Handel: Messiah – Review

Drama, intensity and power held in check

Christchurch City Choir
Saturday 7 December 2024 – Christchurch Town Hall
Sarah-Jane Rennie – Soprano; Catrin Johnsson – Mezzo Soprano; Patrick Power – Tenor; Samuel McKeever – Bass
Christchurch Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: John Linker

​As the first notes of the Overture emerged from the orchestra I was struck by a sense of awe and anticipation as we were about to experience Handel’s great masterpiece.

Although I’m a late starter in appreciating Handel’s genius, he has now become one of my favourite composers. Beethoven considered him to be ‘the greatest composer of all time’, and Messiah has certainly become one of, if not ‘the’, most-performed works in the history of music. While Handel’s forty-two operas sank into oblivion, not a single one being performed for 150 years after his death, and his thirty-or-so other oratorios fairing almost as badly, Messiah survived, thrived and conquered the world. And, although his other stage works are now frequently performed and recorded, Messiah remains at the forefront of the Handel revival.

To a large extent tonight’s Christchurch City Choir performance realised the greatness of Handel’s creation with superbly refined singing from the choir and more than serviceable performances from the soloists. But the star of this performance was the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra with playing of consistent vitality, attention to detail and finesse. Thomas Eve’s solo trumpet in the Hallelujah Chorus deserves special mention for its flair, nuance, musicianship and dynamic contrast – a true highlight of the evening. The strings’ unwavering tonal splendour and Grant Bartley’s sparkling harpsichord contribution were the foundation of the performance, with oboe, bassoon, timpani and organ providing additional colour and contrast throughout the work’s duration.

While the vocal soloists were variable, the men certainly shone in their share of the arias. Patrick Power’s professional singing career must have surpassed fifty years by now, but his firmness of tone and easy projection of appealing tone-quality remain intact. If the voice didn’t always respond exactly as he might have wished, his sense of musical line and dramatic storytelling became an increasingly welcome feature of the performance.

Samuel McKeever’s big, comfortable bass sound sometimes blurred tonality and melodic shape, but his open-hearted presentation of recitatives was a notable strength. Sarah-Jane Rennie’s focused soprano added variety to the vocal line-up without quite communicating the poise and emotional punch of her solos, while Catrin Johnsson’s warm-toned mezzo was far too under-powered and tonally inconsistent to realise the heart-rending pathos of her great Part II aria He was Despised.

But this was primarily a Christchurch City Choir event in the tradition of the English choral societies which developed on the heels of Handel’s oratorios, especially Messiah. Tonight, however, we returned to something closer to the expressive intimacy of Handel’s own time. The choir’s opening chorus And the Glory of the Lord was an uplifting start to their contribution. However, by the time we reached their next turn, And He Shall Purify, a sense of well-trained and fine-toned restraint seemed to have taken over so that the drama and storytelling failed to register. The same was the case later in For Unto Us a Child is Born, where the joy and excitement of lines like “and His Name shall be called wonderful, councillor” conveyed a rather subdued sense of awe and wonder or, as W. S. Gilbert might have said, “modified rapture”.

After the interval, in Part II, the choir seemed to have revived its spirits somewhat, so that the opening Behold the Lamb of God had some real drama which carried through to the three successive choruses culminating in the dancing and delightful All We Like Sheep.

The great Hallelujah! chorus was magnificent and, although the performers were suddenly hidden from my view by the tiresomely distracting tradition of the audience in front of me standing, I revelled in the radiance of the choral and orchestral sound and in Handel’s gloriously uplifting layers of joy and exultation.

In his introduction in the programme notes, conductor John Linker talks about his choir looking forward to “an opportunity to refine this work further and produce even greater artistic expression.”  ‘Refinement’ was definitely achieved throughout the evening by both choir and orchestra. Linker directed his forces with clarity and nuanced shaping of phrase and dynamic contrast. For me, though, it was perhaps somewhat too controlled and shaped. It wasn’t until we reached the final peroration of the Amen chorus (starting with just the soloists – a variant that I’m not familiar with) that Linker encouraged his singers to give us, as Francis Yapp’s programme note promised us, “drama, intensity, and power”. And that, predictably, brought the audience to its feet.

I’m glad that Messiah remains a staple of pre-Christmas music-making in Christchurch and, although it’s a very long time since I last attended a live performance of this great work, I’m grateful for the opportunity of experiencing tonight’s reunion.

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