Performing Arts

Haydn's largest, most grandiose work, The Creation, received many commensurately grand performances when it was new 200 years ago. These days, though, the fashion is to play classical-period works with small orchestras and even smaller choirs.

Here Paul McCreesh handily bucks the trend with a huge band of instrumentalists and two sizable choruses combined. For those of us who have longed to hear a really large period ensemble, this was worth waiting for. (Now how about giving us Mozart's Paris Symphony, written for similarly gargantuan forces, somebody?)

The oratorio's libretto has a complex history of translation from English to German and back again. Mr. McCreesh has revised the standard English version, so the soprano aria is again "With verdure clad" and the big chorus "The heavens are telling." There's not much story. The events consist of the creation of the natural world and of Adam and Eve, but no serpent and no fall. So it's useful to understand the text, with its vivid imagery mirrored by musical effects.

The five soloists are strong, but it's a shame that neither of the two excellent sopranos has English as a first language. Still, Sandrine Piau (as Gabriel) projects the warmth that has made her a leading exponent of 18th-century music and Miah Persson is charming as Eve.

If one has any reservations about this energetic performance, it's that joy and relaxed charm don't seem to come easily to Mr. McCreesh. But just wait till you hear the massed forces exclaim, "Let there be light!"

A-The Creation. Gabrieli Consort, McCreesh (Archiv)

A-The Creation. Gabrieli Consort, McCreesh (Archiv)

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