Avery Fisher
Hall at Lincoln Center. Orchestra 2 Left
(Seat S8, $62.50).
Program
Messiah (1741)
by Handel (1685-1759).
Artists
Camilla Tilling,
soprano; Iestyn Davies, countertenor; Michael Slattery, tenor; James Westman,
baritone; Conner Tsui, boy soprano.
Westminster
Symphonic Choir, Joe Miller, director.
Continuo: Carter
Brey, cello; Max Zeugner, bass; Kim Laskowski, bassoon; Daniel Swenberg,
theorbo; Matthew Muckey, trumpet; Gary Thor Wedow, virginal; Paolo Bordignon,
harpsichord; Kent Tritle, organ.
CS suggested
this concert as Max will be the principal bass in this series. We quickly agreed even though we got back
from Asia only a few days ago and we do plan on attending a New Jersey Symphony
one this Sunday; that we could get some discount via Travelzoo helped.
With the day
billed as a gridlock alert day, CS and Shirley came by a little after 4 pm to
drive into the city. Traffic was exceptionally
good, naturally, and we got to the West Side at around 5:30 pm. Looking back on my blog entry for last year,
the same thing happened! Perhaps they
should declare gridlock alert more often so only the intrepid would drive on
the streets of New York.
In any case,
that allowed us enough time to have dinner at Fiorello’s, and for me to pick up
the tickets and do some ticket exchanges at the Met.
One would think
I would be an expert on Messiah as I have heard it many times in concert and
have on occasion sung some selections as a choir member. I may or may not be an expert, but I still
learned a few things this time around.
While there is no surprise there are many editions of the score, and
indeed Handel himself made several, today’s calls for a countertenor (instead
of an alto) and a boy soprano. In the
continuo section there is this instrument called a theorbo (most people would
simply call that a lute.) Another
instrument listed is the virginal. A
search of the web says it is a harpsichord-like instrument, and the artist
listed next to it is Wedow the conductor.
I didn’t see the instrument, and didn’t see the conductor performing on
it. The concert (with intermission)
lasted close to 2 hours 45 minutes, about 15 minutes longer than the one we
heard last year. The libretto in the
Program Notes contains markings for Part and Scene, which greatly helped make
sense of the choice of scripture.
All the
mechanics aside, my overall assessment of tonight’s concert was one of
disappointment. Early into the program,
it was already evident that Wedow was going to be very deliberate in the
approach. A less charitable adjective
would be timid. (That may account for a
good deal of the extra 15 minutes.)
While the reduced dynamic range may well be a “period” interpretation of
how Messiah was played in Handel’s time, I doubt deliberate ritardandos
were used very much at that time. It
could well be Wedow got it right, but this performance in so many ways
different from what I (and most people, no doubt) think Messiah should sound, that the changes just sounded unnatural.
The soloists got
the job done, but except for a burst of energy here or there, their performance
was unremarkable. Although Handel wrote
a lot of countertenor parts in his operas (Julius Caesar comes to mind), this
was my first encounter with one in Messiah.
Davies’ rendition sounded a bit forced.
I remember being very impressed with Slattery when he sang Britten’s
Serenade on one day’s notice; today he wasn’t at all
exceptional. The air “I know that my
redeemer liveth” is one of the defining moments in the oratorio, Tilling mostly
muddled through it. Westman was
generally okay, but his baritone voice sounded weak at the lower notes. Tsui as the boy soprano had only a few lines,
in this case perhaps showing up (at 11 years old) is remarkable enough.
All these
criticisms would turn into praises if it were not for the fact that this was a
New York Philharmonic concert, and that I have heard much better from them
before. And overall, I was quite happy
to have attended this concert; after all is said and done, it was still
performed by a group of accomplished artists at a high level of expertise.
This coming
Sunday I will be doing this all over again, this time with New Jersey Symphony
at NJPAC.
No comments:
Post a Comment