George Frederick HANDEL (1685-1759)
Messiah (1741) [2:22:19]
Bethany Hodges, Janine Ullyette (soprano); Andrea Saposnik, Sarah Bleasdale,
Robert Crowe (alto); Benjamin Brecher (tenor); James Martin, Robert McLoud
(bass)
Trinity Choir and Orchestra/Owen Burdick
rec. Trinity Church, Wall Street, New York, 5, 11-12 May 1996
text included
NAXOS 8.554511-12 [76:32 + 65:47]
At a time when recordings of Messiah can be had in apparently unending
quantities and in every possible approach you may be forgiven for wondering
what is the point in a recording which lacks any obvious stars or exciting
new approaches. That’s leaving aside the fact that it has taken nearly
fourteen years from recording to issue in Britain. I should say straight away
that this is unlikely to be an obvious first choice if you want only one version
in your collection. However, if you are prepared to take it on its own terms
its commanding merits nonetheless make it very much worth hearing.
The performance is built around Trinity Church Choir, made up of twenty-one
professional singers, eight of whom are also the soloists in this performance.
They are in every way technically the equal of the many European professional
choirs I have heard in this work, and have, above all, a very appealing quality
of freshness. Having recently greatly enjoyed their recording for Naxos of
all of Haydn’s Masses I was expecting that there would be a dancing quality
to their singing, and so there is. The liner-notes point out with understandable
pride that the first performance of Messiah in the New World took place
in Trinity Church in October 1770. That said, it is worth pointing out that
it does seem to have taken some time to get there, having been performed in
many parts of provincial England in the 1750s and 1760s. It was indeed one
of the first of Handel’s oratorios to be performed in a church or cathedral
rather than a secular venue. None of this is of great importance, however.
What matters is that Trinity Church Choir today - or at least in 1996 - are
obviously very much at home in the work and its idiom.
Any discussion of performances of Messiah has to start with the text
used, especially as the composer himself changed this according to the circumstances
of particular performances. For this reason it has become fashionable to copy
the text used in specific performances given by the composer. This performance
does not do this, indeed the choice of text is basically that once familiar
from Ebenezer Prout’s edition, albeit without his additional orchestration
and (optional) cuts. Thus we have “But who may abide” sung by a
bass (James Martin) but in the version that Handel wrote for alto, and the
4/4 version of “Rejoice greatly” rather than the earlier, and to
my mind much more effective, version in 12/8. The only real surprise - shock,
even - in the choice of edition comes at the start, where the first section
of the Overture is played very quietly by strings with single dots, but repeated
immediately loudly with oboes and bassoon and with the double-dotting which
most performers today prefer. Admittedly the choice of single or double dots
is one that still exercises scholars but to offer both in one performance is
unique in my experience. I have to say, however, that it is very effective
in forcing the listener straightaway to listen critically not only to what
is being performed but why. Throughout choices of tempo, articulation, decoration
(of which there is plenty, but not enough to obscure the basic text) and instrumentation
have clearly been thought through with great care. I had no sense that the
performers were simply giving their standard performance of a piece they know
all too well. On the contrary, they give the impression that everyone concerned
was discovering the work for the first time. As a result I, as listener, found
myself doing the same.
That does not mean that everything is perfect. Although the soloists are all
at the very least adequate to the task and avoid the use of heavy vibrato,
some are no more than that and lack the kind of individuality that one expects
from the soloists in this work. The orchestra (19 are listed compared with
21 in the choir) play well if not always with great beauty of tone or phrasing.
Although players are listed for the harpsichord and organ, and are indeed audible
for much of the time on those instruments, for some reason no audible continuo
filling-in is included in some arias, such as “If God be for us”.
This sounds odd at first but is not ineffective and does make an effective
contrast with the busier texture of the choruses. Tempi are generally well
chosen although I did find the “Amen” excessively slow.
As you will have gathered, this is not a recording that will appeal to everyone
or which is likely to displace established favourites. Nonetheless I enjoyed
listening to it immensely and can imagine myself returning to it after hearing
too many routine performances of this work. It is intelligent, carefully thought-out
and full of rhythmic bounce and life - these are qualities you should never
take for granted in musical performance and which are very welcome here.
John Sheppard