Messiah, Ripon Cathedral (From The Northern Echo)

Messiah, Ripon Cathedral

HANDEL’S oratorio Messiah was performed to great acclaim by Ripon Choral Society conducted by John Dunford.

The choir was in fine form, producing a range of tonal colours and dynamic levels which vividly illuminated the “inspired patchwork” of Charles Jennens’ libretto, drawn mainly from the Old Testament. The choir’s loud passages were robust and full-bodied but never coarse, and even the sections which Gerald Abraham referred to as the “choral thunderbolts”

were thrilling rather than merely noisy.

There was a change to the soloists’ line-up with the bass-baritone Dominic Barberi standing in at short notice for the advertised Duncan Rock. He joined tenor Stephen Chambers and counter-tenor Robert Ogden who all sang with confident musicianship and the stylistic vocal sensitivity to perform oratorio rather than opera.

But special mention must be made of the solo soprano Rebecca Lea, who sang not only with great style but also with effortless technical assurance and immense musicianship.

As ever, John Dunford conducted with assurance, controlling his resources with panache. It has to be said that some of his fast speeds are beginning to verge on the extreme and do little to help the articulation of rapid passagework in some of the choruses – particularly in the spaciousness of the cathedral.

The Orchestra d’Amici did its usual professional job admirably, albeit nearly being caught out by an unexpectedly rapid speed at the start of a couple of choruses.

Ripon Choral Society is now the largest choir in Yorkshire.

Might it be worth speculating that it is also the finest? – PS