MUSIC REVIEW : Getting Handel on ‘Messiah’ Is, as Usual, a Slippery Job

‘Tis Christmas season so we have to hear Handel’s “Messiah.” No matter what. Thus, Segerstrom Hall was well filled Saturday afternoon--with squirming kids and coughers alike--for another run-through of the oratorio.

The dutiful performers on this occasion included the Pacific Symphony and Pacific Chorale and four soloists each with program biographies close to a foot in length, all led by guest conductor Michael Palmer, music director of the New Haven Symphony.

The results proved underwhelming indeed--routine, if at bottom professional. There are those who believe that a businesslike “Messiah” is better than no “Messiah” at all, and judging from the standing ovation that this performance received, they are in the majority.

Palmer led a reduced Pacific Symphony unemphatically through the motions. The weakly inflected dotted rhythms of the Overture proved par; the conductor consistently underplayed the many pictorial elements in the score, settling for neatness rather than drama. The basso continuo seemed sluggish and uninvolved; rhythmic vigor, if any, came from the top voices of the band.

The orchestra played tidily much of the time, indifferently and scrappily at others. One noticed that the orchestra had been scheduled to perform not one, but two children’s concerts that very morning--and one wondered.

The Pacific Chorale lacked the requisite might to fully impress in the big numbers--its “Wonderful” in “For unto us a Child is born” seemed less than up to its title--but sang nimbly and with rhythmic verve in the allegros, which Palmer took almost uniformly at very quick tempos, sometimes to the detriment of their grandeur.

The chorale also enunciated clearly, revealed poised balances and provided a hushed blend when needed. Indeed, it was the group’s soft dynamics which gave most pleasure.

Of the soloists, mezzo-soprano Mimi Lerner most effectively projected the drama in the music--her apparent grief in the aria, “He was despised,” a case in point--and sang with fluidity of phrase and mellow yet clear tone. Tenor Carl Halvorson also provided readings sensitive to word meanings, in clearly focused, light and bright vocalism.

Soprano Evelyn de la Rosa warbled prettily in her solos and offered clarion clear high notes. Baritone Douglas Lawrence sang with stentorian authority, but occasionally overdid the manly heft, and labored through some of the quicker passage work.

As myriad latecomers were noisily assuming seats, Lerner was aptly singing the words--over and over in Handel’s setting--”but who may abide the day of His coming?”

All in all, this “Messiah” was like that: something to sit through between mad shopping sprees.