The Dunedin Consort's celebrated Messiah seems to get better every year. Not more honed or polished, necessarily, but more daring, more theatrical and even more sensual. With a period-instrument band of 15 and a chorus of just 12 singers – and that included the soloists – this was as intimate a take on Handel's oratorio as you're likely to get. But the effect is far from whispered or delicate. Such a stripped-down aesthetic means there's nowhere to hide, no buffers for shaky ensemble or intonation. But that's not a problem, either: the crisp, robust responses from players and singers make a long evening fly by. Above all, Dunedin's director, John Butt, recognises the operatic quality of Handel's writing. The opening Sinfony was a long-bowed and luscious scene-setter. Comfort Ye was sultry, For Unto Us was cheekily straight, He Was Despised gave quiet space to its anguish, and in many of the triple-time numbers – And the Glory of the Lord, The Trumpet Shall Sound – Butt really tugged at the downbeat to give it a swinging feel. His knack of interlocking consecutive movements into one long sweep makes for gripping momentum. "Choruses," he reasons in his programme note, "such as And the Glory of the Lord and And He Shall Purify, follow on directly from the preceding arias, just as the conjunction 'and' would imply in the biblical texts concerned." In some Messiahs you might be tempted to let your mind wander between the big tunes; here's there no option but to keep up.
If there was any weak link it was alto Alexandra Gibson, whose expressions sounded slightly forced at the beginning of the evening and whose veiled timbre didn't always carry well. Otherwise the singing was superb: soprano Ruby Hughes was bold, husky, full of rough-edged seduction; tenor Nicholas Mulroy added stylish ornaments and playful swagger; Robert Davies sang the bass arias with warmth and command. The chorus was nimble and beautifully balanced. Altogether, this was a class act.
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