Following
on from our recent forays into more cultural performances which included
Northern Opera's Faust, Jess and I forwent the Saturday TV offerings of
X-Factor and Jungle shenanigans and plumped instead for Darlington Choral
Society's rendition of Handel's most impressive works - The Messiah.
Staged
in the Great Hall at Darlington's Dolphin Centre, the scene was set with an
impressive chorus gallery, a substantial orchestra (Handel designed his Messiah
to be very flexible in terms of musical accompaniment) and four leads who are
well known and renowned throughout the North East.
For
those who are unfamiliar with the full works, Handel wrote this in only 24
days, yet his almost constant rewriting and rearranging means it is doubtful
whether he actually lived to hear his 'perfect' version performed. In the
Christian tradition, the figure of the "Messiah" or redeemer is
identified with the person of Jesus, known by his followers as the Christ.
Handel's Messiah has been described as a commentary on [Jesus
Christ's] Nativity, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension, beginning with God's
promises as spoken by the prophets and ending with Christ's glorification in
heaven. The singers in the Messiah do not assume dramatic roles as
they would in a traditional opera, in fact Handel wrote this with no
intention to dramatise the life and teachings of Jesus Christ but more to
proclaim the mystery of Godliness. To this end, the lead performers have
perhaps the hardest tasks; they must portray the awe-inspiring essence of
the text being sung without a character in which to ground their delivery.
The
acoustics in the great hall were surprisingly good, especially when you
consider this is not a purpose built theatrical arena. There is no
natural stage and the audience sit flat to the performers (who were afforded a
few feet of elevation with a small platform) yet the sound was clear, carried
perfectly to the rear of the hall and, when needed, filled the huge ceiling
perfectly.
Throughout
many of his compositions, Handel loved to exaggerate the differences between
the sopranos and the tenors/bass; he regularly used this to give his works depth
and illustrate conflicts between opposing views and this is very clearly seen
in his Messiah - pre and post birth, old and new beliefs, evangelists and
non-believers are all given their own parts to play.
Rachel
Orr and Marie Elliott as Soprano and Mezzo Soprano delivered the most beautiful
of arias which cut through the night air like the most elegant of crystal glass
being drawn by a whetted finger - closing ones eyes transported you back to the
late 1700's, sat in a guild hall with the nations finest of
dignitaries, breath held and hearts stilled as if waiting for the
bestowing of manna from heaven. Their performances dutifully
delivered the evangelistic proclamations of His followers with angel's voices
rejoicing greatly.
Tyler
Clark and Arthur Berwick, as Tenor and Bass, were thus left to counter the
ladys' unbridled optimism with the more threatening side of Him reserved for
the non-believers and scorners. The richness of their voices seemed to
seep into the panelled walls as though their vocal chords were made of honeyed
oak and yet they were both able to maintain the undercurrent of threat needed
to portray the fear of complete power He holds. It's safe to say that
Handel really knew how to put his male parts through the performing
mill - in particular his aria's written for bass regularly take one single
phrase and demand 5 minutes of total vocal gymnastics which, without a
character profile and no on stage acting means the performer is left naked save
for his voice.
Of
course, no performance of Handel's Messiah is complete without the chorus, used
in the main to highlight the collective voice of the people as they begin to
evangelise His coming and most memorably for the Hallelujah Chorus at the end
of act 2. There were approximately 50 people in the choir for this
performance but at times the power and majesty of their delivery suggested
hundreds. The tapestry of sound which was woven by their fabulous
voices is testament to the musical direction of Richard Bloodworth who
cleverly positioned and directed the choir into performing multiple layers
of delivery which all combined to create an enveloping blanket of sound.
Handel
composed his Messiah in 1741 at a time very different from now but listening to
Darlington Choral Society's performance last night was like stepping into a
time capsule and being transported to the back of an 18th century Royal
Palace . Wonderful !
