George Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759)
Messiah, oratorio in three parts for soloists, choir, orchestra and basso continuo, HWV 56 (1741) [130.38]
Giulia Semenzato (soprano); Benno Schachtner (countertenor); Krystian Adam (tenor); Kresimir Strazanac (bass)
Collegium Vocale 1704
Collegium 1704/Vaclav Luks
rec. live, March 2019, Rudolfinum, Prague
ACCENT ACC24354 [48:43 + 81:55]
In his booklet note for his CD recording (Alpha 362, review), Niquet calls the work a sacred opera. A useful approach, as it prevents the work becoming too solemn and potentially sanctimonious. As an ‘opera’, then, it’s set out in 3 ‘acts’, called parts, and then ‘scenes’, which are really sequences of numbers; you won’t find these terms in any documentation, but they clarify the work’s momentum. Part 1 scene 1 comprises the Sinfony, i.e. Overture, and next three numbers. The Overture is a conventional French (slow-fast) one. Václav Luks creates an impression of freshness from the start with lively, dance-like rhythms and articulation, but it isn’t the marked Grave - I’d say around Andante. Therefore, the second section, marked Allegro moderato is less of a contrast, though Luks takes it at a healthy Allegro. The imitative counterpoint is clear, but the more gracious aspects of the imitation are rather breezed through. Nevertheless, it’s good that it feels breathless, because the Overture is part of this first scene in that number 2, the opening vocal piece, ‘Comfort ye, my people’, begins with contrasted relaxation. Its correct term is accompagnato, a recitative accompanied by orchestra rather than just continuo instruments, half-way between recitative and aria: you can call it arioso. The beginning of the orchestral opening in the first violins acts as a motif heard four times later and Luks really makes his violins sing it. His tenor Krystian Adam sounds earnest and sincere and provides decorous ornamentation at appropriate points. I’m only sorry it wasn’t picked up at rehearsal that ‘tab’ in ‘comfortably’ is pronounced as in tablet, not as in table. Otherwise, this international account is mispronunciation free. Adam/Luks bring the right urgency to the closing statement to prepare for the following aria, ‘Ev’ry valley shall be exalted’, in which they blend perkiness with stylish assurance. Personally, I wish the harpsichord wasn’t quite so prominent, even though it does help to maintain the rhythmic crispness - but you wouldn’t usually hear it that clearly in the hall unless you were in the first few rows. This first ‘scene’ ends with the first chorus, ‘And the glory of the Lord’. Luks and his Collegium Vocale 1704, hereafter CV17, articulate it lightly yet with fitting excitement at the coming of the Messiah. The device which powers this chorus is the melding of imitative counterpoint exchanged between the parts, as in the florid melody to the title words, and booming proclamations on one note, ‘For the mouth of the Lord’ and CV17/Luks present this with neat clarity. The doubling of the soprano line by the violins of Collegium 1704, hereafter C17, is also satisfyingly clear.
I compare this with the 2006 recording by New College Oxford Choir and the Academy of Ancient Music/Edward Higginbottom (Naxos 8.570131-32) to consider how different is an English and ‘chapel tradition’ performance as the conductor describes it in the CD booklet, using an all-male chorus as all Handel’s performances did, from an international and mixed choir one. Taking the first three numbers, Luks times at 8:37 to Higginbottom’s 9:39, but the timing for the fourth, the chorus, is the same 2:32 from both. Higginbottom’s greater measure at first allows for a more imposing introduction to the Overture, around Larghetto, and a more contrastingly piping quality to the second part, the oboes doubling the violins clear, and feel of bright promise. The opening of ‘Comfort ye’ is gentler yet the greater measure allows the tenor soloist, Toby Spence, more space for emotive expressiveness, a more operatic feel. Spence/Higginbottom’s ‘Ev’ry valley’ seems more animated, despite being slower than Adam/Luks because of the eager articulation of the detail defining the virtuosity without being stretched by it. Spence’s ornamentation grows a little showier than Adams’s, yet without being excessive. Now with his suddenly pacier chorus, ‘And the glory’, Higginbottom seems more skipping in his orchestral introduction and bouncy once the vocal entries start. The overall effect is fresher, perhaps because the college choir voices are younger, their proclamations lustier.
