Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 6 Dec 2024
The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s final concert for the year was GF Handel’s almighty Messiah. Of course, the ASO has performed it many times before, but this performance was one of the best.
In his excellent book An Insiders History of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, recently published by Wakefield Press and an excellent Christmas gift (available from the ASO’s headquarters on Hindley Street), Paul Blackman notes that “In April 1859, the first really ambitious musical project in South Australia took part in White’s Assembly Rooms [where the Commonwealth Bank on King William Street is now situated], a Handel Festival marking 100 years since the composer’s death. Linger conducted a performance of Messiah… There were 20 players in the orchestra and 70 choristers… Messiah proved so successful that a repeat performance took place the following week… Prior to the festival, a letter appeared in a local paper, from a person more used to the London music scene. He felt it his duty to point out to the colonial rabble that certain practices at sacred performances should be avoided. This included clapping between each aria or chorus, and calling out for encores; however, the audience should stand during the Hallelujah Chorus.” According to Blackman’s research in his highly entertaining and information book, the concert received a highly favourable review.
Tonight’s performance featured a much larger orchestra, a much smaller chorus, a conductor who knows the piece inside out, and four soloists at the top of their game.
Canadian born musician, conductor and teacher Ivars Taurins is the founder and director of the excellent Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, and he is in high demand throughout Canada as an expert conductor of choral works. He has a string of accomplishments to his name, and he has conducted Messiah more than 200 times! (He knows the piece).
In tonight’s performance with the ASO, Taurins was joined on stage by the outstanding Adelaide Chamber Singers, and four superb Australian singers, all with noteworthy international careers: soprano Samantha Clarke, mezzo soprano Fiona Campbell, tenor Andrew Goodwin, and bass-baritone Andrew O’Connor. Between them all, Handel’s Messiah was in very good hands, and the diverse audience, which included young children, Messiah (and art music) ‘newbies’, the curious, and seasoned concertgoers, were gripped by the majesty and theatre of humanity’s most loved and most performed choral masterpiece.
Messiah is a Christian oratorio in three parts: the first part focusses on Old Testament prophesies and the birth of Christ; the second part depicts Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection; the third on Christ’s eternal glory and the salvation of humanity. The sung text consists entirely of quotations from the Bible with some modifications for musical reasons, but it is much more than a medley of quotations. Regardless of one’s religious beliefs, it is hard not to be moved by the visual and aural spectacle that is Messiah. Whether it be the sight of a chorus being summoned to stand and sing, or trumpeters playing from the balcony at the command of the conductor, or additional musicians coming on stage to augment the orchestra at various times, or a trumpeter rising to his feet to accompany a soloist, or soloists striding to centre stage and commanding our attention with their luxurious voices, the Messiah oozes theatre, and Ivars Taurins knows it and uses it.
Andrew Goodwin has a glorious tenor voice: robust, pure of tone, excellent breath control and exquisite articulation. His voice miraculously emerges out of the instrumental accompaniment in the first aria and his rendition of Comfort ye my people borders on the sublime. Goodwin also clearly delights in Messiah: he’s a picture of studied concentration throughout, whether it be observing his fellow soloists with encouraging smiles, or closely observing and listening to the chorus when they sing in response to one of his arias, or mirroring maestro Taurins’ exhortations by discreetly tapping his knee.
Samantha Clarke’s soprano voice is also strong and pure, with the gentlest of vibrato when required. Adelaide audiences have heard fine soprano voices on our stages before, but Clarke’s voice is one of the best. She is equally at home in the lower register, as she is at the very top, with clean tonality and sweet potency across the range. Her Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion was an exuberant highlight. Throughout, Clarke sings almost effortlessly.
Mezzo soprano Fiona Campbell is perhaps the busiest of the soloists, and she sings O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion with joy and and deceptive lightness. Her He was despised and rejected of men was almost reverential in the upper register. Quite something.
Andrew O’Connor is an imposing man with an even more imposing voice. His smile is a picture of contentment and gentleness, and it almost fills the stage. His voice is an exquisite instrument: mellifluous honeyed tones easily emerge, and the expanse of the Adelaide Town Hall auditorium resonates with warmth. His For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light were a revelation: strength and sweetness across the full range of his voice.
Trumpeter David Khafagi was excellent in The trumpet shall sound, and Andrew Penrose on timpani was delighted to keep beating his mallets for what felt like an exaggerated finale at Ivars Taurins’ direction.
The only sour note in the whole evening was a full forty-five second pause fifteen minutes into the performance at the end of the chorus And the glory of the lord and before Goodwin’s first aria Thus saith the Lord to allow a bevy of latecomers to enter the hall and take their seats. The performers patiently waited, but there is no ‘suitable break’ for such intrusions.
The ASO have had a marvellous season and now go on a deserved break before resuming in 2025 with the celebrated Mark Wigglesworth as new Chief Conductor.
Kym Clayton
When: 6 Dec
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
