Early entry this morning, as I have a host of people to assure (or disappoint, depending on your point of view) that I haven’t met my untimely demise thanks to my careless, adventuresome nature.
So I went to the Messiah in Nashville yesterday and was accompanied by an absolutely marvelous man. After depositing a six-pack of Sam Adams’ Boston Lager in his refrigerator, we had dinner and proceeded to the Ryman for the concert.
/me puts on her music snob hat
They performed with the reduced-orchestra scoring, and while the strings were amazingly crisp and bright, the chorus was less than. Perhaps it was just the contrast between the two, but I know that the Nashville Symphony Chorus is comprised of volunteers and they tend to be rather accepting. During the melismas, it was obvious that some of the chorus members were using the preface-with-a-consonant method of enunciating the sixteenth notes, although it was probably unnoticeable to most of the ears in the audience. The tenor section was strong without overpowering the rest of the chorus, although the sopranos just splattered all their high notes.
The tenor soloist was a bit weak in his upper registers, but he had beautiful phrasing and melted into each note of “Behold and see.” The bass soloist was fantastic, and it was a pity that they didn’t perform “Why do the nations so furiously rage” so he could show off his technique. The alto soloist also lacked some power and would have done better with some amplification, as the Ryman has some dead spots, but the soprano soloist did all of us proud as she blazed through the vocal pyrotechnics of “Rejoice, O daughter of Zion!” Because they performed from the Novell edition, there were some substitutions of solos and different phrasings, but having done both the G. Schirmer and Novell, I highly prefer the latter.
C.S. was particularly attentive to the string sections and needed no libations to fortify himself for the second half. It was a bit of a disappointment to me that they didn’t attempt the full oratorio, but that would have meant a much longer running time, and it’s not for the weak of heart to sit through some of the slower portions. It was a well-rounded performance and the standing ovations afterwards were well-deserved.
/me takes off the aforementioned hat
Afterwards, I was treated to my favorite sort of spot: a hole-in-the-wall bar called Tootsies with live music and much rowdiness. C.S. offered to buy me a drink, but since I was still floating along on a strong Grey Goose cosmopolitan from dinner, I politely declined. And for the most inquisitive of readers, you will have to write me to satisfy your curiosity as to what happened afterwards.