church acoustics.
The composition of the four choirs is the most notable difference between the performances. St. Thomas’s is world-famous for its men’s and boys’ choirs in the Anglican tradition. Twenty-one boy sopranos in scarlet robes combine with thirteen adult altos, tenors and basses to create a unique, ethereal sound under the direction of Jeremy Filsell. Although they were mostly consistent, the boys proved the biggest obstacle to my enjoyment of Phil Sell’s compelling interpretation. Despite their numbers, together they produced a sometimes weak and pale voice in many of Handel’s demanding choruses. By contrast, Trinity’s eight adult female sopranos soared under the dynamic leadership of Dame Jane Glover, and although they avoided the use of vibrato (a common hip technique), for those unfamiliar with “straight” It may sound strange to people who don’t have a good pronunciation.
Musica Sacra’s 40 Safe, Straightforward Members Join New York Philharmonic in Neat but Unglamorous Way Messiah Thanks to Tom Koopman for his safe, unconfident take on the score. The texture of the chorus comes through most clearly in Geffen’s clean acoustic vocals, which also emphasize the strong but overly homogeneous sound of the modern instrument orchestra. Ken Tritle, who prepared the Sacred Music Chorus, was also the conductor for OSNY’s Carnegie Hall performance, in which he conducted a powerful chorus of nearly one hundred and eighty voices. group! Despite the large number, in Messiah’In the first part, they produced a softer, more diffuse sound than Trinity’s twenty-six parts! But with the ensuing drama of the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ, as they approached “Hallelujah,” they became animated, united, and powerful, which elicited a roar of applause from the Geffen crowd, who stood obediently— — like all four in the audience — that uplifting number. Equally striking was the precision of the OSNY big band, who reverently played many of the challenging and gorgeous passages of Handel’s music.
See also: In Paris, Nadia Khodossievitch-Léger gets her due
Difficult coloratura for bass aria Messiah Almost beat a couple of soloists. David Soar of St. Thomas’s, a new and old Wagnerian, put in a great effort on the music and sounded most comfortable in his conclusion “The Trumpets Will Sound.” For the New York Philharmonic, Baroque expert Klaus Mertens successfully lightened his voice to harmonize clusters of black notes, but OSNY’s Joseph Parrish performed At his best, his energetic bass-baritone handles his music with reasonable agility and bite. Trinity’s legacy of unique solutions MessiahThe solos were each assigned a member of the choir, an approach that inevitably created some imbalance but gave a moving warmth to the evening. Among the bass members, Steven Hrycelak and Enrico Lagasca stand out on solos.
Trinity’s tenor Andrew Fox opened the performance with a particularly stylish “Every Valley,” a far cry from Rufus Müller’s dramatic but well-worn traversal in the opening aria. Throughout the rest of his music, Muller’s welcoming intensity hearkened back to his acclaimed evangelism in Jonathan Miller’s landmark stage performance. St. Matthew Passion. Joshua Blue’s operatic repertoire includes works by Verdi and Puccini, which may explain his unusually tough attitude toward Handel in OSNY. He does, however, display a commendable ease in the more complex parts of his music. For the New York Philharmonic, Kieran White’s lilting tenor suffered from some of the more dramatic moments in the second part, but his clear phrasing and enthusiastic engagement made him stand out among Kaufman’s campy quartet.
These four performances divide Handel’s alto music into female and male. St. Thomas’s Emily Marwash often sounded disappointingly thin, but her striking way with words made her “He was despised” particularly moving. “Trinity” fielded a mezzo-soprano and a tenor, and the former team won the crown. Koopman brought in Dutch falsetto tenor Maarten Engeltyjes, whose delicate croaking instrument made little impression, while Trittel brought in Ariel Nussbaum-Korn Come Counter, he is probably the best falsetto tenor in America, his dynamic and seamless voice standing out in his vocal category. However, Cohen’s performance at Carnegie Hall was not at his usual best. Of all the soloists I heard, only he referred to his score frequently and intently, sounding a little uncertain at times. However, his innate musicality and beautiful voice still play an important role in Handel’s wonderful alto arias.
OSNY’s soprano Nola Richardson often plays 18th-century music, but her thin, tight voice felt oddly off-putting for much of the evening. However, she transforms in the third part and her “I Know My Redeemer Lives” and “If God Bless Us” are really lovely. Koopman’s performance as Maya Kherani is also uneven, alternating beautiful musical phrases with jarring high flourishes, and ultimately she makes little impact. For St. Thomas, Emily Donato surprised her by performing a rarely heard energetic alternative version of “Rejoice Much” with effortless energy. She was perfectly paired with Marwash in “He Will Feed His Flock.” but my best solo Messiah Marathon is Elisse Albian’s mesmerizing “I Know My Savior Lives” at Trinity College: a godsend.
Only performed by OSNY Messiah The entire show gave Cohen and Blue their only chance to duet in “Where’s Thy Sting, O Death,” during which Carnegie Hall staff quietly hurried away a fainted audience member from the front row . Koopman made the strangest of cuts: inexplicably omitting “His Yoke is easy” at the end of the first part and the tenor aria preceding “Hallelujah.” Both St. Thomas and Trinity removed several important numbers from the third part, fearing that some viewers might find the rest of the show after “Hallelujah” anticlimactic. In fact, Trittle punishes viewers he catches running away before the third part even begins.
2024 Messiah The palm has to go to Lady Jane, whose tireless and energetic leadership of her Trinity troops (she’s 75!) made Handel’s long-familiar works sound refreshingly new, and her stunningly propulsive reading, At her best was a truly excellent orchestra and choir. With 650 seats, Trinity Hall’s seating capacity is less than a quarter of Carnegie Hall’s, which adds to its specialness, although its uncushioned benches may not be enough during the nearly three-hour showing. Will bring challenges.
But these have worked well in the long run Messiah Traditions – some dating back more than a hundred years – ensure that the sold-out audience will be thrilled and moved by Handel’s oratorio for the first or twentieth time!
