MSO’s “Messiah” unto us is born in Hales Corners

Guest conductor James Judd led a vigorous and thoughtful reading of Messiah Wednesday evening, as the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Chorus commenced a four-venue hometown Handel tour in Hales Corners, at the St. Mary’s Faith Community.

Judd, a Brit who’s spent a good deal of his long career leading the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, brought a clear conception to the work: The allegros would be very fast and very light, and the slow movements would be very slow and weighty. I’ve never heard a slower final Amen in Messiah. Usually, it comes off as something like stinger after the grand summation of the great choral “Worthy was the lamb that was slain.” But Judd made it an extension of the grand summation, and it was pretty convincing.

Judd also has a good sense of the dissonant, expressive pressure points of the music and got his singers and players to lean into them to just the right degree. He gave almost every choral sustained tone a dynamic profile. Such detail enriched the piece and invited and rewarded close listening.

The orchestra, chorus and soloists read Judd well and responded with overall vigor and moment by moment nuance. Lee Erickson’s Milwaukee Symphony Chorus sang the allegros with a beautiful transparency and had no trouble at all with the speedy tempos. The chorus saved the heft for the slower movements or the vehement ones. The signal contrast would be the giddy, airhead lightness of  “All we like sheep have gone astray” versus the fury of “Let us break the bonds asunder.” Suspiciously similar melodic material permeates both, but the mood of the second is exactly opposite of the first. The power of Wednesday’s performance, almost as much as Handel’s transforming genius, made it happen.

Following recent practice, the Florentine Opera’s four young Studio Artists sang the solo roles. Mezzo Kristen DiNinno, tenor Kevin Newell and baritone Carl Frank ran into a pitch problem or two along the way — Newell went well of the tracks in his first big coloratura ornament. But generally they sang well. The voices are all big and well matched to this music. All three — DiNinno especially, with her substantial lows — can meet Handel’s considerable demands of range. Newell’s clarion tenor, once in the groove, rose above it all like an angel’s annunciatory trumpet. I very much like the dramatic force of Frank’s singing.

Soprano Alisa Suzanne Jordheim was born to sing Messiah. She hit the bulls-eye of every pitch, for starters. Handel tests both the coloratura agility and the lyrical phrasing of his soprano; Jordheim sailed through the challenges of the former with brilliant ease and lavished the sweetest vocal beauty on the latter. Her voice fell upon the ear as a blessing.

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will present Handel’s Messiah at three additional locations. Tickets for all performances are available  at the MSO’s website and ticket line, 414 291-7605.

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16, at the Basilica of St. Josaphat, 601 W. Lincoln Ave, Milwaukee.

7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 14 and 15, Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, 802 N. Jackson St.

7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec 21-22, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 23, Sharon Lynne Wilson Center, 19805 W. Capitol Dr., Brookfield.

For all the holiday shows and quick links to ticketing pages and TCD reviews, visit Danielle McClune’s current On Stage column.