L.A. Chamber Offers a Joyous ‘Creation’

Not content to swim in the sea of inevitable “Messiahs,” the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra this year has bucked the tide. But with an objective. Haydn’s “Creation” is not associated with religious observance, yet as an oratorio formally in debt to Handel’s “Messiah” and as the greatest musical representation of Genesis we have, it is timely music. With new zeros on the calendar only days away, it is fresh for an orchestra to think about beginnings.

But there were other reasons for “The Creation” at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Friday night. Helmut Rilling, the noted German choral conductor who used to be a regular presence with the orchestra, was back. And there were young voices on hand--chorus and soloists--to make fresh beginnings plausible.

It is fascinating, with the “Messiah” as soundtrack for the season, to think what Handel might have made of the “Creation” libretto, which was written for him. History does not record why he never set it. But, I think, Haydn--who eventually did use it in German translation--makes the reason clear. The narrative, a compilation of Genesis with Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” is a celebration of the six days of creation, winding up with Adam and Eve joyously awakened to love. There is in the narrative no opportunity for character (Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael narrate) or cogent drama. The happy ending, without the rest of the story, would surely have disconcerted him.

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Haydn, whom we don’t exactly remember for his operas, had different dramatic gifts. He was a musical trickster and magician; he was master of theatrical surprise. The wonder of “The Creation” is wonder. Beginning with the representation of chaos in a murky and (for its time) radically chromatic orchestral introduction, Haydn visits each moment of creation with a sense of never-ending astonishment. The heavens and Earth are made, the waters and the dry land, the plants and the animals, and then man and woman, each to vivid, descriptive, irresistible music. Each day ends with a great, God-praising chorus. No other large musical work so quickly achieves a state of the sublime, and simply stays there.

Rilling was also content to stay in astonishment’s state. He asked for crisp, direct playing from the orchestra and singing from soloists and chorus. Early music techniques were at the back of his mind (keeping vibrato down in the strings, requesting fruity playing from winds), making colors bright. The orchestra played decently, though, at least from the perspective of a seat quite close to the stage, with a struggle for balance. The singing, however, was a treat.

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Student choruses are often special--there is no matching combined young voices, well prepared. Here, the USC Choral Artists sang Haydn’s choruses with a bright, cheerful effect--pure in tone, alert to every word, thrilling in its exuberant massed sound, eager for a challenge and not set in its way. It brought Haydn to life.

So, too, did three young, appealing soloists. Rolf Romei (Uriel) pounced on every phrase, perfectly capturing Haydn’s mood of astonishment. Despite a moment or two of insecurity, the Swiss tenor with a long ponytail demonstrated a wonderful lyric instrument and a sure sense of theater. Donna Brown (Gabriel and Eve) was the warm and sensuous soprano. Eric Owens (Raphael, Adam), a rich bass, sang with sincerity, phrases beginning big and profound, if sometimes drooping in the middle. But Rilling, the irrepressible chorus and Haydn were always there to prop him--and the audience--up at the end.