By Philippa Kiraly
This time of year, we hear Handel’s “Messiah” sung in myriad venues with forces of all sizes and professional levels, but we rarely hear it done as Handel himself was apt to hear it, as in its initial performance in Dublin in 1742.
Thanks to The Tudor Choir and Seattle Baroque Orchestra who have joined once more to perform it, we heard it again Saturday night as it might have been performed then, and in a place, Town Hall, of somewhat similar size to the New Music-Hall in Fishamble Street, Dublin.
With an orchestra of 19, a chorus of 15, and four soloists plus a conductor, The Tudor Choir’s Doug Fullington, it could have been thought beforehand that this would be a thin, sparse performance.
Far from it. This was exciting, rich, warm, full of vitality and emotion. The performers sang or played their hearts out, notably the two tenors front and center of the chorus, one of whom was doing double duty and singing bass as well when he could fit it in.
Even Handel’s use of operatic soloists came in. All those singing in this performance were young opera singers with burgeoning careers, three of them graduates of Seattle Opera’s Young Artist Program while the fourth, bass-baritone Douglas Williams, studied music at New England Conservatory and acting with Shakespeare & Company. Williams has a fine deep bass but he seemed not quite at home in his first solos, though he became more convincing later on.
Handel’s sopranos were a feisty lot, given to demanding their own way, and soprano soloist Robyn Driedger-Klassen fit right in here. She used a dramatic approach to her arias and recitatives which, while exciting in the account of the angels’ appearance to the shepherds, was not always appropriate in later arias and became tiresome. She has developed a vibrato which seems uncontrollable, and this was out of sync with the rest of the instrumentalists and singers who used it only slightly or as an ornament. However, she was the singer who connected eye to eye with the audience, telling a story.
Tenor Wesley Rogers and mezzo-soprano Sarah Mattox have both fulfilled their promise as Young Artists and made excellent soloists here, singing with feeling and style. Mattox’s voice has mellowed and become richer, losing some rough edges. She was a pleasure to hear, despite singing mostly to her score and rarely raising her eyes to communicate with the audience. In a venue like Town Hall, this shows.
The orchestra, led by violinist and music director Ingrid Matthews, balanced the chorus with equal verve and the fine togetherness and attention to detail we’ve come to expect from Seattle Baroque. Ornamentation in both singers and orchestra was free and in the period. Special kudos must go to Kris Kwapis, who must be the only trumpeter in town playing the obbligato parts this season on a valveless trumpet, a treacherous, difficult instrument she has clearly mastered.
The chorus sounded superb. I can’t imagine singing three hours of “Messiah” and then repeating it the next day, but it sounded as fresh and vigorous at the end Saturday night as it did at the beginning. All the words were clear throughout, another bonus of a small group in a small venue, as was the opportunity really to hear the inner voices. I’ve never heard so much of “Messiah’s” tenor and alto lines as I did here. In many choirs these two sections are often the least heard, the alto because it is less bright than the soprano, the tenors because there are often fewer of them. Fullington, whose conducting has in the past sometimes produced a blandly gorgeous sound, drew forth music anything but bland here.
All in all, this was a performance to savor. Let’s hope Seattle Baroque and The Tudor Choir join again for this at Town Hall next year.
