Review: Music of the Baroque Delivers Once-in-a-Lifetime Excellence, Including a Concert Cruise on the River

Over a two-evening span, Dame Jane Glover and Music of the Baroque Orchestra and Chorus provided a once-in-a-lifetime musical experience. On Tuesday, with the help of soprano Joélle Harvey, tenor Aaron Sheehan, and baritone Brandon Cedel, MOB gave the greatest performance I have ever heard of Franz Joseph Haydn’s amazing oratorio, The Creation.

On Wednesday evening, with the help of 26 members of the Strong Voices Chorus, which is made up of students from seven Chicago public high schools, MOB Orchestra and Chorus boarded a cruise ship on the Chicago River and recreated a boating party that took place in London in 1717. At that time, the newly crowned King George I brought in George Frideric Handel to compose what has been known as Water Music ever since.

Glover has said that she considers The Creation to be the greatest piece of music ever written, and it’s hard to argue with that. In two visits to London, Haydn heard and drew inspiration from the great oratorios that Handel had premiered in that city 60 years earlier. The Creation set a standard for vocal and orchestral music that has never been equaled, even by Haydn himself, who afterward wrote another great oratorio, The Seasons.

Haydn dumped 40 years of musical knowledge into The Creation, which, lasting over two hours, is split into three parts. The first two parts recount the first six days of the world, as told in the Book of Genesis. It ends in the third part with a halcyon display of Adam and Eve before their troubles began. Haydn found amazing musical expressions for everything in the story, and Music of the Baroque rose to the occasion time and again on Tuesday night.

Glover took the gloomy introduction very slowly and delicately, and baritone Brandon Cedel and the quiet chorus continued the affect. From the opening notes, problems with phrasing and precision from a performance last week at Ravinia were completely gone. When dawn finally came, the sound was perfect. I’ve never heard it done so well.

In setting to music thunder, waves, rain, the sun, the stars, green grasses, plants, fish, and wild animals, Haydn gave every section of the large orchestra lots of different tasks. The cellos and basses climbed the mountains, the horns and violins imagined a peaceful vale and a silver brook, and a flute mimicked a nightingale. Haydn used a sextet of two violas, two cellos, and two basses to conjure up a great whale.

In addition to conducting with a baton in her right hand, Glover accompanied the soloists in several “Recitatives” from the harpsichord. Whether singing alone or as an ensemble, the soloists sounded great. With a very bright voice, tenor Aaron Sheehan picked up the lively, up-tempo pace after dawn came and went, and Joélle Harvey’s clean and pure voice joined the Chorus for a rousing conclusion to the second day. She and Cedel were fabulous as Adam and Eve in Part III, where their duet “With Thee” was pure delight. Concluding the third day, the chorus showed off tight phrasing and counterpoint. The final chorus fulfilled the promise of everything leading up to it. With the addition of alto Margaret Fox, the trio became a quartet.

The absolute high point for me was the Fourth Day. Following careful and precise interaction between the orchestra and Sheehan, Part I ended with an amazing rendition of “The Heavens Declare.” Everyone onstage had a role in performing a tune that I regularly hear in my head. The performance was so good, it brought me to tears.

On the following night, cruising down the river in a boat with 70 performing musicians, Glover conducted a 25-minute program that included music from two of Handel’s Water Music suites, Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria, a chorus from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus, and the “Halleluia Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah.

As the cruise ship plied the river, the musicians played continuously. It stopped twice and performed the full program at the Merchandise Mart and between the LaSalle and Clark bridges. A second cruise ship was packed to capacity with 150 ticketed passengers, and Oliver Camacho from WFMT provided narration. Spread along the Riverwalk and sitting in the risers were hundreds of people enjoying the free concert.

Hearing this music on the Chicago River with so many listeners was unreal. The warm and dry weather certainly helped, but so did the rising harvest moon, which, being a few days shy of the equinox, was due east. As the cruise ships returned to the docks on the east end of the Riverwalk, people were treated to a clear view of the moon hanging over the river and lake, all to the sounds of the “Halleluia Chorus.” Life does not get any better than this.

In October, Music of the Baroque continues its season with Laurence Cummings, music director of the Academy of Ancient Music, conducting The Elements, a program exploring the elements of earth, air, fire, and water. The program includes music by Rameau, Telemann, Vivaldi, and Rebel. North Shore Center in Skokie, Sunday October 27, 7:30 pm; Harris Theater, Chicago, Monday, October 28, 7:30 pm. For more information click here.