Rachael Redmond, soprano; Cameron Shahbazi, countertenor; James Reese, ten; Enrico Lagasca, bass-baritone; Tafelmusik Chamber Choir; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; Ivars Taurins, director. Koerner Hall, December 15, 2023.
For Toronto music lovers with a fondness for Yuletide fare, December is a great time to feast on Messiah (1741), that favourite Handel masterwork ubiquitous in English-speaking countries. It’s interesting to note that it was originally intended to be performed at Easter time, but somehow Christmas and Messiah have become synonymous over the centuries.
Other Christmas music, such as L’Enfance du Christ or Christmas Oratorio, are much less frequently programmed in English Canada. This month in Toronto, one can choose from two old standbys, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra Messiah, performing in the 2,630-seat Roy Thomson Hall, or the chamber version put on by Tafelmusik, at the much more intimate 1,135-seat Koerner Hall.
Other presentations include the Elmer Iseler Singers’ Messiah at the Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, or the one at the St. James Cathedral, to name just two. Given my love of Christmas music, I go to multiple ones each year – to me, a performance of the Handel oratorio is decidedly a spiritually uplifting experience.
In decades past, Messiah performances by major presenters typically involved full-sized orchestras. I recall fondly the thrilling sounds of the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Centre or the Buffalo Philharmonic at Kleinhans Music Hall, with multiple choirs and big-voiced soloists to match. Until quite recently, the TSO’s Messiah performances under Sir Andrew Davis were also full orchestra affairs.
It’s interesting to note that Handel composed his oratorio for a chamber orchestra and a choir of twenty or so singers. It was only years later that large-scale presentations became the vogue. Historians cite a series of commemorative concerts of Handel’s music given in Westminster Abbey in 1784 as the turning point.
This trend reached mind-boggling proportions in 1883 at a Handel Festival in London when Messiah was performed at the Crystal Palace with 500 musicians, 4,000 choristers, and an audience of – are you ready – 87,769! That sort of musical excess is mercifully long past. Indeed, performance practice in the last half century has been a return to the past for authenticity and a more historically informed approach.
As Canada’s premiere Baroque ensemble, Tafelmusik has been performing Messiah as Handel had intended. The opening night on Thursday was led by its long-time founding choir director, Ivars Taurins, joined by a very strong quartet of soloists in soprano Rachel Redmond, countertenor Cameron Shahbazi, tenor James Reese, and bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca. It was an evening to remember.
Koerner Hall, at 1,135 seats, is considerably larger than Tafelmusik’s home theatre, the Trinity St. Paul’s Centre, which seats 770. In the famously wonderful Koerner acoustics, the Tafelmusik forces sounded fabulous, with a sound that’s smooth as silk that rivals the great church acoustics. Ivars Taurins knows the Orchestra like the back of his hand. His conduct is highly nuanced and well-judged. Watching his conducting is positively mesmerizing.
The quartet of soloists this year was superb. The pure, sweet timbre and positively angelic tone of Scottish soprano Rachel Redmond was a pleasure. Her soprano isn’t very big in volume, but it’s perfectly focused. Her “I know that my redeemer lives” was one of many highlights of the evening.
The alto was the Persian Canadian countertenor Cameron Shahbazi, a voice unfamiliar to me. According to the bio, his career was primarily European-based. He sang “He was despised” with a soft, caressing tone, sometimes punctuated by a triple forte at the end of a phrase. His voice blended beautifully in the soprano and alto duet “He shall feed his flock.”
Tenor James Reeves had the justly famous opening aria “Ev’ry Valley,” a challenging start. He acquitted himself beautifully, with a fresh, youthful tone, perhaps a touch small but always well-focused. Whether in declamatory recitatives or the aria proper, he sang with great feeling and attention to detail. He sang a lovely tenor-alto duet “O death, where is thy sting?”
A good bass in Messiah is crucial, and Tafelmusik hit the jackpot with Filipino-American bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca. What a voice! His sound in “Why do the nations” was huge and commanding, with plenty of gravitas. I was only half joking when I said to my concert companion that Lagasca has an oratorio voice that strikes fear of God in the hearts of the audience.
Under the expert direction of Ivars Taurins, the chamber choir was superb. There’s something quite magical in the perfect blending of the different voices, soothing, ethereal yet incisive and quicksilver when needed. A highlight for me is always “All we like sheep,” here beautifully rendered, although I must say I missed the funny antics of Sir Andrew Davis’s version for the TSO, but that’s another story…
No review of Messiah is complete without commenting on the Hallelujah Chorus that ends Part 2. With the audience standing and giving its collective voice in praise of the Lord – well, it’s a special moment, to be sure, one that’s goosebumps-inducing. The sound of the virtually full house was positively thrilling. A terrific evening for the Messiah memory bank.
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