If you can bring off a "period" performance of Handel in the giant barn that is the Albert Hall, you can surely do so anywhere. John Eliot Gardiner and his forces - the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists - managed it, but the acoustic did them no favours. With the choir of 30 often divided into eight parts, there was nowhere for a singer to hide a mistimed breath, and the grandeur of the brass passages sounded at times rather apologetic. A soprano section that would probably sound radiant elsewhere seemed flimsy here, needing more body and edge to the tone.
Still, overall this emerged as a convincing account of one of Handel's most pictorial oratorios. Although it is usual for only the second and third parts to be played, Gardiner here opened with the overture of Handel's discarded first part; solemn and hushed, it was played as if each note cost the musicians dearly. That portentousness was appropriate: Handel spends the second part describing in salacious musical detail the plagues - locusts, lice, you name it - brought on Egypt before the Exodus.
Gardiner lavished attention on these, giving a careful and detailed response to the text. With the two violin sections seated opposite each other, the springing rhythms accompanying the aria describing the plague of frogs bounced back and forth across the platform. The whispered music conjuring up the plague of darkness was amorphous, with barely any pulse; the blunt chords that followed as the choir related the death of the first-born Egyptians seemed all the more angry in contrast.
The third part is a more straightforward hymn of praise, lacking the storytelling elements of the second, but making up for it with some beautiful arias and duets. The 10 soloists were all picked from the choir; most impressive was the glowing soprano Gillian Keith, though there was plenty of good singing from the others. The basses Michael Bundy and Daniel Jordan brought some beefy tone to their duet, a glorious number interspersed by lyrical lines from two oboes. But in another venue this would have been much more immediate. Britain may be rich in Baroque groups, but these are at a distinct disadvantage in its annual musical jamboree.
