Boston Classical Review

Philippe Jordan led the Boston Symphony Orchestra  in Haydn’s “The Creation” Thursday night.

From the Boston Symphony Orchestra podium, conductor Philippe Jordan dedicated Thursday night’s performance of Haydn’s The Creation to conductor Herbert Blomstedt who passed away on Wednesday at age 99.

Blomstedt, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, led more than 40 BSO performances. The moving dedication seemed to set the scene for the hushed gravity of “The Representation of Chaos,” which opens The Creation. For a brief moment, Symphony Hall was transformed into a somber cathedral.

Which also served to underline Haydn’s religious influences in The Creation. Baron Gottfried van Swieten translated the libretto into German from a mysterious English text Haydn brought from London, drawing on Genesis, the Psalms, and John Milton’s Paradise Lost.

The first three parts of the oratorio are narrated by three archangels: Gabriel (soprano), Uriel (tenor), and Raphael (bass). Part I covers the first four days of creation with chaos, light, sea and land, plants, and the heavens. Part II embodies day five and six, with birds, fish, beasts, and humankind. In Part III the text transitions from Genesis to Milton, and the soprano and bass return as Adam and Eve in Eden.

Taken as a whole, the performance was deeply felt and full of drama, all of it drawn with  remarkably economical gestures by Jordan. The conductor never needed to show emotion on the podium for the orchestra, soloists and chorus to deliver it, and the result was a Creation of real artistry.

After the brief overture, Raphael, sung by David Steffens immediately captivated with a strong presence and dynamic lyricism. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus, expertly prepared by Jean-Sébastien Vallée, matched his energy, and together they built to a triumphant “und es ward Licht.”

Bogdan Volkov’s Uriel was less evenly matched. In “Nun schwanden vor dem heiligen Strahle,” Volkov brought delight and an airy tone, but his tenor lacked strong projection and syllables went missing. The chorus restored the bite with “Verzweiflung, Wut und Schrecken,” as the fallen spirits plunge into the abyss.

Steffens, by contrast, gave crispness to every consonant. In “Rollend in schäumenden Wellen” his voice came to full force, with the cellos and basses supporting alongside him, and the brook of “Leise rauschend” flowed with grace.

Louise Alder’s Gabriel entered with “Nun beut die Flur das frische Grün.” This aria provided her room to shine, and the melismas of “Hier sprosst den unden Heil” were executed effortlessly.

“Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes” closed Part I, the three soloists and the chorus displaying jubilant energy, which Jordan and the BSO built to a stirring and resonant finale.

The creatures of Part II were brought to characterful life by the orchestra, carefully guided by Jordan. In “Auf starkem Fittiche,” Alder’s lark rose brightly, she gave the doves’ repeated “Liebe” real affection, and the flute sang a fine nightingale.

Volkov found his footing in “Mit Würd’ und Hoheit angetan,” Uriel’s portrait of man, with his best singing of the night—youthful, confident, and more focused in expression.

Part III shrinks the landscape to Adam and Eve. Volkov welcomed the first morning in Eden with soothing bliss in “Aus Rosenwolken bricht.” The music is gentler from here on, but the rhythmic energy held in Adam and Eve’s hymn with chorus, “Von deiner Güt’, o Herr und Gott.”

Eve’s pledge to Adam, “Dein Will’ ist mir Gesetz” (“Your will is my law”) is a reminder that the libretto is a product of the 1700’s. Alder sang it with grace, but the dated words carry their age.

In the love duet “Holde Gattin, dir zur Seite,” Alder and Steffens played the romantic duo with charm, making the most of their glolwing, repeated “mit dir.” 

Jordan, rather conservative in podium style throughout the performance, saved his grandest gestures for “in Ewigkeit” in the closing “Singt dem Herren alle Stimmen,” in which the music landed with full force.

The program will be repeated 1:30 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at Symphony Hall. bso.org

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