San Francisco Symphony Chorus in Full Force

Last night in Davies Symphony Hall, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) presented the first of two performances of George Frideric Handel’s HWV 56 oratorio Messiah. This is an annual event for the holiday season, but every year brings a new conductor with his/her own perspective on how to present the oratorio without making it sound like an old warhorse ready for the glue factory. This year the conductor was Jonathan Cohen, who has made his reputation on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. As an early music specialist, he founded his Arcangelo ensemble in 2010; and it became the first Baroque-ensemble-in-residence group at Wigmore Hall in London.

Conductor Jonathan Cohen (left) with vocal soloists (clockwise from upper left) Joélle Harvey, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Michael Sumuel, and Nicholas Phan (from the SFS event page)

For his SFS debut, he stripped the string section down to its barest minimum, providing an engaging transparency that was a far cry from the “cast of thousands” performances that were so popular in the Fifties. Mind you, the SFS Chorus, prepared by Director Jenny Wong, performed in full force last night; but, in spite of their impressive numbers, Cohen knew exactly how to balance them against the instrumental ensemble, which also provided just the right balance to accompany each of the vocal soloists: soprano Joélle Harvey, mezzo Jennifer Johnson Cano, tenor Nicholas Phan, and bass-baritone Michael Sumuel.

Cohen’s approach to balance involved more than basic dynamics. Several of the vocal solos were treated as chamber music. As the most striking example, the decision to accompany one of the vocal solos with a string trio and continuo allowed for greater clarity in the delivery of the text (even if almost everyone in the audience seemed to know the text by heart).

To be fair, I did not always buy into Cohen’s interpretative decisions. However, as the evening proceeded, I become more willing to accept that he had the right to make those decisions. As a result, last night was a far cry from a here-we-go-again occasion. I certainly would not mind Cohen making a return visit to Davies to present some of his other approaches to the early music repertoire.