Scene 2 consists of the bass accompagnato ‘Thus saith the Lord of Hosts’, countertenor aria ‘But who may abide’ and chorus ‘And He shall purify the sons of Levi’. ‘Thus saith the Lord’ is a mini-rage aria, another operatic convention. Luks makes its strings’ accompaniment gruff and brittle; bass-baritone Krešimir Stražanac starts well in the same manner but when he gets to his second sequence of semiquaver runs on “shake” he adopts a lighter, more smiling tone which gives a less appropriate impression of a capricious rather than angry God. However, he does bring a fine, sardonic relish to “delight” (CD1, tr. 5, 1:10). Higginbottom’s strings are too polite, as is his bass Eamonn Dougan, sounding uncomfortable and aiming for gentle shakes. ‘But who may abide’ was originally a short bass aria, rewritten and expanded by Handel for the countertenor Gaetano Guadagni and this version is always sung today, though early recordings (Beecham, Boult, and Sargent as late as 1965) transposed it down for bass. A change of voice better fits the change of perspective from ranting deity to suffering humanity larghetto before returning to a full-blown rage aria with quaver runs prestissimo plus trills thrown in depicting “refiner’s fire”. For Luks countertenor Benno Schachtner’s rage and ornamentation is emphatic and exciting in its intensity and is well matched by Luks’ scary accompaniment. Less successful is the larghetto section: though the string accompaniment is nicely shaped; it’s too bouncy in vocal projection, weakening the contrast of reflection here. Higginbottom’s Larghetto with countertenor Iestyn Davies is much slower to advantage, taking 1:44 against Luks’ 1:14, and Davies has the more mellifluous voice. In the prestissimo he ornaments well but, in comparison with Schachtner, he’s too polite. The chorus ‘And He shall purify’ carries forward that refiner’s fire to the sons of Levi, literally when the title text in the altos and “the sons of Levi” in the tenors coincide (tr. 7, 0:26) and thereafter in other combinations of vocal parts. The purification comes in lashings of semiquaver runs, which I can tell you from personal experience are a pig to sing but are lightly and deftly delivered here by Luks’ CV17. The imitative counterpoint seems to become an end-in-itself, but the point is the homophonic close of the punch line: the activity happens to allow the sons to make an offering in righteousness which the sopranos spotlight by rising to top A. This is freshly done by CV17 but might have been made a little more momentous as a climax. Higginbottom does this, but he has 15 trebles at his disposal against CV17’s 5 sopranos and those trebles are a little ragged in the semiquaver runs in comparison with the other voices.
Scene 3 also has a climactic close as the alto recitative, ‘Behold a virgin shall conceive’, is followed by the alto aria ‘O thou that tellest glad tidings to Zion’ and then choral expansion of the aria text. The chorus is thereby the climax of the aria. Schachtner and Luks do everything right: perky and happy, there’s a dancing interplay between voice and strings, Schachtner shows he’s fully involved with the text, yet ends quietly to allow more contrast with the exultation of the CV17 entries in individual parts, then all together for the acclamation ‘arise’. Yet again the ending is quieter with an urbane strings’ postlude, as if to say “the glory of the Lord” is a cloak of assurance. Davies/Higginbottom, timing aria and chorus at 5:41 to Schachtner/Luks’ 4:52, savour the experience more, the violins silkier, the soloist more relaxed, reflective and intimate, but becoming more florid in ornamentation as the aria progresses, the chorus providing a chirpier contrast, yet of greater brightness more than density. Thus, the two recordings are quite different but equally valid and satisfying.
Scene 4 consists of the bass accompagnato ‘For behold, darkness shall cover the earth’, the bass aria ‘The people that walked in darkness’ and the chorus ‘For unto us a child is born’ - again, a logical progression to a climactic close. As non-native English speaker, Handel is sometimes criticized for the music’s stress on ‘For’ in the chorus rather than the more natural stress on ‘us’, the result of borrowing his own music from an Italian duet. But a stress on ‘us’ sounds boastful while ‘for’ in the sense of ‘because’ identifies the “great light” the people have seen as the ‘scene’ moves from the darkness of the accompagnato via the aria to the light of the chorus. For Luks, Stražanac in both accompagnato and aria moves from a quiet, tremulous start to a surge of confidence at “arise” in the accompagnato and at “great light” in the aria, in both cases to an emphatic close. For Higginbottom, Dougan’s accompagnato is more expressive and emotive, but rather staid in progression. Similarly, in the aria his ultimate declamation is direct and forthright but not altogether as confident as Stražanac’s. In the chorus, Luks’ choir are sprightly and cheery. Its special feature of the simultaneous presentation of semiquaver runs on “born” in one part, e.g. the sopranos, and “unto us a Son is given” in another part, e.g. the tenors (tr. 12, 0:29), is clear and trim, and the choral acclamations beginning “Wonderful, Counsellor” and so on are spirited, above which the violins shimmer. Higginbottom’s chorus, a little slower at 3:52 to Luks’ 3:36, still skips along sunnily. His fuller treble top line brings a more beaming quality; there’s more attack in the choral acclamations backed by the greater sheen of the violins and more sense of growing excitement.
