Handel's Messiah at Benaroya Hall
What a difference a year makes. Last time out, Seattle Symphony, Chorus and soloists staged one of the best versions of Handel’s Messiah I have ever heard. With guest conductor Christian Knapp at the helm, the piece was alive, visceral and thrilling. This year, however, with Gerard Schwarz on the podium, the results were decidedly different.
I’m quite a fan of Messiah. Besides being a fine piece, it has a great story behind it. No, not the life of Jesus, who it’s supposed to be about, but rather that of Handel himself. Faced with changing public tastes, mounting debts and a bleak future, Handel locked himself up with a hodge-podge of Bible verses from both testaments culled by the rather eccentric George Jennens, a frequent collaborator back when the composer was far more successful. Borrowing heavily from his own music and works of others, Handel finished the sprawling work in the near-record time of three weeks. Its premiere took place in Dublin in April of 1742. Its unlikely success was immediate and Handel was once again back in business, where he remained until he died in 1759. To this day, Messiah remains the most frequently performed and most popular oratorio of all time.
Although the piece features the famous “Hallelujah” Chorus, there’s much more to it than that. Unfortunately, most conductors aim for that as the work’s most exciting moment. Gerard Schwarz was one of those conductors. Sure, a stirring “Hallelujah” Chorus is nice, but taking that approach ignores so many other great moments. That fact was brought home by Knapp last year in a very decisive way. This year the piece lacked panache, energy and vigor. It wasn’t poorly performed, although at certain points the orchestra struggled with tempo and intonation issues (especially in the low strings), it was merely that all players, singers and soloists seemed so tentative and even a bit timid under Schwarz’s baton. True, he has an unconventional style; he doesn’t conduct in the tried-and-true metronomic style, but rather shapes the music from the podium. There’s nothing wrong with that if the music comes alive under his touch. But I’ve found that either by technique or force of personality or some other unknown factor, he possesses an uncanny ability to suck the life out of many a piece. His rendition of Messiah was no exception. There simply wasn’t anything special about the piece. It was performed blandly and safely and was therefore quite disappointing. For all I know, perhaps the safe approach is favored by the vast majority of concertgoers, but I’d rather have the piece jump out at me and grab me by the throat, as it did last year. This time around, it simply lacked spirit.
Three of the four soloists performed capably, although alto soloist, Sarah Heltzel’s low register was weak. She’s a mezzo-soprano by trade and that’s become one of my pet peeves over the years; get an alto to sing the alto part. Heck, hire a countertenor! But I’ve heard too many mezzos who whisper through the low notes in this piece. Get a voice that fits the part, I’m beggin’ ya! With that said, I have to mention that the standout among the soloists was tenor Robert McPherson. I guess his general category would be Irish tenor. His tone was clear and bright and he had an excellent nuanced style. He was an ideal choice for this piece.
Well, so much for Messiah ’08. If it hadn’t been for last year’s kick-ass performance, I’d probably have many better things to say about this year’s outing. But I’ve always felt that this work requires a special touch to distinguish it from thousands of other performances around the world. I didn’t feel that this rendition had it.
53d8b7b7-c2af-4229-84c4-889f1b223e69|5|4.8
