What makes this oratorio so durable is the dramatic savvy with which Handel fashioned it. When presented in a space like this one, it passes for a liturgical work; that an audience will rise to its feet unprompted during the “Hallelujah” chorus is a given. (It happened Sunday afternoon.) But one could argue that Handel’s true achievement in the work had less to do with describing the Nativity and passion of Jesus than with evoking the enduring faith of believers. Tremendously affirmative, “Messiah” is less about mystery than about community.
Owen Burdick, the music director of Trinity Church, conducted an ensemble that was faithful to what current scholarship suggests of Handel’s expectations: a relatively compact choir matched by a roughly equal number of instrumentalists for balance and clarity. The Rebel players, led by the violinist Jörg-Michael Schwarz, performed on 18th-century instruments, or replicas.
Dr. Burdick’s tempos were unfailingly well judged. In telling details like the quicksilver shocks and sparks that accompanied the line “For He is like a refiner’s fire” and the fine gradations of shadow that fell across the arioso “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,” he demonstrated the kind of insight that distinguishes a truly fine Handel performance from a routine one.
Solo parts were taken by members of the choir, each performing with polish and refinement. The tenor Daniel Mutlu opened with an ardent, inviting “Comfort ye.” Nacole Palmer, a soprano, offered a precise, brightly projected “Rejoice greatly.” In “He was despised and rejected of men,” the mezzo Hai-Ting Chinn’s fierce intensity and dark, plaintive throb of a voice ideally underscored Handel’s theater-honed knack for fashioning text settings packed with palpable emotional impact.
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