Scene 5 begins with the Pifa, the only other solely instrumental piece apart from the Overture, followed by a soprano recitative, ‘There were shepherds’, to which is added an accompagnato before another recitative and accompagnato h lead into the chorus ‘Glory to God in the highest’. Pifa denotes a piece played by shepherd bagpipers, a more homely term than the later used ‘Pastoral Symphony’ which evokes Beethoven and feelings associated with the countryside, irrelevant here for the shepherds’ cold winter’s night. Handel originally wrote only the opening section without repeat, so the central section (tr. 13, 0:38) onwards belong to later performances. Luks plays everything quite quickly but smoothly for its Larghetto e mezzo piano marking and by observing the dynamic keeps everything intimate, the trills gentle, and avoids becoming maudlin. Timing at 1:57, his is more attractive than Higginbottom’s 2:14 whose formality is like a dutiful work shift. Giulia Semenzato, Luks’ long-awaited soprano soloist, has a comely voice, fitting for the account of the angel’s arrival, the specialty of which is emphasised by the accompagnato after the plain recitative, the violins playing arpeggios (think of the beginning of Zadok the Priest) and made further special by Luks with theorbo garnishing. Higginbottom has a different kind of specialness: he chooses to follow Handel’s 1751 performances of Messiah which use solo trebles for the soprano parts, at this point Henry Jenkinson and Robert Brooks. The gain is in the purity and innocence and unfamiliarity in this context of the treble voice - especially the peal of the top A at the end of the second accompagnato to launch the chorus. In that accompagnato the key changes to a bright D major for the announcement of the arrival of the heavenly host, the coming chorus, which also happens to be a key in which natural trumpets, now first heard in Messiah, can play. They are marked to enter da lontano ed un poco piano, which means in performance they start offstage and later come forward, but how do you realize that in a recording? CV17’s ‘Glory to God in the highest’ is very crisp and clear, the tenors’ and basses’ contrasting ‘and peace on earth’ smooth and warm, better, I feel, than Higginbottom’s calm, but you can hear Luks’ trumpets pretty clearly from the start, as with Higginbottom’s trumpets. The return to Luks’ CV17’s message of goodwill, bandied about among the parts, is full of heartiness, but for me an equal delight is the instrumental postlude in which the vision fades down to just an exquisite trill on C17’s violins as if wondering “That was a special moment, but did I imagine it?” Luks shows more finesse here than Higginbottom’s rather soggy stolidity.
