Sunday’s matinee performance of Handel’s Messiah by the MSO was a break from the big sound favoured by Sir Andrew Davis in recent years.

This year, conductor Chad Kelly led a pared-down orchestra and choir from a standing start and a small chamber organ doubling as the lectern from which he swept audience and musicians along in the tide of his enthusiasm.

The MSO Chorus. Photo supplied

This sparer sound was reminiscent of the original modest performance of the work in Dublin but, certainly in this case, was more than made up for by the quality and power of the solo voices. Andrew Goodwin’s Comfort Ye – drawing out the word “comfort” for emphasis – set the intention of this interpretation of the birth and death of Christ as above all a tragedy for humanity. Goodwin’s assured delivery was imbued with more emotion than is usual for him, a product surely of the direction of Kelly.

In what was his debut with the MSO, bass Samuel Dale Johnson showed a vocal and emotional maturity in a performance that was similarly full of heart. His is a powerful voice, matched by an expressive...