This is part two of our two-part preview of Portland Baroque Orchestra’s “Messiah” with Cappella Romana and new Artistic Director Julian Perkins. Read part one here.

Allow me to ask you again, with a different flavor. As the introduction to his Cappella Romana musicians, which movement did Julian Perkins choose to listen to first? Do you think he wanted to hear those maniacal melismas in “And He Shall Purify”? Or do you think PBO’s new Artistic Director chose the two a cappella segments in “Since By Man Came Death”?

Or do you think he just went with the crowd favorite and chose the “Hallelujah Chorus”? Right you are! But after a couple of pages, letting the singers warm up vocally and acoustically, he stopped with specific intent. He asked for a different vowel on “Ha” and the newly unified tone filled the hall. But the next words he spoke would become the centering mantra for the next three hours. 

“Think of yourselves as actors declaiming the text.” Handel and chorus now both acting as conduits to the text. Choral Dramaticism. Hmm? Is that a thing? It was in this rehearsal.

What Perkins and the choir did with the “a” vowel was technical – a vowel modification – but it also changed the delivery of the text to serve the drama. Let’s take a look at more ways in which Perkins and the choir made use of that mindset.

Turning to those a cappella segments from “Since By Man Came Death,” Perkins went again for text-related detail, this time focusing on the consonant. “Think of the consonant as nurturing the vowel” he remarked, referring to the beginning “d” of death. He was after a crisp, purposeful “d” to release the “eh” sound. And then he asked for the “th” of death to be a longer event. Perhaps you won’t be aware of these “d”s and “th”s in performance, but they will enhance the dramatic path toward one of the pivotal moments in the oratorio, the assimilation of the resurrection. Listen to that short movement here. 

Does this seem a tedious process? It didn’t seem so in rehearsal. It is a vocal and intellectual workout, of course. But the choir was animated. And the changes Perkins suggested yielded immediate success. It was also a pleasure to watch. And amusing moments did occur.

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Perkins and the choir had a bit of fun with “All We Like Sheep.” You can, too. The line – “have gone (way, way, way) astray” – depicting those herds of woollybacks just disappearing over the hillside. A delight. You might even see it in Perkins’ gesture. Now, that amusing discussion about the question of whether “to bleat or not to bleat” – uh, nope, you’ll have to wait for performance for that one. Why did Handel choose to illustrate humankind’s sinfulness in this way? Perhaps the somber and sorrowful surrounding texts and music are the key to that dramatic diversity. But notice how we are now engaged in conversation about the story. Perhaps even a story that is significant to us today.

Perkins made generous use of the metaphor to reach his desired results. Here are some you might appreciate:

• “His Yoke Is Easy” where each melisma is a laugh;
• “Glory to God” in which each iteration of ‘good will’ is a hearty pat on the back;
• “He Trusted in God”, one of the “nastiest” texts according to Perkins, where the three words “delight in him” are nails on the cross. Only eighteen words in the entire movement but they are so viciously driven they leave the nerves twitching.

It was too hard to keep count of the times Perkins mentioned Jennens, and spoke of dramatic intent. And said “thank you” to his musicians. When next they meet, in full ensemble rehearsal, there will be even more dramatic discoveries. And there will be housekeeping to work through. But even those–like the “stand and sits” and the choices of when to seat latecomers–are in service to the dramatic performance close ahead.

So, let’s all do our own little da capo, back to Part I and our curiosity. And then the first words Perkins spoke in the coffee conversation: “It’s a drama”. That could just be the answer. And a way to experience Messiah again, for the first time.

Portland Baroque Orchestra and Cappella Romana perform the complete Messiah by George Frideric Handel and Charles Jennens on Friday, December 6, 7 pm, Saturday, December 7, 3 pm and Sunday, December 8, 3 pm in their new venue Portland’s First Congregational Church on the Park Blocks. Tickets and more information can be found here.