We’ve reached Scene 6, the last in Part 1. This begins for the first time with an aria, ‘Rejoice greatly’ for soprano, followed by a recitative for countertenor, ‘Then shall the eyes of the blind’, then a Duet for countertenor and soprano, ‘He shall feed his flock’ and, to finish, the chorus ‘His yoke is easy’. Semenzato and Luks present ‘Rejoice greatly’ as a light, frothy piece which suits all those semiquaver runs begun by the violins, translated by the soprano as ‘rejoice’ and then often exchanged between them with eagerness to deliver the message. The middle section, “He is the righteous saviour” (tr. 19, 1:29) is treated with a contrasting decorum and reverence for “peace”, already referenced in ‘For unto us’ and ‘Glory to God’, in this case in sustained low notes, yet Semenzato is also able to embellish serenely its closing cadence on “heathen” up to top B flat. While this is great, it creates more expectation for the aria’s climax, a closing sustained “shout” where a precursor of Brünnhilde’s battle-cry might be over the top but is nearer the mark than the stylish glancing top B flat Semenzato now settles for. I start thinking soubrette rather than Amazon. Nevertheless, I prefer this to Higginbottom in whose 1751 version allocated the aria to a tenor. Spence sings it well, especially making the central section, the justification for the rejoicing, the heart of the piece, but the overall emphasis is on refinement and, though the timing is virtually the same as Luks, everything sounds more measured and I yearn for Semenzato’s and Luks’ exuberance. The recitative ‘Then shall the eyes of the blind’ and Duet ‘He shall feed his flock’ appear in Handel’s revised version. The original version was all for soprano solo and in B flat, which means less vocal variety with the whole scene’s arias and chorus in B flat. The magical revision is beginning ‘He shall feed his flock’ in F major for countertenor, warm and homely, and transforming the mood at “Come unto him” by having the soprano sing the same melody in B flat, depicting the radiance available if you “take His yoke upon you”. Semenzato provides this with a more serene, smoothly lilting manner than Schachtner’s contrasted, active and eager, slightly clipped evangelistic one which also applies to his recitative. The marking for this ‘Duet’ is Larghetto e piano. Higginbottom, timing at 4:54 to Luks’ 3:39, seems to me closer to this, which allows both voices to present in a mood of tender affection with Davies more successful because of fuller tone than the treble Otta Jones. You can argue, however, that Luks’ faster tempo makes for a more effective selling by the soprano of “take His yoke”, but it short-changes the tenderness of ‘He shall feed his flock’. The chorus ‘His yoke is easy’ furthers the invitation in the preceding duet and recalls and sets the ebullient manner of ‘Rejoice greatly’ chorally. The semiquaver runs aren’t as extended, but they are plentiful, and the continual interplay of the parts and contrasts of dynamic are other jubilant elements and complications. It must be delivered very crisply, yet sound spontaneous. Luks really does make it light and easy, like a soufflé, while the dynamic contrasts stop it from getting too mechanical. The eager playfulness of the theorbo sets the tone with instrumental backing that’s clear but always in support of rather than rivalling the voices. Higginbottom pretty much maintains the same Allegro, but the articulation of the semiquavers is heavier, so the yoke seems less easy.
So, there you have for Part 1 a way of considering how Handel structures this work and a comparison of two recordings’ response. For Parts 2 and 3 I shall be selective, taking what I find the most significant numbers in Luks’ recording and briefly comparing other recordings as a touchstone. Part 1 has been about the coming of the saviour and includes the shepherds’ part of the Christmas story. This provides a pastoral link, also one with working folk, but more significantly that of Christ being the lamb of God. The focus of Part 2 is selectively on the Passion of Christ, without coverage of the trial and crucifixion found in full-scale Passion settings, so, the opening chorus of the first scene of Part 2 states ‘Behold the Lamb of God’. That title phrase is introduced in imitation by the orchestral parts and then by all the vocal parts in turn. The fourth note of the orchestral version is trilled, the bleating of a lamb, and as the voices have their entries at “Lamb” in every part there’s an orchestral instrument trilling. This creates a sensitive, suggestive backcloth where getting the voices to trill (no recording has ever done this) would risk bathos. I like Luks’ smoothness: the tone is undeniably tragic from the start and the intensity grows as the “Behold” entries cumulate. Before there has been any narrative of the events leading to it, we’re witnessing and reflecting on the crucifixion; that’s why Luks’ smooth approach is telling. Higginbottom’s is marred by the much stronger entry of the trebles than the other parts. Of course, they have the highest tessitura but also 15 voices to only 18 of the other parts in total. Musically there’s much to be said for Luks’ even balance of five voices per part. Handel’s first performance had 16 trebles and 28 in the other parts. Higginbottom’s balance creates a stark, cold edge to the proceedings, Luks gets more chorus empathy purely by revealing Handel’s lyricism.
Next, my significant items from Luks in Part 2. The countertenor aria ‘He was despised’, the longest in the work, makes a strong claim, particularly in the silence of desolation and abandonment created around its unaccompanied statements (CD2, tr. 2, 2:45) but overall, I feel Schachtner’s performance is one of impersonal observation rather than personal involvement. It was the latter feature that made Adam stand out for me in the tenor accompagnato ‘Thy rebuke has broken His heart’ and arioso ‘Behold and see if there be any sorrow’, Handel at his most lyrical delivered in an affectingly human, emotive manner, daringly sotto voce, only the arioso being specifically marked piano, but enhancing the expressiveness, as does the equally searching, empathic quality Luks brings out in the instrumental accompaniment. For Higginbottom, Spence is also expressive but with a generally more dramatic approach where Adam highlights key moments, thus missing Adam’s affecting intimacy.
