Page 76 June 21, 2013
ARTS & ENTERTAiNmENT
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Handel’s Israel in Egypt Choral Society Concert By Dr. DanieL KoonTZ
W
e’ve all heard George Frederic Handel’s Messiah, if only that most familiar part of it, the ever-popular “Hallelujah” chorus. Messiah is what’s called an oratorio, a baroque-era specialty that includes instrumental overtures, choruses, solo arias, duets—basically the whole baroque arsenal of musical forms—that combine to tell a story. The German-born Handel derived great success from composing oratorios while living in England, because the British really loved them: Handel’s oratorios were, after all, written in English, and so the notoriously monolingual Britishers could follow the story. The success carried over to the new world as well. To this day in the U.S., Messiah is the most frequently performed large-scale choral work—no other piece even comes close. The Choral Society of the Hamptons performed it for Christmas 2011, and a nice CD of their rendition is available from their website.
Handel uses skittering violins to vividly illustrate the swarm of insects that god sends to disrupt the Egyptians. In the face of Messiah’s success, Handel’s other oratorios can come to seem like obscurities. Under the baton of conductor Mark Mangini, The Choral Society of the Hamptons aims to shatter this impression with a rousing performance of Handel’s Israel In Egypt on Saturday, June 29 at 7 p.m. at the Parish Hall of Most Holy Trinity Church in East Hampton. Call 631-204-9402 or visit choralsocietyofthehamptons.org
Of course, Handel’s music tends for tickets. toward the jolly side—perhaps Performing Israel In Egypt is a vast another reason for its enduring undertaking. Unlike Messiah, Israel popularity. Take the final chorus In Egypt employs a double chorus: of Israel In Egypt, as the Red Sea that is, in addition to the soloists swallows up Pharaoh’s army after and the orchestra, Handel calls the Israelites have successfully for two entire choruses of singers. crossed over. A jubilantly galloping Think of it as a “stereophonic” rhythm appears as the chorus chorus. The Choral Society will be happily sings: joined by The Greenwich Village The horse, and its rider, hath he Singers to achieve the requisite thrown into the sea numbers to pull this off. The result This kind of exulting over the is not only a “bigger” sound, but misfortune of the Egyptian soldiers Handel also works in a lot of backmay seem a little bloodthirsty, and-forth between the two groups especially when accompanied by of singers. such lighthearted music. But the Israel In Egypt is a telling of the handel says come to the concert! galloping rhythm really does paint biblical story of the Exodus, and it contains some colorful sections about the plagues the picture very nicely. Paired with Israel In Egypt on the June 29 Choral that God visits upon the Egyptians. One of my favorite movements, in fact, is the alto aria “The Society program is Bach’s Cantata 79 Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild (God, Our Lord, Is Sun and Shield), Land Brought Forth Frogs.” which sounds like an appropriate conclusion to The land brought forth frogs, come to after hearing the story of the Exodus. Bach’s Yea, even in their king’s chambers. cantatas, usually based on the church hymns with He gave their cattle over to the pestilence. which Bach was so familiar, are kind of like mini Blotches and blains broke forth on man and beast. Handel’s setting of this text features a lively oratorios, expanding on the theological message accompaniment that hops around and seems to of a particular Biblical passage. Unlike Handel’s oratorios, however, Bach’s cantatas are in German. bring the frogs to life. Similarly, in the chorus “He Spake The Word,” with Happily, ever since they tackled singing in German with Brahms’ German Requiem a few years back, our the text: He Spake the Word, and there came all manner of intrepid Choral Society has been pulling out choice works from the German choral repertoire—pieces flies Handel uses skittering violins to vividly illustrate which are seldom heard from amateur groups. In addition to regular tickets, for June 29 the Choral the swarm of insects that God sends to disrupt the Egyptians. If these two movements provoke a giggle, Society is offering donor tickets, at the benefactor there’s nothing wrong with that. I think Handel and underwriter level, that include an invitation to a post-concert dinner at The Palm Restaurant. meant them to be funny.
Movies... hot Flicks This week worLD war Z Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a mild-mannered diplomat who needs to save the world in order to save his adorable wife and kids. Seems there’s a global pandemic that is turning huge portions of the population into crazed zombie-like creatures. Unlike your usual zombies, though, these zombies move with sickening speed and swarm like a species of human-shaped insect. Already, there are complaints about the CGI effects looking less-than-real, and yet there’s something truly chilling about the sight of thousands of infected people moving like an infestation across familiar urban landscapes. World War Z is rated PG-13, but if you’ve got a child who is given to nightmares, think of this as an R-rated film. Likewise, if your husband is squeamish, send him to see Monsters University instead. MonsTers universiTy Disney and Pixar’s take on that old chestnut, the college film, arrives in the form of a prequel to Monsters, Inc. In that film, Mike and Sulley were best buddies, but Monsters University goes back to when the two first met, as college roommates, and did NOT hit it off. Ever since the fabulous Toy Story, Pixar has had a masterful sense of how to make children’s films that appeal to adults as well. Monsters University combines child-friendly silliness and simplicity with spot-on depictions of college culture that will send waves of recognition through adult audiences.
Remember the brawny guy who bragged that he didn’t have to work out? Remember the scrawny guy who thought he was buff? You went to college with them, and they’re at Monsters University, too! The heaT It’s good cop, crazy cop in this actionadventure/comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. Bullock plays straight-laced Agent Sarah Ashburn, while McCarthy plays troublemaker Detective Shannon Mullens. It seems that Agent Ashburn’s no-nonsense approach makes her an effective cop but an outcast in her department, whereas Detective Mullens’ inability to follow rules or control her outbursts and violent behavior make her impossible to work with. In The Heat, the two get paired up in a sort of female version of Beverly Hills Cop. unFinisheD song From England, Unfinished Song is another example of a species of film that insist that what old people really need, in order to be fulfilled and happy, is to get in touch with contemporary pop music. Terence Stamp stars as grumpy old Arthur Harris who is dragged very much against his will into a senior citizens choir in which old people sing the likes of Salt and Pepa’s “Let’s Talk About Sex.” What’s peculiar is that, in this day and age, the senior citizens in England probably came of age when rock was already out of the bag, and it’s a little hard to picture them tittering about sex the way they might have 20 years ago.
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