Haydn’s ‘Creation’
City Halls, Glasgow 22/6/25
City of Glasgow Chorus, City of Glasgow Concert Orchestra, Paul Keohone (conductor), Elena Xanthoudakis (soprano), Robert Macfarlane (tenor), Phil Gault (baritone)
On the afternoon of Sunday 22nd June in Glasgow’s City Halls, The City of Glasgow Chorus teamed up with the City of Glasgow Concert Orchestra (a first encounter for me) and 3 vocal soloists, under the direction of Paul Keohone, to present Haydn’s 1798 masterpiece, the oratorio ‘The Creation’, sung in English, with an interval after the first of the 3 Parts. The soloists comprised: Australian soprano Elena Xanthoudakis, Australian tenor Robert Macfarlane and Welsh-Irish baritone Phil Gault. In the Grand Hall, whose capacity is just shy of 1000, the attendance seemed modest, but it was not unsatisfactory..
Mindful of having negligently missed the start of the last concert by the Chorus that I attended in March 2024, and the fact that Haydn’s ‘Creation’ is one of my very favourite and most beloved pieces of music, I gave myself plenty of time. Just as well. On the way to the Merchant City area through Strathclyde University, I had to wait 10 minutes while what looked and sounded like an Orange Walk paraded past from the George Square direction. The tickets said that doors open at 2:30, but I waited in the rain with the other arriving punters until 2:45, plus another 5 minutes out of the rain until the Grand Hall opened. There were no printed programmes (but I found a downloadable version online after getting home). As the bard said, “the course of true love never did run smooth”. None of this seemed to matter.
I can find no information about the City of Glasgow Concert Orchestra and surmise that it was an ad hoc ensemble for this concert, comprising a somewhat augmented Haydn symphonic orchestra (with double winds including clarinets and a contra-bassoon, for example). They were utterly superb. Haydn’s famed depiction of chaos that opens the oratorio was spellbinding; the instrumental introductions and interludes were elegant, the ingenious graphic depictions of the creatures and emergent structure of the world that echoed from the text were an unqualified delight. Paul Keohone’s control of the dynamic balance was flawless. And when suddenly “there was light”, wow! Perfect.
The Chorus themselves never fail to amaze and Sunday afternoon was no exception. Haydn is generous with choruses that emphasise the triumph and magnificence of divine will. The creation of light, the defeat of Satan, the beauty and perfection of the cosmos and the Earth, the significance of water and weather to life, the perfect adaptation of plants and creatures to their habitats and the bliss and gratitude of Adam and Eve for the gift of life: all are celebrated with rich choral numbers, many of them fugal. All were thoroughly excellent. Apart from the stunning first blaze of light, the predictable choral highlights were ‘The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God’ that concludes Part I with its fugue ‘The Wonder of His Works’, ‘Fulfilled at Last the Great Work’ from the end of Part 2 with its fugue ‘Glory to His Name Forever’, and the blistering concluding double fugue on ‘The praise of the Lord will endure forever’. Stunning.
In the first two Parts, the three soloists are archangels commenting on the progress of the great work; in Part 3, the baritone and soprano are Adam and Eve, while the tenor comments on their idyllic existence. All were excellent with too many highlights to enumerate. Of the three, I am most familiar with Phil Gault’s work, having caught him live in many contexts before. I particularly loved his graphic depiction of the newly created ocean ‘Rolling in foaming billows‘. This was my first time hearing Elena Xanthoudakis live and I was blown away. Her Part 1 Sicilienne describing the beauty of newly emerged green plants and grassland was exquisite, as was her Part 2 aria describing the wonder of birds. But it was her blissful solos and duets with Phil, in the character of Eve, that were the most touching. I had heard and greatly enjoyed Robert Macfarlane’s Bach before, but was delighted to find his Haydn no less compelling. Early in Part 1, a dramatic A-major description of the defeat of Satan, followed by a triumphant choral fugue, was thrilling, while the perfect blending of the three soloists in an interlude of the concluding number of the same Part was excellent.
In conclusion, the performance was a triumph of committed joyous music making, with ensemble playing and singing of the highest calibre and a deeply-felt reading of a masterwork that revealed its beauty to the fullest.