Handel & Haydn keeps 'Messiah' fresh
Handel & Haydn Society
Grant Llewellyn, music director
At: Symphony Hall yesterday afternoon (repeats Friday night and next Sunday afternoon)
The Handel & Haydn Society delivered a splendid performance of Handel's ''Messiah" yesterday afternoon. H&H has been performing the world's most popular oratorio annually for 152 years, and many musicians on the stage this year have been playing or singing the work for decades. But there were some newcomers, too, which is a good way of keeping this evergreen fresh.
Music director Grant Llewellyn has experienced ''Messiah" as a singer, cellist, and conductor. He traced a compelling path between old-fashioned traditions and modern discoveries about how Handel was performed in his own time.
Much of the performance was light and lithe in the historically informed way, yet he ended Part II (''His burden is light") with a grand 19th-century ritard. The orchestra played handsomely for him, with a lot of attention to dynamics and detail. Llewellyn added a touch of theater in the angels' chorus, ''Glory to God" -- the trumpets played antiphonally from the balcony. The expert continuo players were harpsichordist Michael Beattie, organist Michael Sponseller, bassoonist Thomas Sefcovic, cellist Sarah Freiberg, and Robert Nairn on string bass. Trumpeter Jesse Levine met the challenge of ''The trumpet shall sound" with confidence.
The 32-voice chorus, which includes a number of locally prominent solo singers, had the tonal weight for crying out ''Wonderful counselor, the mighty God" and ''Hallelujah" and ''Amen," and the agility to dance through ''And He shall purify" and ''All we like sheep." And they sang the words as if they meant them.
There was a strong team of soloists, too. Eritrean soprano Awet Andemichael, an alumna of Harvard (and its University Choir), has an unusual, bright timbre with a pretty clang in it, as well as a vivid musical personality. Her coloratura in ''Rejoice greatly" was quick, clean, and silvery, although she hasn't quite figured out how to pace herself through the sustained singing in ''I know that my Redeemer liveth." Like most mezzos, Krista River (a former H&H chorister) found the low-lying alto part a bit tricky, and ornamented her way upward whenever she could; she might sing the soprano solos with greater ease. But her beauty of timbre and musicianship and eloquence of utterance stood her in good stead.
Tenor Nathan Granner offered some old-style oratorio singing, with plenty of rolling r's. His voice is vibrant and flexible, and he sings with fire. Baritone Kevin Short was rock solid, whether he was ricocheting through rapid triplets or vying with the trumpet in long-held tones. He chose to sing on two dynamic levels, however, loud and louder.
The program note was unhelpfully silent on the question of what version of the score Llewellyn was using. The surprises this time were an alternate version of the bass's ''For He is like a refiner's fire" and a duet for soprano and mezzo in ''How beautiful are the feet." Surprises are always welcome in this beloved work because so much of it is so powerfully and reassuringly familiar.
