Messiah

Handel Messiah oratorio to libretto by Charles Jennens. Directed 2009 by Claus Guth at the Theater an der Wien. Stars Susan Gritton, Cornelia Horak, Martin Pöllmann, Bejun Mehta, Richard Croft, Florian Boesch, Paul Lorenger, and Nadia Kichler. Jean-Christophe Spinosi conducts the Ensemble Matheus  and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor (Chorus Master Erwin Ortner). Set and costume design by Christian Schmidt; lighting design by Jürgen Hoffman; dramatic advice by Konrad Kuhn; choreography by Ramses Sigl; video direction by Hannes Rossacher. Released in 2010, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio surround sound. Grade: A-

Messiah has always been, for me, an iconic work. For many British people it might even be considered as sacred as the texts on which it is based. There are many traditions surrounding it, such as the way everyone stands up for the "Hallelujah Chorus" (because at a performance in 1743, King George II stood up when he heard the first notes, and everybody followed suit).

When I heard that the Theater an der Wien had produced a staged version of  Messiah directed by controversial director Claus Guth, I was intrigued and somewhat dubious. Would this be an iconoclastic piece of monumental Eurotrash or something unique and special?

When you go to see a new production of Tosca or The Marriage of Figaro, you always know, more or less, what is going to happen. It may be set in the trenches of the First World War or in a jam factory . . . but the music will be familiar and the plot the same. In the case of  Messiah, the music is indeed familiar. But the storyline weaved around it will obviously be completely new. And this is what makes Claus Guth's production so absorbing - you really do not know what's coming next!

The first thing to say is that, in terms of orchestral playing and vocal quality, this is probably the very best Messiah I have ever heard. The soloists are outstanding. They also bring an unprecedented degree of passion and involvement to their singing because they are part of the drama that is unfolding before our eyes. In addition, they are all excellent actors who manage to give a full vocal delivery despite being hunched up on the floor, lying on a bed, leaning forwards or backwards, or directed in any combination of the above. Close your eyes and compare this performance with your conventional static interpretation in a cavernous church with the choir standing in neat rows and soloists sedately coming forward to sing their piece and then retiring to the shadows. Well, there is no comparison! This version wins hands down! And here, by the way, the chorus does anything but stand in neat rows: it is carefully choreographed with hand and arm movements invariably giving an additional thrust to the meaning of the words the chorus is singing.

So what is this story woven around the hallowed music of Messiah? As the curtain rises, we see the intriguing figure of a girl, in a corridor, communicating in sign language as an accompaniment to the opening "Sinfonia." The tenor, Richard Croft, dressed as a priest, appears to sing "Comfort ye my people." Immediately you feel the sincerity and heartfelt sympathy in his superb voice. He moves forward towards a door as the huge turntable on which the set is built rotates to reveal a funeral taking place in a funeral home, complete with coffin, mourners, and congregation. It is of course the congregation that sings "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed" as the priest comes in and the bereaved brother (Bejun Mehta, a simply amazing counter-tenor) sings "But who may abide the day of His coming."

And so it goes on. The narrative which has been built around the text is engrossing and moving. It deals with relationships, the happiness of a birth, the suffering of a betrayed relationship, professional pressures, suicide, grief, mourning, and even salvation provided by the priest who disguises the suicide to make it look like murder so that the "victim" can have a Christian burial. It may it hard for you to believe, but all of these events are appropriately accompanied by the well-loved words and music of Handel's masterpiece.

Once you have realised how the work is being played out, you start wondering how this or that well-known aria/chorus will be treated. For example, what will they do for "How beautiful are the feet"? Well, I won't give all the secrets away. Get this disc and see for yourself!

The central figure--- who may represent Christ or the human condition---is played by a dancer who expresses his emotions silently and sometimes energetically. It may just be that occasionally he goes a little over the top. But it may only seem that way to us because we are treated to close-up views; from the auditorium the motions would not seem so intense. The dancer's expressiveness is frequently offset by the sign language of the angelic(?) woman who perhaps symbolises the mysterious purposes of God.

So, is this Eurotrash or something unique and special? As far as I am concerned, it is undoubtedly the latter. And the often rather staid Viennese audience apparently agreed, judging by their rapturous applause and cheers during the curtain calls. This won't please everyone, of course. Some might even feel offended. But they should bear in mind that the first performance of this work in London was not in a church, but in a theatre (Covent Garden) and that Handel himself called it an "entertainment." In fact, I would even go so far as to say that this production is more entertaining than a great many of Handel's long and repetitive "proper" operas. This is certainly a superbly staged production. It is musically outstanding. Technically, picture and sound quality are superlative and totally involving. In short, this is a unique HDVD experience you are never likely to forget!

Gordon Smith gave this Messiah the grade of "A-," and later the OperaDou jury also gave it "A-."