Pacific Symphony Hits High Points

Bright and propulsive, David Lockington’s performance of Handel’s “Messiah” with the Pacific Symphony and Pacific Chorale and four able soloists occupied the Orange County Performing Arts Center in the middle of a day on which the orchestra also presented two competing symphonic events in Segerstrom Hall: a set of young-people’s concerts in the morning and a pops concert in the evening.

This abridged (two-hour) Saturday matinee “Messiah,” the orchestra’s 17th annual presentation of the most popular oratorio in the repertory, hit all the high points of the masterpiece. Reduced to 31 players, the Pacific Symphony, with the halved (60 singers) Pacific Chorale, produced a stylish and lean sound that never emerged understated. The chorale uncharacteristically pronounced mushily, only intermittently living up to its better performance level; one suspected its stronger members had chosen to spend the day elsewhere.

Conductor Lockington’s Handelian expertise was everywhere in evidence. His tempos, sometimes exhilaratingly quick, always spoke, and the work’s text--despite frequent unintelligibility from the chorale--guided this reading’s steady progress. The orchestra played splendidly.

Most effective of the vocal soloists was Barbara Shirvis (recently Yum-Yum in Opera Pacific’s “Mikado”), a solid musician of strong sound and emotional projection. Tenor Matthew Chellis aggressively attacked his solos with operatic ring. Returning to the Pacific Symphony spotlight, contralto Ellen Rabiner displayed well-routined quality. Baritone Dean Elzinga, clearly talented, proved more inconsistent than accomplished in his exposed solos.