Review: SPCO performs a reverent Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at the Basilica of St. Mary

Every year about this time, Twin Cities classical music lovers — and, in particular, those who make a holiday tradition of experiencing George Frideric Handel’s 1742 oratorio “Messiah” — divide themselves into two camps.

And not those who buy tickets for the Minnesota Orchestra’s version versus those who catch the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s. That ship seems to have sailed. The Minnesota Orchestra revived that friendly rivalry last year for the first time since 2019, but opted out this year, thus allowing the area’s best baroque band to corner the “Messiah” market.

No, the division is between those who go to the SPCO’s “Messiah” for the majesty or the music. If what you seek is a setting suffused with the sacred — frescoes, statuary, small recessed chapels with burning candles and artwork of biblical scenes — then the Basilica of St. Mary is clearly your jam. That’s where the orchestra, local choir the Singers and four vocal soloists performed “Messiah” on Thursday night, with a repeat performance on Friday. It resonated with reverence.

But if you’re motivated by a desire to experience an exquisite and echo-free performance of “Messiah,” then consider yourself fortunate if you hold a ticket to the Saturday or Sunday performances at St. Paul’s Ordway Concert Hall. You’ll very likely experience something that displays the intricacies and subtleties of Handel’s score to fine effect.

As for the Basilica, results may vary. There are pockets of clarity and crispness dotting the venue. I’ll leave it to acousticians to figure out why.

But I can tell you this about Thursday: Conductor Patrick Dupré Quigley is clearly an old-school devotee of baroque-era custom, something he’s known for as the head of Miami-based early music group Seraphic Fire. While Quigley’s conducting style seemed early on to emphasize economy of movement, his physicality and evident enthusiasm grew as the evening went on.

As for the four vocal soloists who joined Quigley and the SPCO, each impressed in their own way, but also displayed some shortcomings — with the exception of mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski. As with the solos of tenor John Matthew Myers, I could make out every word Osowski sang, but she also brought an emotional clarity and an intensity of focus rarely found in such arias as “But who may abide” and, especially, “He was despised.”

Soprano Lauren Snouffer has a perfectly beautiful voice, especially in her spine-tingling upper register. But too many of her lyrics were unclear. Such was rarely the case with the strong-voiced bass John Moore, but some notes at the low end of his range became difficult to hear above the orchestra.

A move to the crisper acoustics of the Ordway likely will benefit no one more than the Singers, who brought moments of tremendous beauty to their performance, but had some lyrics swallowed up in echoes.

Meanwhile, the SPCO sounded great all night, bringing a nuanced dynamic flow and sensitive ensemble work to the concert, complemented by exceptional solos by trumpeter Lynn Erickson and violinist Steven Copes.

With: Conductor Patrick Dupré Quigley, soprano Lauren Snouffer, mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski, tenor John Matthew Myers, baritone John Moore and the Singers

What: George Frideric Handel’s oratorio, “Messiah”

When and where: 7 p.m. Fri., Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls.; 7 p.m. Sat. and 2 p.m. Sun., Ordway Concert Hall, 345 Washington St., St. Paul

Tickets: $5-$68, available at 651-291-1144 or thespco.org

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.