A strong reopening for the Ambassador

Ambassador Auditorium, now in the care of the Harvest Rock Church, awoke Friday night after a 9 1/2 -year sleep.

That news should quicken the pulse of music lovers who remember a time that seems like the tail end of a golden age, when such 20th century giants as Horowitz, Rubinstein, Milstein, Nilsson, Price, Bernstein and, most indelibly, Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic performed there.

The festive Georgian royal-purple carpeting and the yellow upholstery of the seats on the lower level look a bit faded now, but the Turkish rose-onyx wall in the lobby still gleams, and the Brazilian rosewood and Burmese teak interior walls still wrap the audience in a warm embrace. It remains a beautiful hall, and it still sounds remarkably fine.

Yet Ambassador’s place in Southern California will not be the same as before. In its day, it was the best all-around concert hall in the region. Now, amid the exemplary venues that have sprouted during its long absence, it is merely one of several.

So far, too, the programming is much less ambitious. It led off with Handel’s “Messiah” in a season full of competing “Messiahs” elsewhere in town, which may be one reason why the resurrection of the auditorium couldn’t produce a full house for the “grand reopening” Friday. There were lots of empty seats all around the back and sides of the orchestra level.

This “Messiah” -- a collaboration between the Pasadena Symphony and the Los Angeles Master Chorale -- harked back to a transitional age before period-instrument bands virtually expropriated the Baroque field. The orchestra was chamber-sized, the chorus small and intimate, and Jorge Mester’s tempos raced along.

The score was heavily cut (mostly in Parts 2 and 3) in a fashion that used to be the norm some 50 years ago, knocking about three-fourths of an hour off the roughly 2 1/2 -hour piece.

The strong vocal quartet (soprano Elissa Johnston, mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzman, tenor Randall Bills, bass Rodney Gilfry) was permitted to emote in an almost operatic way, with minimal ornamentation and crystal-clear diction.

Disney Hall, with its superior clarity and depth, may flatter a symphony orchestra and chorus more, and Zipper Hall may give a chamber orchestra more warmth. But Ambassador remains the best, most truthful room in town for the solo voice.