Handel S Messiah

"Shout, shout, rejoice greatly" - Edward Polochick's extraordinarily imaginative, sometimes even audacious, interpretation of Handel's Messiah is back onstage at Meyerhoff Hall, performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and a terrific quartet of soloists. If you weren't at last night's performance, you've got one more chance tonight to catch the annual treat. Given note-complete, this Messiah avoids even the slightest trace of long-windedness. Polochick treats the score like a great big canvas waiting to have fresh colors splashed on it. The music alternately soothes and explodes, creating remarkable contrasts of dynamics, articulation, tempo.

The enormous popularity of Handel's "Messiah" has tended, unfairly, to obscure his nearly two dozen other oratorios. There was a time when audiences appreciated those grand scores and their mix of biblical history and piety, especially "Samson," "Judas Maccabaeus" and "Israel in Egypt." The Handel Choir of Baltimore made an effort to refocus attention on the latter Sunday at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. In some ways, "Israel in Egypt" is not an easy sell. There are remarkably few solo arias; the chorus sings the bulk of the text, limiting the variety of sonic color.

In the beginning, 1742, Handel's "Messiah" was a rather intimate creation, performed by chamber-sized chorus and orchestra. When the Victorians got ahold of it, the oratorio was blown out of proportion to match the inflated piety of the day, sung by hundreds, even thousands of voices, with giant orchestras to match. And the tempos Handel had known got slower and slower. "Messiah" survived. That Cecile B. De Mille business persisted into the 20th century, but by the 1970s, the craze for historical authenticity - a scholarly attempt to recreate the original dimensions, tempos, even instruments - resulted in smaller, leaner, often bloodless versions.

Last Saturday, all the components were in place for an unforgettable performance of Handel's "Messiah" -- St. Anne Episcopal Church's warm acoustics, maestro Ernest Green inspiring the Annapolis Chorale to sing with intense joy, the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra playing almost flawlessly and four sublime soloists to implement the score.The Annapolis Chorale's performance surpassed the version it released on CD last year. Considering that Saturday's concert followed five major performances between Dec. 10 and 19 by the chorale in addition to several outreach concerts, this was a remarkable achievement.

Mission: To contribute to the cultural life of the greater Baltimore community by performing choral works of great beauty at a high standard of musical excellence, and to provide an opportunity for skilled amateur singers from all walks of life to meet the challenge of performing musical works with professional direction and support. Started in 1934, the Handel Choir of Baltimore is the oldest continuously performing choir in the Baltimore area. Concerts are performed by the full choir of 100 musicians, a smaller chamber choir and a 14-voice a cappella ensemble.

The "St. John Passion" of Johann Sebastian Bach is on my mind these days, not just because of the generally unsatisfactory account of it given recently by the Annapolis Chorale, but because of an extraordinary new recording just released to coincide with the Easter season. Bach's musical setting of the Gospel of John is captured in all its gritty, dramatic splendor by Japan's premier baroque specialist, Masaaki Suzuki, who presides over a remarkable "Johannespassion" on Scandinavia's BIS label.

Handel's "Messiah" is the holiday music of choice in the English-speaking world. And in Baltimore, Edward Polochick's annual performances of "Messiah" with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Meyerhoff Symphony Hall have become one of the music season's most respected and beloved events.Joined by soprano Karen Clift, mezzo-soprano Mary Nessinger, bass-baritone Mark Doss and tenor Stewart Neill, Polochick will conduct Handel's masterpiece.The concerts are tomorrow and Saturday at 7: 30 p.m. Tickets$18-$40, and further information are available by calling (410)

This Sunday, Baltimore's Handel Choir opens its 63rd season with a concert in the "Music for a Great Space" series that does feature genuinely great music in an equally great space.The space is the historic Cathedral of the Assumption at Mulberry and Cathedral streets. Accompanied by the organ of the Basilica and a 16-piece brass and percussion ensemble, Handel Choir music director T. Herbert Dimmock and his 80 singers will divide themselves into groups positioned in the cathedral's balconies in order to create the glorious antiphonal effects necessary for the music of Gabrielli.

HAMMOND HIGH has just presented "The Crucible," a play about witches and paranoia in Puritan Salem.The cast is particularly grateful to Sally Livingston, a professor at the University of Maryland who, taking pity on the cast, edited the original four-hour play into something more manageable for actors with other calls on their memory skills.The crew appreciated the encouragement and skill of John Ensor, the new industrial arts teacher at the school who helped build the sets. Madonna Bradley, a professional seamstress, helped with the costume design.

BCAS sings 'Messiah' in WashingtonFor most Americans, Christmas simply isn't Christmas without Handel's "Messiah." This season features a Baltimore-in-Washington "Messiah." The Baltimore Choral Arts Society and its gifted music director, Tom Hall, will join forces with the National Symphony for four performances in the Concert Hall of the Kennedy Center: Dec. 16-17 and Dec. 19 at 8:30 p.m. and Dec. 18 at 1 p.m. The soloists will be soprano Janice Chandler, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, tenor Richard Clements and baritone David Evitts.