Radu's 'Hallelujah' was fast without seeming rushed.
BY: Steve Cohen (Broad Street Review) - 01.04.2013
Who’s the fairest Messiah of them all?
Some singers and listeners prefer a weepy approach to the Messiah story— which, of course, includes a section about Jesus’s crucifixion. Yet if you believe in a proactive God who chose to have his son executed, for a purpose, then why feel sad? God’s will was done, and his act should be praised.
I heard four Messiahs this holiday season. Three were respectably devout; only one was exciting.
The Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Pittsburgh Symphony performances were conventionally reverent, with sizeable orchestras and choruses. The differences among these three were mainly a matter of which solo vocalists you preferred.
Vox Ama Deus, on the other hand, gave a distinctive performance that used smaller forces, early instruments and 18th-Century performing practices. This approach produced more effervescence and joy.
Under its musical director, Valentin Radu, Vox Ama Deus seeks to recreate music in the style of its time, using performance practices that the composer intended. Consequently, the Vox Ama Deus version differed from its conve
Lower key
1. The orchestra numbered 30 musicians and the chorus contained 45 singers. In the Romantic era, those numbers were commonly doubled or tripled to achieve grandeur. (Actually, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s group is much reduced now from a few years ago.)
2. Vox Ama Deus played and sang in a lower key— the pitch that was used in Handel’s time: half-a-tone below what’s common now.
3. Tempi were faster and brisker. Later, when Messiah was performed in cavernous halls and in cathedrals, with reverberation, conductors slowed the tempi to enhance the clarity for the listeners.
Big trumpet, little trumpet trumpets
4. Vox Ama Deus used Baroque instruments. Its strings were gut, not steel, and its oboes lacked keys. Their sound was sweeter and mellower. The ensemble included a theorbo—a long-necked, lute-like instrument— and two trumpets, one of them longer than today’s, the other a short Bach-style trumpet, less than half the normal size and producing a brilliant high tone.
5. Vox Ama Deus used period vocal style, with ornamentation added by Radu and the singers. In Handel’s day vocalists were expected to embellish vocal works by improvising cadenzas near the end of each song.
6. Ama Deus performed a longer version of Messiah. Handel wrote three sections: The birth of Jesus, his death, then his Resurrection. (Messiah actually was premiered on Good Friday of 1742; only later did it become associated with Christmas.)
Missing sections
The Philadelphia Orchestra and the other big orchestras omitted three sections in Part Two and four in Part Three. I especially missed the soprano aria, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” that should be heard just before the final chorus.
We can forgive these large orchestras for their deviations from Messiah; after all, Handel often made revisions himself in order to accommodate different singers at various performances. But I can’t help wondering: Do the large organizations choose shorter versions for artistic reasons, or to reduce their overtime pay?
Radu— drawing on his studies with Nicholas Harnoncourt, a pioneer conductor of period-style performances— took the “Hallelujah” chorus rapidly, even more so than Helmuth Rilling, who led the New York Philharmonic’s performance (and who owns good credentials in early music). Rilling’s “Hallelujah” took three minutes, 42 seconds, and Sir Neville Marriner took 3:47 with the Pittsburgh Symphony. (I wasn’t able to time the Philadelphia Orchestra.)
By contrast, Radu’s “Hallelujah” lasted 3:16 without sounding rushed. Rather, it was sprightly— a joyful holler rather than a hymn.
Lost in Verizon
With Goodwin conducting a reduced Philadelphia Orchestra, we heard leaner instrumental textures than in decades past. Karina Gauvin, soprano, and Diana Moore, mezzo, were excellent soloists. Tenor John Tessier was more problematic. His light lyric voice didn’t carry well in the large Verizon Hall, and he used old-fashioned formal English enunciations. A more conversational approach would make the drama more relevant.
The Ama Deus soloists comprised a well-matched quartet, including Andrea Lauren Brown, soprano; Jody Kidwell, alto; Timothy Bentch, tenor; and Ed Bara, bass. All of them handled the trills and other technical tricks while communicating the text commendably.
