Mark Gresham | 12 DEC 2023
This week, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Chorus once again brings one of the most performed musical traditions in Western Music to Symphony Hall in Atlanta and to Hodgson Hall in Athens, Georgia: Part I (the Christmas portion) of George Frideric Handel’s beloved oratorio Messiah.
Amid the ASO’s hectic schedule of rehearsals and Holiday concerts, EarRelevant publisher and principal writer Mark Gresham recently exchanged e-mails with ASO Director of Choruses Norman Mackenzie about what makes for an outstanding performance of Messiah. The Q&A below is drawn from that conversation and is edited for length and clarity.
Mark Gresham: What goes into making a great performance of Handel’s Messiah?
Norman Mackenzie: There’s probably no such thing as a perfect Messiah, but we strive for an engaging, vital, and precise reading of Handel’s most beloved masterpiece. Several things contribute to our particular vision.
Handel was a superb musical dramatist, as is obvious from his operas. He really invented the oratorio form. Let him speak directly to the listener. It’s important to keep the dramatic arc flowing, so I move attacca from piece to piece — no big pauses as in some performances, which tend to let the air out of the dramatic balloon. Handel’s careful construction of key relationships and changes in emotional content are revealed to a greater degree in this way.
Of course, a facile chorus, an excellent solo quartet, and a superb orchestra are always incredibly helpful in creating a wonderful performance. Still, it speaks to the universality of Handel’s message and his compositional genius that groups of all shapes, sizes, and proficiency levels will perform this beloved masterpiece this season.
MG: How do you approach preparing this all-too-familiar work for performance?
NM: We try to polish the technical difficulties of the score to such a degree that they almost disappear and so do not impede Handel’s direct communication with the listener. When you hear a choir sing a fast melisma, you shouldn’t think, “my that sounds hard” (even though, of course, it is) but rather, “that’s so joyful and exciting.”
We try at all times to elucidate and clarify the structure. Baroque music is an intense conversation of many voices that must be heard cleanly and clearly. Balances between orchestra and chorus, orchestra and soloist, and within the orchestra and chorus, are critical. We feel this is best served by a relatively small orchestra and chamber chorus, even in our large modern Symphony Hall.
Norman Mackenzie leads the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Chorus in a 2022 performance of Handel’s “Messiah,” Part I, at UGA’s Hodgson Hall in Athens, Georgia. (credit: Easel Images)
MG: In this week’s concerts, you are pairing the Christmas portion of Messiah with the first cantata from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Why that particular programming choice?
NM: The incredibly joyful opening of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is an obvious paring, a perfect 26-minute “overture” to Part I of Messiah, which is about 59 minutes. Bach and Handel were exact contemporaries who never actually met. The seeds of their compositional style grew from the fertile soil of the same part of Europe. They are the acknowledged summation of an entire style and period of Western Music, so they are worthy partners. The works require similar choral and orchestral forces. However, there are unique differences in these two masterpieces.
The Christmas Oratorio was actually cobbled together by Bach into a large work of six separate cantatas over a period of years, unlike Handel’s Messiah. Cantata I [“Jauchzet, frohlocket! Auf, preiset die Tage”] is a natural pairing with Part I of Messiah as they both feature the Biblical account of the Nativity. They use similar choral and orchestral forces. Bach’s orchestra is one of the largest and most festive he ever used, including three trumpets and timpani, but, unlike the Handel/Jennens libretto of Messiah, which draws exclusively from the Biblical text, the soloists in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio take time to personally comment on the events described and their emotional reaction to them, bringing the action down to a very human level, which reflects the Pietist Lutheran tradition in which Bach grew up and is a feature of many of his cantatas.
MG: Your thoughts on the current state of the ASO Choruses?
NM: The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus is surprisingly dynamic after surviving the enormous frustrations and enforced silence of the pandemic. While these huge challenges were devastating for the very existence of some choral institutions, the ASOC has not only survived them but actually emerged as a stronger and more committed ensemble. We were all hungry to return to work and make music.
One of my critical responsibilities as director is ensuring the future of the Chorus, and there has been an encouraging injection of new young vocal talent as of this year’s public auditions. A wide range of diverse repertoire is constantly challenging us under the inspiring and creative baton of our music director, Nathalie Stutzmann, and an array of guest conductors. The ASOC is an exciting place to make music these days. I feel quite confident about its ability to carry Robert Shaw’s vision of an all-volunteer ensemble with the highest professional standards into the future. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: aso.org
- ASO Chorus: asochorus.org
- Norman Mackenzie: aso.org/artists/detail/norman-mackenzie
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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