![Tenor Kyle Bielfield in the third "scene" from Paul Dyer's Messiah.](/web/20170302142124im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/j/e/m/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gujepg.png/1487814568651.jpg)
Messiah
Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, City Recital Hall, February 22
Reviewed by Harriet Cunningham
★★★
Messiah is something of a sacred text: not just the words, but the whole performance tradition.
Is there anyone brought up on Western culture who can swear, hand on heart, they have never heard the Hallelujah Chorus?
Paul Dyer, artistic director of the Brandenburgs, acknowledges Messiah's central place in the repertoire, but that doesn't stop him from introducing a contemporary theatricality.
The results are mixed.
Musically, the highlight is the Brandenburg Choir, which delivers the choruses with a combination of open-hearted joy and rigorous discipline.
The full-throated roar of "Wonderful!" is, well, wonderful, but the fugal intricacies that lead up to it are even more impressive.
The orchestra is ranged across the back of the stage, which is not ideal for projecting the delicate timbres of original instruments.
But this is not their show. The spotlight is firmly on the front of the stage.
Dramatising Messiah was always going to be tricky. There is no action; there are no characters.
Consequently, director Constantine Costi's attempts to inject human drama into this celestial rite back-fire at times.
During part one, for example, Kyle Bielfield rips into his aria with blazing eyes and extravagant gestures. Add in the (completely appropriate and beautifully crafted) melisma at the cadence, and I got a sudden mental image of a competitor on The Voice.
Likewise, soprano Lucia Martin-Carton over-eggs There were shepherds abiding... and brings a glorious but disconcerting sensuality to Rejoice Greatly.
David Greco delivers a terrifying Why do the Nations?, full of evangelical zeal. Countertenor Nicholas Spanos is not at his best in the wide-ranging register of But who may abide... but brings a thrilling intensity of tone to later arias.
As for theatricality, the use of lighting, costumes and crowd control is highly effective, adding whole new dimension to a choral warhorse.
It's Messiah, but not as we know it.
Further performances: February 24, March 1, and 3 at 7pm, plus March 4 at 2pm and 7pm, all at City Recital Hall, with performances in Melbourne Recital Centre on February 25 at 7pm and February 26 at 5pm.