Chorus rises
to challenge
ITis a pleasant change to hear
something
other
than
The
Messiah, and Handel’s Israel
in Egypt was certainly worth
hearing,
More’s the pity that the
GPO’s concert last Saturday,
under the baton of Neville
Creed, didn’t draw a full
house. Ironically when Israel
in Egypt was first performed,
~ it was a commercial flop, pri-
marily because of the predominant role of the chorus.
Although there are six soloists,
most of the parts (apart from
the alto) are smallin comparison with Handel’s other oratorios. Achieving variety with
such extensive writing for
chorus can be problematic,.
and I found the overall concept of dramatic progression
missing in the earlier parts of
the concert.
However, not only the tex-
tural variety, but also the continuity improved during the
second half where the soloists
featured more strongly.
- Michael Chance, justifiably
one
of the most highly regarded counter-tenors today, gave
an ethereally beautiful rendition of the alto part, his vocal
control being quite magical.
Both the soprano soloists,
Ruth Holton and Nicola
Jenkin, were likewise convincing, though I felt the tenor
Philip Sheffield gave a less secure performance. The basses
had only one item in which to
sing, Graham Titus’s voice be-
ing particularly majestic and
dramatic.
At the end of the day, however, the banner of triumph
should go to the Guildford
Philharmonic Chorus, which
rose heroically to the challenge
of such a substantial role, producing some taut and well-disciplined choral smgmg Bar a
few unclean entries mamly at
the beginnings of the arias, the
orchestra also mustered some
excellent playing, and obviously benefited from the dynamic conducting of Neville
Creed.
LG
Joanr~
&