Making Handel\u2019s Messiah a major occasion \u2014 rather than a mere Christmas revisitation \u2014 is close to impossible, though not at the Philadelphia Orchestra\u2019s Friday opening of a three-performance Kimmel Center run. <\/p>\n
For years, the orchestra imported one guest conductor after another. <\/p>\n
Now, Messiah is led by artistic director Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin, who began as a choral conductor in Montreal and happens to have the inside track on excellent solo singers, thanks to that little old opera company where he also works 80 miles up the road. <\/p>\n
It was a highly compelling performance that\u2019s likely to gain more strength on Saturday and Sunday. <\/p>\n
Handel\u2019s epic mosaic of 52 arias, recitatives, choruses, and instrumental interludes has changed enormously over the years; shape-shifting from Victorian grandeur to lean, faster performances more in keeping with the 18th century in which this masterpiece was born. <\/p>\n
With the 40-voice Philadelphia Symphonic Choir rather than the cast-of-hundreds Mormon Tabernacle Choir (which recorded the piece with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1958), Messiah is now relieved of extraneous sound, and reveals more of its once well-hidden essence. <\/p>\n
Nonetheless, well-matched soloists \u2014 vocally and stylistically \u2014 are too much to hope for in this busy season, though enjoying their differences among them was definitely possible. <\/p>\n
Tone, agility, diction, and meaningful vocal ornaments were all of a piece with the much-honored British soprano Lucy Crowe, the most seasoned Handelian among them, which was also evident in the way she made upward vocal leaps (normally just a technical feat) charged with emotion. <\/p>\n
The least likely Messiah soloist was also one of the biggest names, baritone Quinn Kelsey, whose every Verdi and Puccini role at the Metropolitan Opera is full of new dimensions. Yet Handel\u2019s vastly different skill requirements were also reasonably well in hand. His distinctive theatrical alchemy came alive in recitatives, and ultimately, in his final aria \u201cThe Trumpet Shall Sound\u201d (the trumpet itself being capably played by Travis Peterson). Intricate vocal writing once prompted slowed-down tempos to ease vocal discomfort \u2014 which is now heard as a sign of defeat. <\/p>\n
Instead, Kelsey lightened his voice and maintained both the tempo and the integrity of the music.<\/p>\n