United States Handel, Messiah: Susanna Phillips (soprano), Jennifer Johnson Cano (mezzo-soprano), Josh Lovell (tenor), Will Liverman (baritone), San Francisco Symphony Chorus (chorus director: Jenny Wong), San Francisco Symphony / Dame Jane Glover (conductor). Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 5.12.2025. (HS)
One pleasure of Dame Jane Glover conducting Handel’s Messiah is being able to watch her shape the music with her hands. Poetic, at times flexible, at others precise, the baton-free hands always draw the orchestra and chorus toward a singular effect. For Messiah, which she has led more than 150 times in her career, there is nothing between her and the musicians — no stick, no score, no music stand.
Her hands, with the help of body language and penetrating eyes, communicated all that was necessary in a performance with the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus at Davies Hall. The rapt audience seemed to hang on every note, and on every word from an outstanding quartet of singers and the chorus.
The two performances in San Francisco – part of Glover’s December mini-Messiah tour (and multiple performances with The Music of the Baroque in Chicago and the New York Philharmonic) – benefited greatly from gorgeous singing. The chorus, under the direction of Jenny Wong, was the touchstone. Their unanimity and clear pronunciation needed no projected titles (and there weren’t any), and their delineation of Handel’s counterpoint and layered sound was intricate and on the mark.
The ‘Hallelujah’ was the high point it was supposed to be, punctuated by lively timpani playing by Edward Stephan. Supporting the recitatives deftly were cellist Rainer Eudekis (sometimes doubled by bassist Scott Pingel) and harpsichordist Jonathon Dimmock, who shuttled between that instrument and an electric organ for choral accompaniment.
Soprano Susanna Phillips’s solo moments brought distinctiveness, elegance, refinement and a soothing attitude to recitatives and arias. ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth’ was especially striking for its poignant dynamics, fervent yet totally calming. The suspension of time was breathtaking.
Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, a veteran of more than 150 performances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, brought appropriate gravitas to her narratives. An impressive low range fit seamlessly with her higher notes. We were also in good hands with Canadian lyric tenor Josh Lovell, whose narratives flowed with clarity and silky sound, a sense of reverence reverberating behind every word.
The baritone part may be the sparsest of the four soloists but Will Liverman came into his own in the finale, beginning with ‘Behold, I tell you a mystery’ and climaxing with a redoubtable ‘The trumpet shall sound’. The brass instrument itself was magnificently delivered on a Baroque piccolo trumpet by the orchestra’s principal, Mark Inouye.
That heralded a summation by the chorus that perfectly expounded one of the most uplifting moments in all of music: ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain’. As majestic and triumphant as it should be, it also glowed with refined playing by the orchestra, especially in brief solo moments by associate concertmaster Wyatt Underhill, moments of purity without a shimmer of vibrato.
Glover and the chorus then articulated a closing ‘Amen’ that gave the audience a big embrace. That sort of specificity and emotional acumen characterized the entire length of the oratorio. There was nothing excessive in Glover’s approach, informed by Baroque traditions but with every moment feeling fresh. Spacious, never rushed, it also had a pulse that communicated a sort of inevitability.
Harvey Steiman