Review: Dunedin Consort, Handel’s Messiah - Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh

By Ken Walton
Published on Thursday 22 December 2011 00:00

MESSIAHS come in all shapes and sizes. And before a bolt of lightning is angled in my direction, let me make it clear that I am referring to Handel’s famous oratorio.

There are fat ones and skinny ones, slick ones and pedantic ones, polished professional ones and well-meaning amateur ones. But for me, the approach taken by the Dunedin Consort and Players on Tuesday – the same compact forces that Handel favoured in his later years – would be the chosen one.

The singers were few, but distinguished and coherent – a chorus numbering 17 with soloists within the ranks. They were positioned in raised tiers to one side of the stage, the period instrument band (fundamentally strings, no woodwind, but obligatory trumpets and timpani) on the opposite side, and all were fused coherently by John Butt, directing from the harpsichord.

There was a glowing intimacy in this presentation, and an approach to the solos (notably the supreme, effortless authority of bass soloist Robert Davies and the soft, beguiling mezzo soprano delivery of Clare Wilkinson) that eschewed showiness and display, instead offering a restrained ecstasy that drew you in and amplified both the mystical and human dimensions of the music. And it all seemed so sleek and simple, fiery but subtle, Butt’s no-nonsense approach allowing Handel’s dramatic vision to unfold with the absorbing magnetism of a book you simply can’t put down.

Three hours passed in a flash, and just about every minute contained a moment to cherish.

RATING: ****

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