REVIEW

Live symphony
performance reigns

In a day and age when a CD of nearly any work by the world's best performers costs less than a ticket to a symphony concert, why would anyone bother to go to the Blaisdell Concert Hall on a rainy Friday night? The performance of Haydn's "Creation" by the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and Chorus provided a perfect example of why concert attendance is still alive and well in 2004.

'HAYDN, THE CREATION' When: 4 p.m. today Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall. Tickets: $21, $33, $43, $51 or $64; 20 percent discount available to seniors, students and military. Call 792-2000 or Ticketmaster at 1-877-750-4400.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, the beauty of live performance is that you never know what will happen. The first minutes of the oratorio depict the darkness and void before the creation, which is punctuated in brilliant fashion by the arrival of light.

Immediately after this epiphany, the story turns to the division of water from land. At this point those in the balcony heard a strange crackling sound, which grew in volume as the chorus forged bravely on. When baritone David Newman intoned, "And God said: Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together to one place," the crackling turned to gushing, as it became clear that the roof had sprung a leak and water was pouring out of the ceiling onto the aisle.

Moments like this define the experience of live performance; at last April's Symphony Chorus performance of "Carmina Burana," a choirboy fell from the stage in a faint with a clunk that brought the concert to a screeching halt. It turned out he was fine and walked out unassisted, but that is an experience you will never get from your CD player.

Live performance also allows for experimentation. Part One of "The Creation" was accompanied by dancers from the Halau Hula Ka No'eau under the direction of kumu hula Michael Pili Pang. The dancers created a strange counterpoint to the music, as their movements sometimes seemed in opposition to the gravity of the aural impression of Haydn's music.

Nonetheless, this uniquely Hawaiian interpretation of a choral classic could only be done in our concert hall.

Soprano soloist Jennifer Aylmer exhibited expressive phrasing, flexible fioritura, and a ringing tone that filled the auditorium. The experience of hearing a voice "bounce back" from the rear wall to reverberate in the cavernous space can never be replicated on a recording.

The chorus was expertly prepared by Karen Kennedy and conducted with aplomb by Samuel Wong. The final number drew the large community chorus, professional orchestra, and guest soloists together in fugal imitation that resolved in massive chords of triumph.

This joyful conclusion was a paean to communal music-making, providing a welcome respite from our consumer culture of music on demand and reminding us forcefully of why we go to concerts.