Word: handels
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Though Christmas time performances of Handel's Messiah abound in the greater Boston area, none could deny that the Handel and Haydn Societys annual production stands out from the usual "Hallelujah" shouting crowds. The H&H, as its aficionados fondly dub it, not only is the country's oldest continuously performing arts organization, dating from 1815, but has maintained the tradition of a December performance of Messiah every year since 1854. If last Sunday's rendition of Handel's 1753 version of Messiah is any indication, the H&H has not let its great musical heritage go to waste...
...only is each element--soloists, chorus, orchestra--magnificent in itself, but all are expertly balanced and coordinated by Finney's direction, producing in totality a truly memorable Messiah. Anyone who's ever heard Messiah, or indeed anyone who hasn't, should attend this production to experience it as Handel might have imagined and hoped it should...
...program was comprised of only three works: the Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, the Brahms Handel Variations and Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition...
This miracle of invention, inspired by a vanilla aria on which Handel himself wrote five unassuming variations, drew praise even from Brahms' antipode, Wagner. Like their worthy companions, the Bach Goldberg and the Beethoven Diabelli, these pieces explore the melodic and harmonic potential of their progenitor exhaustively, and function collectively as a treatise on the composer's sense of keyboard style. But more than the Goldberg and the Diabelli, the Handel variations are witty...
Lovers of baroque music are encouraged to attend the Handel and Haydn Society's future offerings at Symphony Hall, including the second and third installments of their annual Handel vocal works series, this year Messiah in early December and Julius Caesar in late March. Other season highlights include Bach's Christmas Oratorio and a collaboration with jazz great Dave Brubeck and his sons...