Another telling swathe of softness from Luks at the end of the chorus ‘All we like sheep’ deserves a mention. There’s no dynamic marking, though the tempo changes from Allegro moderato to Adagio at “and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” This is, of course, the devastating moment of realisation in what is otherwise a pretty romping chorus, a refreshment, if you like, in the midst of all the Lenten stuff. And this Adagio passage is the music Handel composed for Messiah when he appropriated earlier Italian cantata material for the rest of the chorus. Higginbottom offers a tastefully shamefaced sorrow, but Luks’ decision to sing it in a manner which blends elegy, pity and guilt is the most effective ending I’ve ever heard. However, the beginning of Luks’ chorus is for me too nonchalant, which strikes me as more callous “iniquity” than Higginbottom’s enjoyable raunchiness: from Luks we get an almost scientific dissection of groups of individuals interacting in dance.
My second significant item is the bass aria, ‘Why do the nations so furiously rage together?’, the finest of Messiah’s three rage arias. Stražanac gives a terrific account of full-blooded drama while at the same time his light approach to the copious quaver runs means that they don’t get laboured. It’s a pity he goes a bit awry at the end by not following the Bärenreiter urtext in the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe 1965 edition by repeating “against the Lord” (tr. 18, 2:25) instead of continuing straightaway to “and His anointed”. This avoids a long melisma on “anointed” but destroys the intended emphasis on that word and leaves Stražanac creating a rather ugly glissando of an ornamentation at the end. For Higginbottom, Dougan more satisfactorily follows the urtext but elsewhere he and Higginbottom have less bite than Stražanac and Luks. I should clarify that immediately before this aria Luks uses Handel’s revised version of ‘How beautiful are the feet’ as a soprano aria (urtext No. 34a) with a central section ‘Their sound is gone out’ which means the chorus setting to that text (No. 35a) isn’t heard.
Finally, that closing ‘Hallelujah’ chorus. Luks starts light but frisky, almost the soft start which was an innovation in John Eliot Gardiner’s 1982 recording (Philips 4342972). There’s no dynamic marking in the score and Luks intelligently further exploits this by having a soft tutti at first, only bringing the timpani and trumpets louder at the ends of the tutti phrases, where Gardiner once he gets to the tuttis stays loud. Comparing Gardiner with Luks, I’m surprised how stodgy and squarely phrased Gardiner now sounds in comparison. Luks makes another sensible innovation: when the basses sing first “And he shall reign for ever and ever” (tr. 22, 1:24) they have an awkward minim trill on the second “ever” where the echoing other parts have a crotchet/dotted quaver/semiquaver. Luks has them singing the same rhythm as the others. My only disappointment is the famous trumpet solo (from 1:48), where a sustained note and here trill, an octave higher than the sopranos and altos, cascades down in semiquavers to meet the sopranos’ D. This cascade is a bit thrown away: Gardiner’s recording makes it emphatic, though it’s easier to make space for this in a studio recording.
The focus of Part 3 is on the Resurrection of Christ and its implications. It begins with the soprano aria ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth’, arguably the most serene of the work. Calm, yet with a firm momentum, Semenzato and Luks are quietly assured in voice and accompaniment, stylish but not overegged in ornamentation. For Higginbottom, treble Henry Jenkinson provides a purity of tone that brings a unique and moving quality to this aria, even if some of his trills display more technical proficiency than musicality. But is there a mismatch between the mature conviction of the text and the inescapable immaturity of the boy? Or should faith be like a child’s willingness to accept?
