Portland Chamber Orchestra: Music Review of Elijah by James McQuillen

Had the composer written his greatest oratorio not in 1845 but rather a century and a half later, he might well have had the movie rights in mind. After all, if "Phantom of the Opera" constitutes credible material for a big-budget film, imagine the cinematic possibilities of Mendelssohn's genuinely stirring treatment of the story of the prophet Elijah.
The script -- er, libretto -- has all a producer could want: the hero who wins our sympathies early on by bringing a widow's son back from the dead; the idolatrous villains Ahab and Jezebel; the crisis of faith that shows our hero on the ropes; and the triumphant salvation of the Israelites. The conclusion might make even Roland Emmerich blush: after Elijah's "words appeared like torches" and "mighty kings by him were overthrown," he was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, aboard a "fiery chariot" drawn by "fiery horses."
The forces involved in Sunday's performance were legion, including not just the Portland Chamber Orchestra, led by conductor Yaacov Bergman, but also five soloists, the choirs of the First Methodist and First Presbyterian churches and the boys and girls of Cantores in Ecclesia, led by founder and director Dean Applegate. A massive, 21/2-hour program, "Elijah" provided the clearest demonstration yet of both the orchestra's ambitions and, not coincidentally, the major improvements the ensemble has seen since Bergman took over in 2002.
The orchestra still has room for improvement: Attacks were sometimes ragged and indecisive, and intonation in the strings was often insecure. But the overall sound was robust, especially from brass and winds. Bergman's direction maintained a sense of forward thrust throughout, with some gripping transitions. The orchestra on this night was a vastly different and far more accomplished group than the ensemble of just a couple of years ago.
Among the soloists, baritone Charles Robert Stephens gave the standout performance in the title role. A longtime performer with New York City Opera, he sang Elijah with all the requisite might and nuanced expressiveness in an agile, supple voice equally strong in all registers. His erstwhile NYCO colleagues Deborah Stephens (Charles' wife) and Christine Meadows were likewise strong and impassioned; tenor Bruce Browne was mostly an able match, though he tended to sound strained in higher passages.
Young soprano Megan Leader, singing the role of the boy called to look for signs of rain as Elijah called upon the Lord to end the drought afflicting the Israelites, was as disarmingly guileless in her pure high notes as she was in her stage presence.
The huge choruses sang admirably. Large groups of singers are generally about as maneuverable as ocean liners, but the combined choirs were attentive to Bergman's direction as well as to the text, even if in the more full-throated passages their diction became lost in a cumulonimbus cloud of sound. Situated in the choir loft at the opposite end of the room from the rest of the ensemble, the youth of Cantores sang the part of the angels and sounded appropriately ethereal and luminous.