SA Symphony, conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni
Canadian team anchors a leisurely "Messiah"
December 13, 2008Handel’s “Messiah” was once again on the San Antonio Symphony’s bill on Dec. 12, this time with a guest conductor and vocal soloists from Canada.
Conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni’s tempos were leisurely and sometimes, as in the final Amen, excruciatingly slow. He favored a smooth legato even where the text and music both demanded crisp, detached articulation, as in much of “Behold the Lamb of God” and “And with His stripes.” His billowing dynamics were fine in principle, but fussy and overstated in execution. The result of these traits was an attractively lyrical but somewhat heavy view of music that wants to be more lithe and lean.
Informed opinions may disagree -- and often do, even to the verge of nuclear warfare -- on the appropriate amount of ornamentation in baroque music. Some favor keeping vocal soloists on a short leash. Given that, for Handel, oratorio was opera by other means, my own view is that soloists should be encouraged to ornament as liberally and improvisationally as Gospel or soul singers, especially in music that is so familiar.
This performance plied a middle course, with soprano Nathalie Paulin and tenor Antonio Figueroa providing a good number of enterprising flourishes. Paulin also impressed with her remarkable agility and rich, glossy instrument, though her consonants were blurry; Figueroa with his limpid, accurate, stylish and very beautiful singing. The other soloists played less with their lines. Stephen Helgedus’ bright, ringing bass-baritone was more than agreeable, however. Alto Mireille Lebel’s style of projection and phrasing seemed situated in the mid-19th century rather than the mid-18th.
The Mastersingers chorus, superbly prepared by John Silantien, sang cleanly and in balance, though the tenor section sounded a trifle thin. The orchestra was in good shape, with particularly nice work coming from oboist Hideaki Okada and principal trumpet John Carroll.
The spectators in the Majestic Theater made the usual clatter when they stood for the seventh-inning stretch. Oh, and you know the light that shined on the people that walked in darkness? Turns out it was the light of a cheerily chirping cell phone. Who knew?
Mike
Greenberg
