Handel: Messiah
Hilary Cronin (soprano), Helen Charlston (mezzo) et al; Irish Baroque Orchestra & Choir/Peter Whelan
Linn Records CKD761 128:26
Handel’s librettist, Charles Jennens, saw Messiah as a fine entertainment. It is very much in this spirit that Peter Whelan directs his performance which, mostly following today’s version, nevertheless features some divergences.
These are related to Messiah’s first performance in Dublin, in April 1742. Whelan has based his vocal and instrumental colloquia on what Handel had at his disposal on that momentous occasion, and attempts to evoke its intimacy.
My spirits were uplifted almost throughout the recording. A current of gentle zephyrs refreshes every bar of the music and is conspicuously so in the excellence of the strings of the Irish Baroque Orchestra under its leader Colin Scobie.
The lightly articulated bowing and lively responses to textual nuance are a constant delight, as is the transparency of texture. The searing bow-strokes of the recitative, ‘All they that see him’, is but one instance of the ensemble’s puissance.
Complementing the instrumental vitality is the invigorating choral singing, which disperses the sponge-fingered lethargy and overblown sounds of some traditional performances. The chorus ‘Let us break their bonds’ exudes declamatory energy and the concluding ‘Amen’ is a tour de force.
The solo vocal group is by-and-large a strong one, with especially pleasing contributions from soprano Hilary Cronin – her ‘Rejoice greatly’, and ‘I know that my redeemer liveth’ are all that I could wish for – and mezzo Helen Charlston – ‘He was despised’ is luminous and compassionate.
Countertenors Alexander Chance and Nathan Mercieca make a persuasive case for Handel’s duet version of ‘How beautiful are the feet’, while tenor Guy Cutting and bass-baritones Frederick Long and Edward Grint offer eloquent and stylish declamation. An informative essay by Barra Boydell sets the seal on Whelan’s fast-moving sequence of tableaux.
