"He's Just A Naughty Boy"

[rhythmaning]

We went to see a performance of Handel's Messiah on Tuesday. It was a chamber performance - twelve singers, about the same or fewer musicians. (There were a couple of trumpeters who only appeared for the two bits of trumpet; and a timpanist who looked rather like he was stuck in a 1980s time-warp who only appeared at the end, too.)

It was very good. As a rule, I don't particularly like choral works - although big orchestral pieces like Mahler and Shostakovich symphonies are fine. I like the Messiah - I enjoy it - but it doesn't really grab me. (Yeah, yeah - philistine, I know.) The music seems too measured - perhaps too mathematical - too precise.

But it was good, too. The last time we saw the piece played was by the same choir a few years ago - they have an annual Christmas outing. It is a Christmas thing I suppose. The voices were very good - it is surprising how much sound twelve people can create, and such a beautiful sound, too.

Several things struck me, though. It is very long. A friend in the audience said she thought they were taking it too fast - but it still came in at over three hours, including interval: so two hours forty five minutes of pretty samey music.

It is very repetitive: the libretto (based on some psalms? the Gospel? I am offline just now, but I really should find out) repeats itself, apparently endlessly. This does create a meditative, prayer-like state - and it was clearly religious in origin, so this makes sense.

It goes on about sheep and lambs - standard gospel references, I suppose - appropriate for two millennia ago, when someone decided to write the Gospels perhaps, but it struck me as adding a slightly absurd dimension to the piece. (I was also reminded of a dead sheep we saw beside the A83 last wekend, which had made me wonder that one sees so few dead sheep by roads in Scotland - given the suicidal, melancholic nature displayed by Scottish sheep. It also reminded me of a review I read in someone's journal of the movie Broke Back Mountain, written from the perspective of the sheep - if I could remember where I read it, I'd post the link, because it was very funny.) So: sheep, absurd and slightly humourous.

And every so often, the line from Monty Python's Life of Brian crept into my mind, too: "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy." So I clearly had some credibility problems with the Messiah.

I did think it was beautiful, but in a cold, unengaging way. And too long. I would have been happy with Handel's Greatest Hits, perhaps - come on, cut to the Halleluhah chorus, that's the bit we've all come to hear!

And how long does it take to say "Amen", for god's sake.

It was all for god's sake, originally; and maybe that is why it doesn't move me: I was there for my sake, not for Hers.

It was a strange audience, really. Very old. We were trapped in by OAPs on all sides, who moved slowly: we were the youngest people there, I'd guess (aside from a sprinkling of children accompanying their grandparents). It was odd to see such a different crowd at the Queen's Hall - usually we are there for jazz concerts, and there is a whole different vibe going on.

It took ages to get out of the hall - thank god (again) that there wasn't a fire - and we searched for a taxi. An octogenarian tried to grab the cab I had hailed - she thought it had simply decided to turn in the middle of the road and pick them, whereas I knew I had seen it coming the other way, jumped half way across the road (avoiding a double decker bus bearing down on me) and stuck my hand out to stop it. And my wife was feeling unwell. Still, I felt I should really have let the oldies take my cab. Which didn't stop me keeping it for myself.

(A lot of this seems to be about God, and soul and art and music. I'll store it away for when I finally join pshtaku's meme and write about music that moves me...)

Comments

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

You were so moved by this holy work that you climbed into your cab over a poor old soul? Shame on you!

[topicaltim.livejournal.com]

I pass no comment on you trampling old folks while stealing their taxi- that's always a personal decision...

However, on the Handel, you make a good point; S and I saw The Messiah in the cheap seats in the Sheldonian Theatre this time last year and when it came to the traditional All Standing Up bit, we were very grateful. If you find yourself seated on an unpadded piece of timber, it's a long piece.

For that performance, I think we were about the median age (but this is Oxford, where many people age prematurely). The experienced older folk had obviously realised that once you haven't secured a comfy chair, you mightb as well head back to the nearby King's Arms.