Tag: handel

Pittsburgh Symphony rings in holiday season with a joyous Messiah

On By Sam JacobsonIn pittsburghLeave a comment

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Manfred Honeck, conductor

Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh
Daniel Singer, director

Jeanine De Bique, soprano
Reginald Mobley, countertenor
John Matthew Myers, tenor
Joshua Hopkins, baritone

Heinz Hall
Pittsburgh, PA
December 7, 2024

Handel: Messiah, HWV 56

If there’s a sign the holiday season is upon us, surely it would be a performance of Handel’s timeless oratorio Messiah — although it’s worth remembering that its first performance coincided instead with Easter. Buttressing Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony was the Mendelssohn Choir and a quartet of vocal soloists — two of which along with the Choir were featured in the previous night’s performance of the Fauré Requiem.

Reginald Mobley (cropped), Jeanine De Bique, John Matthew Myers, and Joshua Hopkins perform with Honeck and the PSO. Photos credit Josh Milteer / Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

As is often done, cuts were made to the present performance with Honeck artfully selecting 41 of the 53 segments for a brisk 90 minutes of music. The opening Sinfonia for orchestra alone was crisply articulated, a stern, minor-key affair in sharp contrast from the exultant quality of most of the work. Tenor John Matthew Myers had the first vocal appearance of the evening in “Comfort ye, my people,” purveying a smooth, lyrical tone that was comforting indeed.

Baritone Joshua Hopkins maintained an imposing vocal presence, apparent from his entry in the recitative “Thus saith the Lord.” A highlight of the generally more introspective Part II of the work came in Hopkins’ aria “Why do the nations so furiously rage” — and one longs for a year when this isn’t so topical. “The trumpet shall sound” from the third and final part was fittingly bright with tenor and trumpet in clarion conversation.

Reginald Mobley offered a flexible countertenor, wide in range and elastic in melisma. “Behold, a virgin shall conceive” saw him in delicate dialogue with the principal strings and continuo. All selections that featured the soloists were for a single performer, save for “O death, where is thy sting?” which engaged Mobley and Hopkins in duet. Their voices blended harmoniously — a pity there weren’t more opportunities to hear the quartet in concert with each other.

Appearing for the first time near the end of Part I was soprano Jeanine De Bique, delicate and nuanced. She was particularly angelic in Part III’s aria “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” decorated in tinsel by high and strings and organ. “If God be for us” was a poignant and intimate moment ahead of the exuberant close, with solo passages from the concertmaster and cello touchingly decorating the soprano’s vocal line.

Of course the star of any Messiah performance is the chorus, and the Mendelssohn Choir delivered in spades. “And the Glory of the Lord,” marked their entry, delivering with clarity the intricate, multi-layered choral writing. The Hallelujah chorus, recognizable far beyond the confines of the concert hall, was festive and bright, and the audience followed the time-honored tradition of rising to their feet. “Worthy is the Lamb” closed the evening in the brilliance and weight of the full ensemble.

The PSO performs Handel’s Messiah at Heinz Hall

Summers@Severance closes in homage to 18th-century masters

On By Sam JacobsonIn clevelandLeave a comment

Cleveland Orchestra
Jonathan Cohen, conductor
Kristian Bezuidenhout, piano
Severance Hall
Cleveland, OH
August 24, 2018

Handel: An Occasional Oratorio, HWV 62 – Overture
Haydn: Keyboard Concerto No. 11 in D major, Hob. XVIII/11
Mozart: Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K183

This summer’s concluding offering at Severance Hall from The Cleveland Orchestra culled three masterworks from the 18th-century, compressing the tried-and-true overture-concerto-symphony program format to just over an hour. Making his Cleveland Orchestra debut was conductor Jonathan Cohen, a specialist in this repertoire of particular note as artistic director of the early music ensemble Arcangelo.

Jonathan Cohen, photo credit Marco Borggreve
Kristian Bezuidenhout, photo credit Marco Borggreve

The earliest work was presented first, namely the overture to Handel’s Occasional Oratorio in its first Cleveland Orchestra performance. Cohen led the reduced, almost chamber-sized orchestra in tight direction from the harpsichord, with the overture opening bold and stately, contoured by the dotted rhythms as per the French style. The small brass section added a sheen of brightness, and following the introductory material, matters took off via the fleet strings. Cast in four sections, the penultimate featured a lovely long-breathed oboe solo from Frank Rosenwein, and the work concluded in a brief but jubilant march.

Haydn’s Keyboard Concerto No. 11 in D major served as a platform for another local debut, that of South African keyboardist Kristian Bezuidenhout. The opening movement was lithe and sprightly, encouraged by Bezuidenhout’s crisp playing, direct in expression and always of utmost economy. The cadenza demonstrated his fine technique, but not without moments of introspection. In the slow movement, the sweet lyricism offered repose if not quite achieving the rapt beauty one would find in a Mozart concerto, and Hungarian finale recalled the composer’s dutiful service to the Esterházy family. Bursting with a folksy joviality, a vigorous theme in concert with the horns was of particular delight.

Mozart’s first minor key symphony – No. 25 in G minor – concluded the evening (incidentally, a few months prior TCO traversed Mozart’s only other minor key symphony, also in G minor). Opening in energetic Sturm und Drang, a looming darkness was assuaged by a singing oboe line and the buoyancy of the dance-like secondary subject. The delicate gestures of the Andante counted as calm following the storm, while the main theme of the ensuing minuet was sharply punctuated, contrasted by the mellifluous winds and brass of the trio – though here and elsewhere regrettably plagued by intonation issues. A nervous energy began the finale, its potential soon becoming kinetic to guide the work with inevitability to its ominous conclusion.