Messiah Review 2012

Seven Decades Old, Yet Ever New

By Bryce Christensen

“Christmas,” in the view of Protestant pastor David De Witt, “is all about tradition.”  “No other time of the year,” De Witt explains, “seems so rich and complete with a special series of traditions.”  For music-lovers in Cedar City, no Christmas tradition counts for more than the annual holiday production of Handel’s Messiah.  That tradition was once again renewed at the Heritage Center on the nights of December 9^th and 10^th as the Orchestra of Southern Utah and the Southern Utah Chorale combined their talents to inspire capacity audiences with this seasonal masterpiece.  As Orchestra of Southern Utah President Harold Shirley remarked in introducing Cedar City’s 72^nd production of this sublime work, the Messiah tells the sacred and timeless Christmas story in a way that will “never grow old.”

From the majestic opening strains of the “Overture” that began the work to the magisterial choral Amens that concluded it, the years—even the decades—melted away, and the impressive brilliance of this year’s superb production of the Messiah echoed every excellence attained in previous productions. 

Among the nine soloists, two—bass Larry Johnson and soprano Jan Pressgrove—were mature and seasoned vocalists whose strong performances reflected many years of musical devotion.  Johnson rendered “Comfort Ye My People” in movingly plaintive tones, and delivered “Every Valley Shall Be Exalted” in notes tremulous with hope.  Pressgrove sang “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth” as a transcendent testimony, beautifully radiant with conviction. 

The other seven soloists—sopranos Shaye Leavitt, Melissa Leavitt, and Christina Meikle; altos Annie Powell,  Laurice Williamson, and Taliah Byers; and bass Alex Byers—performed with poise and self-possession surprising in rising  young singers. 

Leavitt soared to celestial heavens in “There Were Shepherds Abiding in the Field” and “An Angel Said Unto them,” only to then transport listeners with “And Suddenly  There Was With the Angelic” in what truly seemed an angelic voice.

In “Come Unto Me,” entranced listeners were enthralled by Melissa Leavitt’s poignant pleading, the pleading of a divine voice directed to mortal ears. 

In Meikle’s performance of “If God Be For Us” (a wonderful piece outside of the standard repertoire for an abbreviated version of Handel’s meisterwerk), listeners marveled at the luminous flow of divine solace.

Powell’s “Behold! A Virgin Shall Conceive” gave the audience a distillation of sublime wonder, and her “O Thou That Tellest” offered a stirring affirmation.

With “The Shall the Eyes of the Blind Be Opened,” Williamson opened miraculous vistas with notes of liquid grace, a remarkable grace she sustained as she segued to the pastoral comfort of “He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd.” 

Taliah Byers’ “”He Was Despised” brimmed with a deeply moving pathos, a pathos answered by Alex Byers in the profound marvelings of “Behold, I Tell You a Mystery” and in the forceful assurance of “The Trumpet Shall Sound.”  Etching “The Trumpet Shall Sound” even more deeply in the memory was Pete Atkins’ penetrating trumpet solo in this number.

Of course, Atkins was far from the only instrumentalist whose talents enriched this year’s Messiah performance.  The entire orchestra sustained a very high level of musicianship throughout the concert.  This musicianship was notably evident in the two numbers—the opening “Overture” and the “Pastoral Symphony”--performed by the orchestra without the choir. But what listener did not especially appreciate the irresistible instrumental contribution to the thrilling crescendos of the chorus numbers, including especially “And the Glory of the Lord,” “For Unto Us a Child Is Born, and “Hallelujah!”? 

Deserving note was not only the manifest skill of the orchestra instrumentalists but also the unmistakable feeling.  This was a performance by musicians who cared about the music they played.  And in their emotional investment, listeners detected the most fundamental and important of the linkages between this year’s Messiah performers and their predecessors in a vital musical tradition.

The emotion evident in this year’s production of the Messiah radiated out from director and conductor Xun Sun.  Always spirited and engaged in the music he conducts, Sun appeared singularly impassioned in leading this performance.  And his passion was contagious.  Though deserving of the attention he received at the performance for having recently completed his doctorate at Columbia University, Sun—Dr. Sun—conveyed the pulse of this marvelous Christmas composition with an intensity that will never come out of merely academic study.

Though less visible during the concert than Sun, chorale director Kevin Baker likewise deserves praise for his role as the leader of the chorale for this year’s Messiah.  In his first year in this role, Baker somehow tapped into all of the resources of this much-cherished regional tradition.  Like the orchestra instrumentalists under Sun’s baton, the chorale singers under Baker’s direction fused technical mastery with from-the-heart emotion.  Whether in the exultant passages of “Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates,” the strikingly kinetic measures of “Since By Man Came Death,” or the triumphantly joyous climax of “”Hallelujah!” the choir sang with skill informed by fervor. 

As delighted listeners left the Heritage Center Sunday and Monday nights, they did so newly grateful for a Christmas tradition that connects them with a splendid past and points the way to a promising future in which the notes of Handel’s masterpiece will enrich Christmases for years and years to come.