Above : Conductor Brett Weymark.
Handel’s Messiah as presented this Christmas by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs is a thrilling dramatic offering for both those experiencing the oratorio for the first time or for audience members who have been in love with the experience for many years.
In this performance Handel’s huge body of music setting biblical text to follow the life, death and afterlife of the Christian Saviour reaches us with amazing freshness, momentum and renewed drama.
Led with commanding brilliance by conductor Brett Weymark , the four soloists and amalgamated choir of hundreds speak of the prophecies and concepts surrounding Christ’s sacrifice with vital, engaging and believable dramatic expression.
This compelling work, written by Handel in less than a month, gets of to a rocketing start in this version. Very swift tempo choices characterised instrumental and vocal movements in Part One especially. The music and prophecies being dealt with by soloists and choir groups were so well articulated and enunciated that these choices of speed proved themselves to be more than manageable.
Choral fireworks result from the first chorus ‘And the Glory of the Lord’ with final declamations from the huge tutti choir. The wall of sound in subsequent moments is well balanced considering the volume of voices. Right throughout this work the music moves in a joyous forward arrow through the anticipation and emotion of the Christian story.
The four soloists keep the narrative tension alive in superbly wrought recitatives, arias and duets. Tenor Andrew Goodwin’s ‘Comfort Ye’ set the tone of the redemption tale with solid statements and what was to be a reliably fine narrative tone for him throughout.
Bass-baritone soloist Christopher Richardson delivers biblical sentiment from anticipation, doom and hope with commanding presence. His ‘The People Who Walked in Darkness’ in Part One is effectively shaped. His later ‘The Trumpet Shall Sound’ is a memorable moment in this version.
Above : Alto soloist, countertenor Nicholas Tolputt.
Countertenor Nicholas Tolputt and soprano Celeste Lazerenko both adorn this Christmas performance of the famous oratorio in every turn with surprisingly beautiful melodic elaboration.
This pair of higher voices dazzle us in this reading of Handel’s score whenever they decorate the stage. They recount this drama with such a breathtaking range of performance practice, projection and colour. For me they are brilliantly cast and bright stars on the top of an already exciting Christmas event.
The combination of vocal resources from four choral groups, namely Sydney Philharmonia Choir, VOX, River City Voices and the massed Christmas Choir, were well blended to deliver choral music
of quite spine tingling nuance and programmatic excellence.
Ground breaking choices to divide and combine the choral group or harness all voices at once depending on drama or intimacy of the text always succeeded here. This novel approach supplies us with dynamics and variation of vocal timbre rarely heard in so many performances or recordings .
The gentle easing us into the final ‘Amen’ section with solo voices on each part is also a master expressive stroke to treasure in this version. A recording of such structuring and choral music with such artistry and finesse would make a formidable and marketable new recording of this oratorio.
A beautiful choral moment is heard in the lilting and gentle ‘Behold The Lamb of God’ to open Part Two. This is in exciting contrast to bold chorus statements such as ‘Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs’ or the later rejoicing in inspiring swoops that form the performance of the mighty ‘Worthy Is The Lamb’.
Above : soprano soloist Celeste Lazerenko.
The ‘Hallelujah!’ is a fresh and virtuosically variegated event in this current interpretation. It highlights the immense power of all instrumentalists and voices assembled. It also showcased the trail-blazing nature of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and the absolute well-paced energy of this performance guided by Brett Weymark, who shaped the popular chorus with pleasing new intimacies, avoiding cliched over singing with the large choir.
This chorus easily brought the modern audience from the edge of their seats to their feet as it hurtled in cleverly shaped stages to a triumphant conclusion of Part Two.The resounding audience standing ovation following Part Three had trumpets, drums, angels and raised heads and hearts all around the venue.
This reaction also approached something of the euphoria heard in a sports stadium. Such is just the atmosphere of hope this country needs now. Perhaps this could inspire an environment within which public and political approaches to the Arts ‘could all be changed’ as we enter the end of a decade and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ 100th year in 2020.