On the first night of winter, the Oratorio Society of New York, under Music Director Kent Tritle’s baton, celebrated the season with a rousing and abridged, 50-minute “Messiah,” of George Frideric Handel, filmed in October, with the supportive orchestra of a dozen players and the four soloists in an airy shed and 24 choristers outdoors, all tested for Covid-19, socially distanced, and all masked, but for the singers’ solos and for the winds. The performance was streamed on the Oratorio Society’s web site, www.osny.org.
With the soloists joining in, the choristers gave us glorious accounts of “And the glory of the Lord,” “And He shall purify,” and “For unto us a Child is born.”
Tenor Joshua Blue began with a thoroughly bel canto “Comfort ye my people … Every valley shall be exalted.” Baritone Sidney Outlaw sang a lyrical “Thus saith the Lord,” the accompanied recitative, but mezzo-soprano Heather Petrie, singing smoothly and with flexibility, was entrusted with the air “But who may abide the day of His coming?” She followed it with “Behold, a virgin shall conceive” and an uplifting “O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion,” with the chorus. Having sung her recitatives before “For unto us a Child is born,” soprano Susanna Phillips went on with a bright, fluid, and refined “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Jerusalem.”
Outlaw had the final solo, “The trumpet shall sound,” fluent and fiery. For an ebullient finale, the full Oratorio Society chorus, indoors, on Zoom screens, joined the smaller outdoor chorus for the “Hallelujah,” and one could hardly resist singing along at home.