Metropolita= n-Quality “Messiah”
By Bryce Ch= ristensen
Cedar City listeners could easily have been forgiven i= f they briefly supposed Sunday and Monday night’s Heritage Center music had somehow transported them to Boston, Portland, Atlanta, or one of the other large American metropolises likewise favored each Christmas season with professional productions of Handel’s “Messiah.” For the quality of the performance= and the beautiful excellence of the setting in which it took place would certai= nly have thrilled discerning concert goers in a much larger city. In making his opening welcomi= ng remarks, former mayor Harold Shirley therefore spoke with amply justified c= ivic pride about both the musicians about to perform and the concert hall in whi= ch they and their listeners were gathered.&nb= sp;
&nbs= p; Bringing together the remarkable talents of the Orchestra of Southern Utah and of the Festival City Community Chorale, Cedar City’s 67th annual production of Handel’s masterpiece powerfully reminded concert-goers = of just how fortunate they are to live in a region so remarkably endowed with musical talent. That talent w= as most visible in the person of OSU director Xun Sun, whose evident passion f= or the music clearly inspired the entire performing ensemble. Regular OSU concert goers have grown happily accustomed to the excellence of the orchestral performances Sun dra= ws from his musicians, and “Messiah” lived up to his past standard= s. The OSU musicians brought to life = all of Handel’s musical genius--whether in support of solo and chorale vocal numbers or playing the entirely instrumental numbers (the opening “Overture” and the “Pastoral Symphony.”) Indeed, this production of “= Messiah” reminded those in attendance that in the person of one very gifted director= , we see an export from China that has lastingly enriched our cultural life!
&nbs= p; Part of the credit for the metropolitan excellence of this production goes, of course, to Grace St. Pierre, director of the Festival City Community Chorale. Though she joined the chorale in singing beneath Sun’s baton for these two performances, her superb work in preparing her chorale manifest itself in singing at once ali= ve with intense feeling yet impressively precise and disciplined. The collective gifts St. Pierre has marvelously fused turned “Glory to God” and the famed “Hallelujah Chorus” into outpourings of utterly angelic ecstasy= .
Even the memorable beauty o= f the solos reflected, at least in part, St. Pierre’s singular success in recruiting a singularly talented group of voices. All of the solos were wonderful, but perhaps especially deserving of favorable mention were Lawre= nce Johnson’s richly resonant tenor solo in “Every Valley Shall be = Exalted” and Remi Fletcher’s heartbreakingly evocative soprano solo “He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd.”
Though performances in past= years have excerpted selections from the entire “Messiah,” this year’s program included only the first twenty numbers, plus the renow= ned “Hallelujah Chorus” and “Worthy Is the Lamb That Was Slain” from the composition’s concluding section. The decision = to focus on the opening section of “Messiah” perfectly emphasized = the Nativity focus of Christmas, while providing the narrative continuity of two score consecutive selections, unbroken by the omissions typical of most abridged performances of the very long original. And while listening to the stirring final two numbers, listeners heard scriptural texts from Revelation lifting them above not only Cedar City but every other merely earthly city.
The hundreds who rejoiced i= n these two performances are no doubt already marking their calendars in anticipati= on of the musical transports next year’s performances will afford.