Vox Ama Deus has issued a recording of Messiah that includes the world-famous Julianne Baird as soprano soloist. I recommend it highly.
BY: Steve Cohen (Broad Street Review) - 01.04.2013
Who’s the fairest Messiah of them all? Some singers and listeners prefer a weepy approach to the Messiah story— which, of course, includes a section about Jesus’s crucifixion. Yet if you believe in a proactive God who chose to have his son executed, for a purpose, then why feel sad? God’s will was done, and his act should be praised.
I heard four Messiahs this holiday season. Three were respectably devout; only one was exciting.
Vox Ama Deus, on the other hand, gave a distinctive performance that used smaller forces, early instruments and 18th-Century performing practices. This approach produced more effervescence and joy.
Under its musical director, Valentin Radu, Vox Ama Deus seeks to recreate music in the style of its time, using performance practices that the composer intended. Consequently, the Vox Ama Deus version differed from its conve
Lower key
1. The orchestra numbered 30 musicians and the chorus contained 45 singers. In the Romantic era, those numbers were commonly doubled or tripled to achieve grandeur. (Actually, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s group is much reduced now from a few years ago.)
2. Vox Ama Deus played and sang in a lower key— the pitch that was used in Handel’s time: half-a-tone below what’s common now.
3. Tempi were faster and brisker. Later, when Messiah was performed in cavernous halls and in cathedrals, with reverberation, conductors slowed the tempi to enhance the clarity for the listeners.
Big trumpet, little trumpet trumpets
4. Vox Ama Deus used Baroque instruments. Its strings were gut, not steel, and its oboes lacked keys. Their sound was sweeter and mellower. The ensemble included a theorbo—a long-necked, lute-like instrument— and two trumpets, one of them longer than today’s, the other a short Bach-style trumpet, less than half the normal size and producing a brilliant high tone.
5. Vox Ama Deus used period vocal style, with ornamentation added by Radu and the singers. In Handel’s day vocalists were expected to embellish vocal works by improvising cadenzas near the end of each song.
6. Ama Deus performed a longer version of Messiah. Handel wrote three sections: The birth of Jesus, his death, then his Resurrection. (Messiah actually was premiered on Good Friday of 1742; only later did it become associated with Christmas.)
Missing sections
The Philadelphia Orchestra and the other big orchestras omitted three sections in Part Two and four in Part Three. I especially missed the soprano aria, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” that should be heard just before the final chorus.
We can forgive these large orchestras for their deviations from Messiah; after all, Handel often made revisions himself in order to accommodate different singers at various performances. But I can’t help wondering: Do the large organizations choose shorter versions for artistic reasons, or to reduce their overtime pay?
Radu— drawing on his studies with Nicholas Harnoncourt, a pioneer conductor of period-style performances— took the “Hallelujah” chorus rapidly, even more so than Helmuth Rilling, who led the New York Philharmonic’s performance (and who owns good credentials in early music). Rilling’s “Hallelujah” took three minutes, 42 seconds, and Sir Neville Marriner took 3:47 with the Pittsburgh Symphony. (I wasn’t able to time the Philadelphia Orchestra.)
By contrast, Radu’s “Hallelujah” lasted 3:16 without sounding rushed. Rather, it was sprightly— a joyful holler rather than a hymn.
Lost in Verizon
With Goodwin conducting a reduced Philadelphia Orchestra, we heard leaner instrumental textures than in decades past. Karina Gauvin, soprano, and Diana Moore, mezzo, were excellent soloists. Tenor John Tessier was more problematic. His light lyric voice didn’t carry well in the large Verizon Hall, and he used old-fashioned formal English enunciations. A more conversational approach would make the drama more relevant.
The Ama Deus soloists comprised a well-matched quartet, including Andrea Lauren Brown, soprano; Jody Kidwell, alto; Timothy Bentch, tenor; and Ed Bara, bass. All of them handled the trills and other technical tricks while communicating the text commendably.
Vox Ama Deus has issued a recording of Messiah that includes the world-famous Julianne Baird as soprano soloist. I recommend it highly.