Sir John Eliot Gardiner - only 60, but an ancient institution of renown
-came to Zellerbach Hall tonight, with his 40-year-old Monteverdi Choir
and 13-year-old Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, and created
quite a sensation.  I first heard ORR at the inaugural Lincoln Center
Festival almost eight years ago, and couldn't quite believe tonight what
a splendid instrument it has become so quickly.

At the very beginning of the concert, time seemed to have stopped during
the first three bars of Handel's "Zadok the Priest" coronation anthem.
There was such perfection in the performance - instruments breathing
together - that the thought of legendary Hindu wedding nights came to
the listener's head, fire consuming the lovers as they unite, oblivion
being preferable to coming down from the moment of fulfillment, the
ultimate high.

It wasn't until the encore, an incredibly gentle and yet un-"romantic"
performance of Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus" that the initial magic was
fully recaptured, making the listener grateful to have opted out of a
premature, fiery exit.

In-between, there were long passages of gorgeous playing and stunning
choral performances, but from here on, ORR will mean those two peak
experiences, at the beginning and the end.

Gardiner strength is in being an early music specialist, who doesn't
overdo the authenticity shtick, embraces the Classical period, then
devotes himself freely to one of the greatest romantic composers of them
all, Berlioz.  In other words, he loves and serves music, whatever the
period, whatever the box others may want to squeeze it into.

The chorus, only 24-strong, is a brilliant instrument, packing power
that's almost excessive in the jubilation of "Zadok." In Mozart's "Vesperae
Solennes de Confessore," a rarely-performed piece that offers some
unearthly beauties, orchestra and chorus performed magnificently, but
the soprano soloist, Elin Manahan Thomas, a member of the chorus, did
not have the required goods.

A very young woman with an even younger voice, Thomas simply didn't sound
right for the role, especially while she was standing with the chorus,
upstage.  She stepped forward for the glorious music of "Laudate Dominum"
and fared better, but still there was that excessive vibrato and the
sound of a boy soprano, without solid foundation underneath the voice.
Other soloists from the chorus managed their assignments much more
convincingly, especially tenor Andrew Busher and bass Benjamin Davies.
The concluding "Magnificat" made one forgot about individual performances,
focusing attention on Mozart and the music, the way it should be.

Except for similar problems with the same soprano, the performance
of Haydn's "Heiligmesse" on the second half of the short program was
near-flawless, Gardiner switching effortlessly from "authentic Handel"
to "true Mozart" to the "real Haydn." The concluding "Dona Nobis Pacem"
was especially memorable, both because of the composer's bold innovation,
music many decades (centuries?) ahead of its time, and the excellence
of the performance.

Responding to the persistent ovation in the hall (unfortunately only
half-filled), Gardiner offered "Ave Verum Corpus." Although this was a
performance with chorus and orchestra, the impression was that of listening
to the other way of presenting the work - by a soloist only.  A cappella,
at that.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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