Few people know this fact about Handel’s “Messiah,” his quintessential, reverential masterpiece written in 1741: Mozart, himself, did his own arrangement of the work using more horns and far less keyboard. The revised version was subsequently presented in Vienna in 1789, having a radical effect on the course of the oratorio’s history.
The beat (pardon the literal expression) continues today.
Music Director Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, together with the Morgan State University Choir, present the soulful interpretation “Too Hot to Handel: The Gospel Messiah” this weekend as part of the Symphony with a Twist program.
“If you’re really pretty religious about your Handel ‘Messiah’ in its original form, maybe don’t come to this,” Alsop said frankly.
No disrespect is intended here. The piece, which premiered in 1992 at New York’s Avery Fischer Hall, simply offers audiences a fresh twist on a familiar holiday classic.
In collaboration with Gary Anderson and “Too Hot to Handel” co-arranger Bob Christianson, Alsop created a revised version of “Messiah” that broke the traditional bounds of classical music.
“We started talking about this idea of re-envisioning Handel’s work, such that the DNA of the piece remained the same — the melodies, harmonies, structure and text,” she said. “However it is all treated differently.”
Alsop explains how the new version utilizes completely different instrumentation, expanding the orchestra to include, in her words, “a full-blown rhythm section,” of gospel piano, electric guitars and a Hammond B-3 jazz organ featuring Christianson himself at the keyboards.
“It becomes an active listening experience [for the audience] when you’re allowed to stand up or clap your hands,” Alsop continued.
Solo vocalists in the reinterpretation include legendary jazz singer Vanessa Thomas, lyric tenor Thomas Young and Broadway star Rozz Morehead.
The chorus, which is the backbone of “Messiah,” could be none other than the world-famous Morgan State University Choir under the direction of Dr. Eric Conway.
Conway was thrilled to collaborate with Alsop and the BSO.
“With such great music, how could we resist the challenge?” he asked rhetorically. “And this re-envisioned version of ‘Messiah’ definitely lives up to expectations.”
IF YOU GO
Too Hot to Handel: The Gospel Messiah
» Venue: Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore
» Time: 8 p.m. Thursday
11 a.m. Saturday (Family Concert Series)
» Venue: The Music Center at Strathmore
5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda
» Time: 8 p.m. Friday
» Tickets: $20 to $80, with reduced-rate Family Concert Tickets
» Info: 410-783-8000; www.bsomusic.org
