The performance of Handel's Messiah at the National Concert Hall last Thursday night was one of the most opinionated I have heard in a long time. And this well-worn music sounded all the better for it.
Fishamble Voices is a Dublin-based choir of 21 professional singers who gave their first concert last February. On Thursday, their control of tone and volume was always impressive; and, even though the basses did not have the agility of the other sections, clarity of detail in the choral pieces was consistent.
The main strength of this performance was that it was driven by definite, informed concepts. Messiah uses the language of Baroque opera, and conductor Brian MacKay approached each piece in a way which realised dramatic potential without milking expressive impact from music which can speak for itself.
The four soloists were at one with this view. Cara O'Sullivan (soprano), Catherine Wyn-Rogers (contralto), Eugene Ginty (tenor) and Philip O'Reilly (bass) sang in a way which made the music seem driven by the words, although Ginty's wide vibrato hindered clear intonation. The Orchestra of St Cecilia played their modern instruments with the sort of deftness one looks for from a period-instrument group. But the most historically informed contribution came from Catherine Wyn-Rogers, whose long experience with top-flight groups of that kind showed.
This concert's strengths far outweighed its occasional flaws. It was sometimes provocative, but was always purposeful. And its use of scale and pacing to achieve dramatic impact was a reminder of Beethoven's reported comment about Handel - a composer who, more than any other, could achieve the greatest effect through the simplest means.