In addition to being a treasured holiday tradition, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s annual performances of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah,” also act as homecoming concerts. Many a reunited family seeks out the mellifluous splendor of the baroque-era masterwork at Minneapolis’ resonant Basilica of St. Mary or St. Paul’s acoustically crisp Ordway Concert Hall.
But this year’s version is a homecoming of another sort. One of the vocal soloists — soprano Liv Redpath — is an Edina product whose star is rising in the international opera world, thanks to lead roles with major companies on both sides of the Atlantic. She’s finally performing with one of Minnesota’s two major orchestras, fresh from doing the same with the Cleveland Orchestra.
And Redpath’s solo turns were indeed among the highlights of Thursday’s performance of “Messiah” by the SPCO and local choir the Singers, under the animated direction of Portugese conductor Dinis Sousa. Redpath brought an operatic diva’s power and conviction to arias that can seem too demure in some hands.
But the soloist who most skillfully summoned the drama within Handel’s collection of loosely connected liturgical texts was countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen. From hear-a-pin-drop pianissimos expressing almost speechless sadness to fiery fortissimos that filled the basilica’s cavernous interior, his was a landmark performance among the many “Messiahs” I’ve experienced over the decades.
There was impressive musicianship on display throughout the evening, be it in the tender care the score received from the SPCO’s instrumentalists — who know that too much force can make for a muddy sound in a capacious cathedral — to the beautifully blended voices of the Singers, the 40-plus-voice choir that made the work’s lovely layered fugues particularly exhilarating.
And there were some enthralling moments with the other vocal soloists, tenor Hugo Hymas and bass-baritone Ashley Riches, both from Handel’s adoptive home country of England. Hymas’ delicate “Comfort Ye” proved the ideal entry point to this odyssey, while Riches was similarly magnetic when virtually whispering “Behold, I tell you a mystery” before blasting off into “The trumpet shall sound” near the end, his lines interwoven with Sarah Jessen’s flamboyant peals of trumpet.
But what made this a particularly inviting “Messiah” was surely the return of a homegrown star, and Redpath successfully placed her own stamp on some very familiar arias. She brought a rich, full sound to the winding phrases of “Rejoice greatly,” made “Come unto him” a warm and comforting lullaby, and was refreshingly bold and insistent on “I know that my redeemer liveth.”
And what fun it was to see Redpath and countertenor Cohen playing off one another while chiming in on the “Hallelujah” chorus. If Redpath’s varied operatic journey takes her into the realm of the baroque, these two might make beautiful music together in a Handel opera. Until then, “Messiah” is a pretty close cousin.
