`Messiah' part of holiday tradition.

Byline: Paul Denison The Register-Guard

George Frideric Handel's ``Messiah,'' an Easter oratorio that has become a Christmas tradition in the United States, is big and challenging - but also rewarding.

Sharon Paul, who is preparing the 85-voice Eugene Symphony Chorus for Friday night's Hult Center performance, scheduled an extra rehearsal "because we are singing 12 choruses, which is a lot."

But they still won't be singing every one that Handel wrote for this oratorio. Because this is a holiday concert, conductor Giancarlo Guerrero is omitting "some of the darker parts of the text which deals with Jesus' suffering" and emphasizing "more uplifting" sections, including the beloved Hallelujah Chorus. Even so, Paul and the chorus have their work cut out for them, including "lots of sixteenth-note runs" throughout the work.

"Most of those passages Handel wrote originally for two solo singers, in Italian duets," Paul says. "He later re-used this music in the `Messiah,' so now those virtuosic passages must be sung by multiple singers on a part, which is quite a feat. Conquering those is certainly rewarding."

Most of the choruses are written as fugues, Guerrero adds. "Even in the 21st century, these are very difficult to sing." Among the most challenging choruses, he notes, are "For Unto Us a Child is Born," "Behold the Lamb of God" and "Worthy Is the Lamb."

The conductor's challenge, Guerrero says, is to get the musicians, chorus and soloists who have performed the work before to look at it "from a very fresh point of view," before they present it to an audience which also may have definite ideas about how it should sound.

That is difficult in limited rehearsal time. But "Messiah" is worth all the work it requires, Guerrero says.

"It has some of the most beautiful choral writing in the history of music," he says. "It's no surprise that this piece has been a staple of the repertoire since its premiere back in 1742. Remember, also, that even though Handel was German, he wrote this work in English because it was commissioned to have its first performance in Dublin. The audience will be able to follow the story very easily."

In a program note for this concert, Portland music writer James McQuillen describes "Messiah" as "a lyric rather than narrative work, an assemblage of fragments from both testaments into a Christian triptych."

Guerrero thinks the oratorio is both narrative and lyric.

"Handel was an incredibly prolific opera composer, so he was very comfortable putting music to specific stories," the conductor says. "I believe that the most important aspect of performing this work is to convey a story. I've always thought that `Messiah' is a concert opera, with the four soloists and the chorus telling different parts of the story."

Sharon Paul adds that this oratorio "certainly is not typical of Handel's style.

``It does not have characters singing arias and advancing a story in the way `Israel in Egypt' or `Jephtha' do. There is a lot of meditating and pondering in this oratorio, rather than a lot of action."

Guerrero notes that singing "Messiah" during the Christmas holiday season is mostly an American custom.

"In Europe, it's still mostly performed during Easter," he says. "I love the work and wouldn't mind listening to it in the middle of July."

For this performance, Guerrero is "doing something rather unusual by having a countertenor sing the alto part." A countertenor is a man who can sing as high as a mezzo-soprano. Along with countertenor Joseph Schlesinger, the "Messiah" soloists will be soprano Genevieve Christianson, tenor Chad Freeburg and bass Carlos Archuleta.

Schlesinger lives in Amsterdam. He has sung oratorios in the Netherlands, Israel, the United States and Japan.

Christianson, 26, is a resident artist with the Minnesota Opera. She has sung the role of Gilda in Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletto" with that company and with Compania Lirica de Costa Rica with Guerrero conducting.

Freeburg, also still in his 20s, has performed with Glimmerglass Opera (Cooperstown, N.Y.), Chattanooga Opera, Opera Delaware and the Handel Choir of Baltimore.

Archuleta has performed recently with Minnesota Opera, Dallas Opera, Orlando Opera and, in the title role of Gioacchino Rossini's ``Il Barbiere di Siviglia'' with Opera Roanoke.

CONCERT PREVIEW

Handel's ``Messiah,'' Eugene Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with soprano Genevieve Christianson, countertenor Joseph Schlesinger, tenor Chad Freeburg and bass Carlos Archuleta

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: Silva Hall, Hult Center, Seventh Avenue and Willamette Street

How much: $18 to $30 ($10 for students and youth) through the Hult Center box office, 682-5000