The Second Coming

‘Astounding’—that’s the word I’d chose to sum up last night’s Sandström Messiah premiere. What a gift the composer has for speaking to his audience in an inventive and immediately understandable way. It was a privilege and delight to hear the work rendered by the OBF Chorus and Orchestra under the direction Helmuth Rilling. The chorus was one of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing live.

As much as I’d like to relay the substance of this experience, recalling the details of Sandström’s two-hour Messiah is a job I’m not inclined to attempt. I will say, though, that the piece is stunningly beautiful, original and communicative–qualities not always found hand in hand when it comes to new music. Especially striking to me is the choral writing. Though obviously very challenging, it’s absolutely masterful. Every one of the oratorio’s 18 choruses has the polish if not the weight of a concert centerpiece.

Sandström was obviously not swayed by the ghost of Handel in creating this new work. Not only does the piece speak with a completely new musical vocabulary, it’s marked by fresh structure and emphasis. Where Handel’s Messiah features a solo aria, Sandström’s may feature a trio, a tenor/baritone duet or even a chorus. And more germane to the message of the piece, the emphasis of the text is fresh as well, and aptly so. After all, isn’t there more than one way to think about a passage like, “The people that walk in darkness have seen a great light”? Are we to be struck especially by the darkness or the light? With this and other passages in the libretto, Sandström’s points of emphasis differ from Handel’s, but in ways that make sense, that even make new sense, I would say. For example, the opening chorus in Handel’s Messiah, “Comfort ye my people”, is a calming tenor aria set in a bright major key, whereas in Sandström’s it’s a dark, poignant, pleading chorus set in minor.

There’s also a fresh sense of pacing with the Jennens libretto, partly owed to freedom from baroque forms. We’re used to hearing many parts of Handel’s Messiah twice every time we have the pleasure of their company as repetition is a basic structural element in the arias. The trade-off in moving away from that is that the drama unfolds with a noticeably different sense of momentum in the Sandström piece. The new work is about a half hour shorter than Handel’s. The effectiveness of that pacing is something that only the individual listener can asses. Personally, I think it worked very well.

I learned last night that Sandström’s Messiah will be recorded in Europe this fall and made available on CD at next year’s Oregon Bach Festival. That’s great news. Certainly OBF audiences will welcome it. Their enthusiasm last night could hardly be contained as they all but leaped over seats in rising for ten minutes of sustained applause—very much deserved.