Choral Music Magazine

The first album I ever bought was Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration. This contemporary gospel interpretation of the classic Baroque work was pleasing to my ear because it was fresh, incorporated expressive elements of my favorite genre at the time - R&B - yet the recording maintained the integrity of the original notes despite being rewritten in a different style. A lesser-known re-write of Handel's Messiah is Paul Ayers' Messyah. Ayers (pictured below) is no stranger to rewriting classics - those pieces performed and recorded every year by choirs of all ages, internationally. He has published arrangements of Greensleeves and Stephen Foster’s Beautiful Dreamer on top of multiple original pieces. These secular arrangements of his are fairly simple; very contrasting with Ayers’ re-compositions: Purcell's Funeral Sentences, 4A Wreck, and this article's focus, Messyah. The work mixes contemporary techniques and Baroque practices – often successfully, but not always. The world premiere performance was recorded live in the UK, May 2006 by the Queldryk Chamber Choir. It is an amalgamation of dynamic explosions, extended melismas, spoken word, over-embellishment, and abrupt textural and instrumental variance. Adding to the chaos, the order of the tracks is also rearranged on the album:

1. And He shall purify
2. Surely He hath borne our griefs
3. And with His stripes we are healed
4. All we like sheep
5. All they that see Him
6. He trusted in God
7. Thy rebuke hath broken His heart
8. Let us break their bonds asunder
9. The Lord gave the word
10. Lift up your heads
11. Hallelujah!
12. Since by man came death
13. I know that my Redeemer liveth (based on the 1998 arrangement made by Music of the Fuchsia)
14. Blessing and honour
15. Amen
16. Sinfonia (Overture)
17. The people that walked in darkness
18. Pifa (Pastoral Symphony) / There were shepherds abiding in the field
19. And the angel said unto them
20. And suddenly / Glory to God
21. For unto us a Child is born

Ayers often extends ends of phrases by continuing melismas one or two phrases longer than Handel scored. Ayers also adds inversions, augmentations, and diminutions frequently; where some might praise the add-ons as charming variations, other might cringe at the purposeful alterations that were sometimes less than well-scored - singers speaking in the middle of movements as if injecting a bit of the Geographical Fugue; 20th-Century chromaticism and dissonance; multiple tempos between the chorus and orchestra. It's new and acceptable art to some, but treachery to others. In All We Like Sheep, for example, the singers turn into wandering subjects, truly turning their own ways, each line separating from Handel's perfectly fixed contrapuntal sequences, diverging into a mirage of notes and meters. This surprise occurrs several times throughout the work, usually resulting in the chorus regaining harmonic composure, but sometimes leaving the listener in a state of shock.

The sopranos are sometimes over-extended as it appears they occassionally sing the alto line up the octave while the altos maintain the melody; notes above the staff are frequent and, at times, overbearing. In the Messyah , canons become battles between the chorus and orchestra. Baroque becomes Broadway, becomes Gospel, becomes Folk! Vocalists sing instruments' parts, and melody is sometimes played pizzicato. There are changes in nearly every subject, episode, stretto, and cadence. I sometimes grinned at Ayers' creative fluxes, but also felt discontent with the amount of variance from the original work.

When has a rearrangement gone too far? Is it when you add drums and tambourine, as in the Messyah? Or is there such a thing as going too far these days? Some would argue that rewriting a work is a form of honoring the original composer. Yet for some lovers of the Renaissance and earlier music, like myself, contemporary practices often seem over the top - albeit necessary for the progression of music. When the same music has been in place for centuries, and a particular sound is firm in our hearts and minds, sometimes adding new harmonies or syncopations can intensify the experience with excitement and pleasant surprise. Still though, taking classics to the extreme can hurt the ear and confuse the mind, for in the minds of many choral artists, there are unspoken limits, beyond which music becomes too abstract, insulting the integrity of the original composers and performers. Composers write to express the sounds and ideas in their heads, but must always take into consideration the ideas and sounds in the heads of their audience. It is clear that it's hard to justify delineating boundaries of musical interpretation, but should there at least be standards by which to abide when approaching classics? I propose that choral artists raise more discussion on the matter, all the while remembering that a re-written classic may look impressive on paper, but may not work well if the new version does not enhance the listening experience.

Paul Ayres studied music at Oxford University, and now works freelance as a composer & arranger, choral conductor & musical director, and organist & accompanist. His compositions usually involve words – solo songs, choral pieces, incidental music – and he works with many choirs and theatre groups. Paul is assistant director of music at St. George's Church Hanover Square, and has given many solo organ recitals throughout the world.

Photo: Paul Ayers