Handel: Messiah
Academy of Ancient Music, Lawrence Cummings
Nardus Williams, Reginald Mobley, Thomas Walker, Ashley Riches
Barbican Hall, 15 December 2025

The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) has a long and distinguished history with Handel’s Messiah, not least in being one of the first period instrument orchestras to record the piece in anything like the form, and with the soundworld of the original performance. After a stunning Messiah performance last year in the same Barbican venue, they returned for another sell-out performance with a new line of soloists Nardus Williams, Reginald Mobley, Thomas Walker, and Ashley Riches. I was impressed with all four of the coloists, although I did find the vibrato of the soprano a little disturbing, not least because the persistent pulse interfered with semiquaver runs. But, as with her colleagues, she expressed the words clearly and with meaning. The 18-strong choir similarly impressed, again with very clear diction and impressive consort. All four soloists excelled in adding historically appropriate ornaments and embellishments to the musical text. Of course, Messiah has no recognisable characters, as would be the case in an opera, so each recitative, accompagnato, and aria is a projection of the words, an essential component of Laurence Cummings’ interpretation, which he describes as a ‘Theatre of the Mind’.

Laurence Cummings has modified some of his speeds in recent years and seems to me to be increasingly thoughtful in his interpretations. What was particularly noticeable was the frequently tightly-segued links between the different parts of the musical journey, giving a fine sense of momentum. Another aspect of Cummings’ performance that heightened the emotional effect of the many choruses was his beautifully controlled use of dynamics and the build-up of tension. It is something that Handel often writes into the music, notably in the concluding Amen, where there is a dramatic jump in volume after a sotto voce start. With only one word of text, the Amen is a spectacular example of Handel’s use of musical rhetoric to heighten emotional power, so much so that Lawrence Cummings admits to a tenor entry just before the end that brings tears to his eyes.

The orchestral forces of the AAM excelled, producing a splendidly cohesive sound. The busy continuo group provided a range of tone colours to suit the mood of the text, with prominent contributions from Alistair Ross, organ/harpsichord, Kristina Watt, theorbo, Sarah McMahon, cello, Judith Evans, bass, and Laurence Cummings, directing from another harpsichord. There is only one instrumental solo in the whole piece, in this case from David Blackadder in “The trumpet shall sound” played while standing next to the bass soloist.

I am copying some of my review of last year’s performance over to this review, as the general comments made then apply again this year. Handel’s Messiah was first performed at Easter in Dublin in 1742 after a mere 24 days of composition (a speed not unusual in Handel’s opera compositions), the autograph score bearing witness to the compositional haste. It went through several revisions in the following years to suit the available forces. The score wasn’t actually published until eight years after Handel’s death. The version used for this performance stems from the early 1750s. The rather obtuse libretto was put together by the wealthy landowner, Charles Jennens, with extracts from the New Testament and the Psalms, seemingly in support of his staunch Anglican leanings. The text is not easy to follow, let alone understand, but Handel composed the music with apparent relish, without it seems changing the texts to suit his musical ideas, but rather brilliantly adapting his musical ideas to suit the text.

The promotion for last year’s concert included this 23-minute video discussion with Laurence Cummings and three of the performers. Amongst many other gems about Messiah and performance practice, Laurence Cummings’ description of Messiah as ‘Theatre of the Mind’ helps to explain his interpretation of the piece. It is obviously based on a deep understanding of the underlying musical thread that Handel weaves through the complex story of the life of Jesus from Old Testament prophecy to the complex post-Resurrection confirmation of Christian faith. Although apparently a devout believer, Handel’s music seems to hint at humanist thinking, most of the individual contributions reflecting very human emotions, although devoid of the individual characterisations that would have been the case in an opera.

It has been suggested by Handel scholar Donald Burrows that much of the text is largely incomprehensible to those ignorant of the biblical accounts. I would add that it is probably not much more understandable to those with some understanding of theological texts. During Laurence Cummings’ video discussion, he recalls that, as part of the luxurious rehearsal time allowed for a staged rather than a concert production, he discussed an aria with two very experienced singers but, three hours later, they still had no clear idea of what the text actually meant!

During performances of music like this, I often ponder how important it is to have an understanding or sympathy with the text. I have no idea whether any of these performers are believers but statistically it is unlikely that many are. Does that make a difference? To me, No. I can be moved by operatic arias, the texts of which seem to be complete nonsense. Such is the power of music. Again I quote Laurence Cummings from the video. Right at the end he is asked for his favourite part of the whole piece. He picks one moment from the last few bars that always makes him cry – the tenor entry as the second voice of the final fugal stretto of the Amen just minutes from the end! Such was the power of that entry from the tenors that I think he might have told them that before the performance.

For those interested in such things, last year the Hallelujah chorus produced an almost complete, if initially rather hesitant, upstanding, the only exception seems to be a few who would have probably struggled to get up and two young men who I guess were not of these parts. This year, the stand-up was similarly hesitant but, from what I could make out, far fewer people stood.