Richardson Auditorium, Princeton, NJ. (Seat M5, $40).
Program
Messiah (1741)
by Handel (1685-1759).
Artists
Margot Rood, soprano; Reginald Mobley, countertenor;
Steven Soph, tenor; Charles Wesley Evans, baritone.
Montclair State University Singers, Heather J. Buchanan,
director.
Yes, this was the second time this season I went to a Messiah
performance. And I enjoyed it as much as
the one a couple of days ago, even though the two performances differed in several
aspects.
The first one was the size of the hall. David Geffen Hall has a capacity of about
2750, while Richardson Auditorium is much small at 900 (both numbers from
Wikipedia, I had thought Richardson sat about 1200.) Row M is 13 rows from the stage, and the
entire orchestra section has all of 15 rows.
So it was a much more intimate performance, perhaps closer to the way
Handel intended it (I haven’t done the research.)
That would also mean the singers (both soloists and
chorus members) didn’t have to strain their voices so much, and consequently I
didn’t get the sense they were tired after the intermission.
There must be more than enough competent singers at Montclair
State, with a student population of about 25,000. But it is not Westminster Choir College where
every student is a music major, many of whom in voice- and choral-related
disciplines. Westminster, being better
known, probably gets recruited by well-known revenues more than Montclair –
indeed they sang with the Philadelphia Orchestra before singing with the New
York Phil. One gets the feeling the
Montclair folks sing with more urgency and freshness, even though they may not
sound as smooth or dynamic as Westminster.
If one can get past that, one can sense – and enjoy – the urgency that
is exhibited by the Montclair singers.
Having said that, there were some instances that I take
issue with how the chorus went about its singer. One example was the heavy emphasis on some
notes in “For we like sheep;” it felt like they went with mf-mp couplets.
Also, many chorus numbers had the four soloists sing
parts as quartets. I noticed at least
three places, such as “Since by man came death …” I don’t know the reasons that went into that
decision, but suppose it both gave the soloists more “air time” as well as let
the chorus skip over some of the more difficult passages. Perhaps this has happened before, but this
was the first time I noticed it.
With his first voice appearance, he tenor Steven Soph
certainly set a high standard for the other three to follow. He had great control of his phrasing, seemed
able to hold his breath for a long time, and sang with a very pleasant voice to
boot. While the other soloists didn’t quite
measure up, they came close. Margot Rood’s
voice at first sounded a bit unrefined, but it grew on the audience. Her rendition of “I know that my Redeemer
liveth” had Wyrick standing for the violin accompaniment; it worked very
well. The countertenor Reginald Mobley has
a refined sounding voice, but he didn’t quite sing with the heft that would make
some of the numbers more memorable. I do
wonder how he would sound in a larger hall (the Newark Cathedral, for
instance.) Bass Charles Wesley Evans had
a nice duet with the trumpet when he sang “The trumpet shall sound.” The trumpet sounded great, and I need to find out who it was.
Patrick Dupre Quigley led the orchestra and the chorus
with precision. At the conclusion of the
concert Heather Buchanan went on stage and the artists received one of the
heartiest applauses I have seen from a New Jersey crowd. Buchanan was sitting in front of us, and we
could see how tense she was, sometimes nodding her head, sometimes shaking it. I do think someone should start a petition to
have her conduct the oratorio one of these years. I, for one, think she can do a great job with
it.
From left to right: tenor Steven Soph, countertenor Reginald Mobley, baritone Charles Wesley Evans, soprano, conductor Patrick Dupre Quigley (on podium), Heather Buchanan, and trumpeteer.
While attendance was good, I still wish more people would
discover and appreciate these local institutions.
Traffic was not bad heading down, but I had a bit of
trouble finding off-street parking. We
still had time for a quick meal at Mamoun’s before the concert. Returning home was quite straightforward.
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