No doubt the most popular of Handel’s works, “Messiah” is frequently performed up and down the country by anything from resource-strapped small church choirs to large ensembles with orchestras using the Mozart additions. Unfortunately, familiarity does breed contempt and often results in perfunctory treatment through a less diligent approach. The one thing that can ensure the survival of this work as a masterpiece is the kind of exposure given to it by the South Auckland Choral Society. It bore the mark of Mr. Rosser’s careful study of the composer’s intentions and meticulously observing the details which lift the work from the ordinary to the inspired. It is obvious that John Rosser is uncompromising in demanding the best from his team, yet their joyful attentiveness to every beat and cue could only have been achieved through a sympathetic regime that has understanding for the technical limitations of amateurs. (Amateur in its literal meaning of work done for love.)

The opening bars of Isaiah’s Comfort ye, my people were proclaimed with great power by John Murray who somehow managed to imbue his powerful voice with a quality that conveyed with gentleness the divine pardon contained in the message. This opening set the tone and marked the standard of a performance which was never allowed to flag. Strength had been added to the resident voices by members of Mr. Rosser’s Viva Voce Choir, apart from finding its own place as the ‘semi-choir’ in And he shall purify. Fewer voices make for greater clarity in this chorus with its fiendishly lengthy g-minor runs which however presented no hurdles to the thoroughly musical rendering by this very talented group. John’s magnetism gathered around him one of the most evenly balanced lineups of soloists we have seen here. The choice of two equally able and experienced sopranos, Emma Roxburgh and Morag McDowell enabled John to extend his fine-tuning to matching voice to the appropriate vocal part. He was well rewarded through their total immersion into their respective roles.

How come that the beautiful mellow voice of Claire Barton can move a 90 year old man to tears? Her empathy with the mental agony of Jesus was communicated with great effect and enhanced by the sparse but imaginative registration of Michael Bell’s accompaniment, that I felt myself wrenched from my comfortable chair into the Jerusalem of the day and made to witness Jesus’ torment. This moment of Handel’s music, as realised by Claire, was more powerful than the goriest visual travesty of the Passion that can come out of Hollywood.

Any lingering doubt that a youthful bass can credibly proclaim an apocalyptic prophesy would have evaporated with Daniel O’Connor’s opening: Behold, I tell you a mystery. Leading into the well loved Air, a musical duet with trumpet, he expressed the promise of our rising from the grave with colourful eloquence. Philip Lloyd, a veteran of many a Messiah and sought after international baroque soloist, gave of his best, as well as adding brilliance to a number of choruses. His ‘trumpet shall sound’ for many years to come.

Michael Bell’s responsibility at the organ is second only to the conductor’s. He seemed to carry lightly the two and a half hours of concentrated attention. It must be of great relief for him when unfettered by a conductor’s beat or soloist’s rubato, he gains briefly the liberty for doing his own thing. This gave us an exquisitely lyrical rendering of the Pastoral Symphony, which set the mood for the shepherds’ stories that were to follow.

Myra Smith’s unassuming presence among the altos belied her important role in the gestation of this successful production. Much is owed to her musical know-how and to her unstinting gift of time and tireless energy.

The choir has honoured Handel’s choice of fugal treatment for the finale by meticulous care. Crisp entries of the four voices were followed by their carefully nuanced merging into the amalgam of polyphonic sound. In lesser hands this beautiful Amen can sound like a fugal exercise, but to this unsophisticated reviewer it felt like individual voices in search of common ground groping towards the  concluding harmony. In reaching it, these inspired voices had truly reflected Handel’s glorious assent to the biblical account of God’s gift of the incarnation.

Amen indeed!

Frank Hoffmann