MUSIC REVIEW : Cumming Calls Time Out, Offers Crisp ‘Messiah’

As in previous performances, time constraints required that parts of Handel’s “Messiah” be omitted from the Pacific Chorale and Pacific Symphony’s concert Saturday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Edward Cumming, the Pacific’s assistant conductor, kept the more timely Christmas portion intact. He also reinserted substantial sections that had been cut last year, thereby giving his two strongest soloists additional arias in which to distinguish themselves.

Baritone Thomas Scurich maintained technical and dramatic finesse even in the most demanding passages. The recitative “Thus saith the Lord,” which often disintegrates into laughable tremors at the line “and I will shake the heav’ns and the earth,” emerged powerful and minutely controlled.

Both arias in the second section--missing from last December’s reading by the same two groups, but happily restored for this 15th annual event--carried potent meaning and great clarity.

With principal trumpeter Burnette Dillon as Scurich’s clarion partner, and crisp support from the string section, “The trumpet shall sound” heralded rapturous anticipation of immortality.

Soprano Jeanine Thames also was rewarded by Cumming’s restorations with the inclusion of “How beautiful are the feet,” which she offered with touching simplicity. Elsewhere, textual content seemed to have little impact on Thames’ approach, though her intonation proved sure and her tone production remained ever focused and penetrating.

Listeners benefited from the conductor’s trimming of the tenor and alto parts. Tenor David Parks wielded his light, clear instrument with much flexibility but woeful placement of pitch. Jeanne Rievel-Wentworth’s well-trained but underwhelming mezzo-soprano provided forgettable pleasantries.

With the chorale’s accompanist, Lori Loftus, at the double-manual harpsichord, the pared-down orchestra received attractive anchoring from the delicate tones of a 1989 Curtis Berek, French-style instrument.

In comparison, the Pacific Chorale’s threatened to greatly overpower its accompanist during its first offering, “And the glory of the Lord.” Yet, despite its numbers, the chorus managed balanced, accurate and rhythmically buoyant counterpoint, and meaty, unified homophony throughout the oratorio.