reviewvancouver: Handel's Messiah Christmas at the Orpheum

Tonight was a full house at the beautiful Orpheum Theatre. Handel’s Messiah was magnificently performed by The Vancouver Chamber Choir, The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Pacific singers.

To experience The Messiah, in which Handel tells the story of Christ’s life, the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ was a wonderful beginning to the Christmas season. The Messiah was composed by George Frideric Handel in1741. The gold ornate Orpheum was a beautiful surrounding for the Vancouver Chamber Choir and Vancouver Symphony with all of its members in black and white formal attire with a touch of red. The superb sounds of voices and musical instruments filled the rafters. How wonderful it was to see and hear the rare harpsichord. The instruments included: bass, bassoon, cello, harpsichord, oboe, organ, timpani, trumpet, viola, and violin and all of which had the sound of excellence. The magnitude of hard work and many hours to fine tune so many into a single heart of musical perfection was truly amazing. The Messiah is a huge work that Handel’s genius produced in a relatively short time; in less than a month. This oratorio was two and half hours in length.

At the end of Part 2 the entire audience rose to their feet to the sound of Hallelujah. It’s a powerful piece produced by a brilliant composer and presented to us by the finest musicians, and operatic voices. Handel’s Messiah is an experience in music at a very high degree that you have to see and hear at least once in your life time. Many of the members of the audience that I met were themselves classical musicians and most seemed to have a greater sensitivity to the awe of creating this huge original work from the 18th century from composition to the final presentation. There is something incredibly transcending about hearing the words “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, good will towards men”.

Handel’s music went through many changes and so we hear the version selected by the conductors and even with present day audiences it illuminates. The Messiah was Handel’s best known piece and a great favorite at Christmas.

To this performance all I can say is “Bravo!”