For this year’s Messiah, Sage Gateshead and Royal Northern Sinfonia teamed up with the musical charity Samling, bringing together soloists from the long-established Samling Scholars programme, which supports a selected group of emerging singers at the start of their careers, and participants of Samling Academy, a newer scheme for younger singers based the in North East who are preparing for music college.
The Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia’s chorusmaster Alan Fearon stepped out from his usual role behind the scenes to conduct: I was told by a member of the choir that after years of preparing the choir for Messiahs with other conductors, he was relishing the opportunity to do things his way this time. Fearon tried to take a gentle approach, saving the full force of his singers for just a few key moments, but he reined them in too much. Some of the big choruses, particularly in the first part, were lacking in direction and energy and Handel’s spiky dotted rhythms were smoothed out to the point of dullness in the overture and “Behold the Lamb of God”. Although the choral singing was as immaculate as ever, the quiet passages were never really allowed to grow and blossom. I wondered at first whether the staging was to blame, because instead of being in the chorus seats they were on a low riser right behind the orchestra (sadly, with tacky illuminated snowflakes on the wall behind them), but when the chorus were let off the leash, things got much more exciting; “Surely he has borne our grief” was an electric jolt of power, and “He trusted in God” was thrillingly fast and vicious. One movement where the quieter approach did work well was “All we like sheep”, in which steep diminuendos on the falling phrases brought back the sense of remorse that is often overlooked in this chorus.
The Samling Scholar tenor Joshua Owen Mills began with a commanding performance of “Comfort ye”, with crisp diction and bright tone, and his “Thou shalt break them” was tense and dramatic. Bass Ben McAteer threw himself into the long semiquaver passages in “Thus saith them Lord”, creating a huge sound. Mezzo Helen Sherman was never loud, but the clarity of her voice carried well, and she bloomed in the lower part of the register, particularly in “He was despised”. She sang the slow sections of “But who may abide” with regret, rather than fear, but simmered with indignation as she spat out the second section of “He was despised”. Soprano Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson gave a warm and full-hearted performance of “I know that my Redeemer liveth”, and I loved all of her ornamented final cadences, but where she shone was in “Rejoice greatly”. She sang this aria with a real jubilance; her runs were perfectly shaped, which gave them direction and made them truly exciting to listen to and she added some ecstatic high notes into her da capo.