Composer Franz Joseph Haydn’s piece “The Creation” is considered by many to be his crowning achievement. The oratorio — a musical composition for orchestra, choir and soloists — tells the Biblical story of the creation of the world from the Book of Genesis and it has a feeling of grandeur that makes it epic. Yes, I called it epic because the musical performance was an immense, resonating event. So when the Emory University Symphony Orchestra and the Emory University Chorus performed “The Creation” on Friday, April 17 in the Emerson Concert Hall at 8 p.m., it was a majestic experience.
Haydn composed it when he was at his most religious. It has choral text that was originally inspired by John Milton’s Paradise Lost, and it uses a variety of instruments to depict the miracles of “The Creation.” During the concert, the three soloists who represented the archangels, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael, were Abigail Santos-Villalobos as the soprano, Bradley Howard as the tenor and John Wade Thomas as the baritone. Santos is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Thomas is a graduate of Samford University and Ohio State University, while Howard is the director of vocal studies at Emory.
One of the most interesting parts of this composition is its structure and how it is performed. Throughout “The Creation,” the vocal soloists perform recitatives that relate to how God created the world. These sparsely accompanied sections were then immediately followed by the orchestra and the choir making music together as a mass ensemble. It was like a play in which the performers played the roles of angels, telling humanity of the origin of the world. The audience was able to follow the progression of the story and the angels related each new development through the recitatives, much like chapters in a book. As a result, the interaction between the audience, orchestra and choir made it a valuable experience that included everyone.
Richard Prior, the Edward Goodwin Scruggs Conducting Chair and director of orchestral studies, was adept at conducting both the orchestra and choir at the same time, and responded appropriately to the soloists. In addition, being that “The Creation” is a fairly long oratorio, the orchestra did not play it in its entirety. However, the parts they did include flowed well together.
Overall, while I was listening in the audience, I felt the large scale of the performance. The sounds produced by the orchestra echoed well in the auditorium hall, and coordinating with the choir, the musical experience was amplified. At first, I was admittedly a little surprised that they were playing only one composition, but once I learned that it was Haydn’s “The Creation,” I knew that the orchestra had to have practiced an inordinate amount to prepare. Luckily for me, my anticipation was not let down and the efforts of the musicians paid off.
The main reason I was so impressed with the work was because of how professional it sounded. I could tell how impassioned the musicians were because they consistently sustained their level of performance throughout the entire oratorio. The orchestra, choir and soloists were all so dedicated that I felt that it helped members of the audience, including me, to be much more invested and immersed in the music. The atmosphere that the musicians brought to the Emerson Concert Hall seemed to fit perfectly with the composition they chose, and there were no glaring weaknesses in the performance. I have been to Emory University Symphony Orchestra concerts before and this was my favorite one so far.
When the performance concluded, it was met with a positive response, and even received a standing ovation. Each section, the orchestra, the soloists and the choir deserved this reception for their achievement, and I felt that it was an impressive result for a student performance.
Friday’s performance marked the first of two concerts, with the other taking place the following day on Saturday, April 18. It was nice to see that the orchestra played twice for the public to accommodate all of the members of the community who were interested in attending the performances. The Emory University Symphony Orchestra and the Emory University Chorus accomplished much to get to this level, and they created a beautiful concluding performance for the end of the school year.
– Jake Choi, Staff Writer