My second significant item from Part 3 is the chorus ‘Since by man came death’ which provides a striking contrast between the unaccompanied Grave setting of those words and the Allegro one with strings of “by man came also the resurrection of the dead”. Luks does this very effectively, in addition to tempo, contrasting dynamic, from very soft to loud, not explicitly marked but obvious, and contrasting manner from furtive, then aching, contemplation of mortality to celebration of immortality. Luks makes us confront in turn what we know to be true and what we hope and here avow to be true. Higginbottom’s opening phrase is a solemn statement, but without Luks’ sense of personal acknowledgment. In the second soft passage, “For as in Adam all die”, Luks produces a gradual crescendo from “die” and through the phrase’s repeat increases the intensity of awareness. The second responding passage, “even so in Christ shall all be made alive”, is then no longer a contrast in dynamic but rather a stark, disciplined conviction of burning declaration. Higginbottom dramatizes the second soft passage less, but is more emotive and thereby pitying. His second responding passage is a more exultant acclamation, exploiting to advantage his large body of trebles.
My third significant item is undoubtedly the most memorable of Part 3’s arias, the bass one, ‘The trumpet shall sound’ and the only aria in Messiah with an obbligato solo instrument. The marking is Pomposo, ma non allegro. Not pompous in today’s pejorative sense, but ceremonious, while the tempo modification suggests some swagger. Luks’ tempo is at least allegretto, which I like. It means he breezes through a piece which can get tedious, given that it’s supposed to be sunny and confident. Stražanac and Luks are certainly that, while Stražanac usually handles the long melismas with enviable assurance, except for the first on “chang’d”. Talking of changes, a number have been made, following and extending the editorial emendation of the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe which place the modern stress on the third syllable of “incorruptible” whereas Handel’s original stress is the second and partially fourth syllables. You can argue this either way: that it’s better to have the text immediately intelligible, or it’s nice to have it as Handel did, which also focusses on that specific word more. A recording that does the latter is Christopher Hogwood’s of 1979 (L’Oiseau-Lyre 4304882) which proves rhythmically more assured. Timing at 8:30, Hogwood takes this aria almost as fast as Luks’ 7:48, yet that slightly more measured approach gives the piece more majesty. Returning to Stražanac and Luks, particularly fine is the gazing, smiling reflectiveness of the central section (tr. 26, 3:35), albeit David Thomas in the Hogwood recording brings to this an appreciation of mystery. I like Thomas’ account for its forthrightness. With Stražanac and Luks, I wish there was less restraint. Stražanac does ornament a little more freely come the return of the first section, the solo trumpet not until the instrumental postlude. More would have been welcome and emphasised the joyous anticipation of this piece.
Ending Part 2, the Hallelujah Chorus is affirmation and celebration. Ending Part 3, ‘Worthy is the Lamb’ is more self-consciously summative: affirmation and monumental solemnity. Luks’ approach at the opening is similar as in the Hallelujah Chorus: he starts fairly quietly and gradually increases the impact of the timpani in the tuttis. I like that in the opening phrase the first violins’ and trumpets’ descant over the sopranos is gloriously apparent, but the second title statement, without trumpets, then sounds a bit uncertain because it is less fulsome: I think it would have been preferable to have kept it warm but noticeably softer and worshipful. Luks contrasts suitably the Largo title statement and Andante “to receive power, and riches” etc. and later Larghetto at “Blessing and honour, glory and power”, the latter particularly light and rhythmic. Here Luks achieves great clarity of individual vocal parts and their interplay with one another, yet in this process the sheer verve of the text for me becomes a mite distanced. Even when the tutti of that text comes (tr. 30, 2:37) and the timpani make their presence strongly felt, balance between chorus and orchestra is maintained without immediately a sense of the text becoming more charged, though the singing gradually becomes more vigorous. Higginbottom’s ubiquitous full-throated chorus proves a safer approach to interpretation. It illuminates the title text more and it remains fresh at its second statement through emphatic articulation, though at times the trebles are a touch ragged. With Luks, dynamic contrasts are happier in the closing ‘Amen’ chorus between quite soft, smooth legato opening, creating a rather intellectual, musing approach to the affirmation, and the sudden loud, elated acceptance of the tutti (tr. 31, 1:01) followed by flowing waves of melismas. Higginbottom prefers a crisper, more pointedly rhythmic approach from the outset which ensures throughout more brightness and clarity of part writing, yet I prefer Luks’ smoothness at the beginning.
I’d sum up Luks’ Messiah in one word: neatness. This isn’t faint praise: if you prefer, I could use the terms precision and immaculateness. His chorus singing and orchestral playing excels in this. However, on occasion, as noted, I feel that there could to advantage be a more spirited approach. Again, as noted, the soloists’ contributions are more variable, but include many fine items, too.
Michael Greenhalgh
