Concert
Handel’s Messiah
Ta’ Ġieżu church
The Maltese element predominated in the Baroque Festival’s opening concert. This event was proof again of the directional prowess of Michael Laus who directed the Anon and Goldberg Ensembles in a performance of Handel’s best-loved oratorio.
Soloists soprano Gillian Zammit, alto Clare Massa, tenor Nichols Mulroy and bass Albert Buttigieg also took part.
Avoiding vast choral and orchestral forces as originally conceived, and evidently very well-prepared, Messiah sounded as authentic as could be. The chorus was rather handicapped with only three basses taking part. Even if the basses sounded homogeneous enough when singing some phrase on their own, they were just not enough.
The tenor section was very compact and sounded fine, only losing its smooth texture in parts of And With His Stripes We Are Healed with the basses losing it a little bit in the following All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray.
The soprano and alto sections sounded fresh and were excellent. Most of the great choruses, with which the work is peppered, were delivered with an easy flow and yet controlled, especially when avoiding the perils of an infectious runaway rendition of the Hallelujah.
The seven-strong Anon Ensemble did a great job too, as did trumpeter Sebastian Philpott in his fine obbligato role with bass Buttigieg in The Trumpet Shall Sound. The latter singer had appositely sounded quite menacing in his aria Why Do the Nations So Furiously Rage, and handled other solos and recitatives very well. This work’s first aria is for tenor and Mulroy’s voice sounded ideally suited to Every Valley and, like all the soloists, he sang with clarity, conviction and feeling.
Most of the great choruses were delivered with an easy flow and yet controlled
Perhaps Handel left mosttender feelings in the solos for soprano and alto. The latter touched poignant heights in He Was Despised and her O Thou That Tallest Good Tidings to Zion was another highlight of the work; so was He Shall Feed His Flock, the lovely duet with Zammit.
Equally lovely highlights were Zammit’s Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion and, of course, I Know That My Redeemer Liveth.
The final chorus, Worthy is the Lamb, was a good reminder that this was an apt beginning to the festival.