San Francisco Classical Voice

At age 13 — qualifying for bar and bat mitzvahs — the American Bach Soloists are carrying on not as mature, know-it-all teenagers, but more as robust, inquisitive, experimenting toddlers. No ennui, no Attitude.

The original idea worked out well: ABS is still an ensemble of soloists, as it says in the name, and they play almost exclusively Bach, but there is nothing routine or settled about their work.

Founder-director Jeffrey Thomas is still pushing the musical Baroque envelope, presenting such relative rarities as Cantata BWV 181, Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister ("Insincere and Fickle Spirits"). Although it was the shortest work on the ABS program of cantatas Sunday evening in Grace Cathedral, this partially reclaimed, quirky, dissonant (for its time), strangely nervous piece represented the continued "edgy" nature of this organization most prominently.

Running just 13 minutes, this treatment of the Original Axis of Evil — Belial, Beliar, the Devil, the Prince of Darkness — covers a long stretch in short order from lament over obstructionism by the "unhappy band of wayward spirits" to the somewhat subdued happy ending of the faithful rejecting, defeating evil. The performance of BWV 181 reflected the quality of music for the whole evening.

With the cathedral itself empty and dark, the concert took place in the nave, which is still large enough to match the size of many churches in their entirety. As in the main part of Grace, the sound here is problematic as well: the sound echoes, dissipates, rises, and not much of it comes back from the 117-foot ceiling.

With that kind of physical obstacle and the truly devilish music for the opening bass aria, James Weaver had a hell of a time singing the text, never mind the music. As the music settled down later in the cantata, soprano Mary Ellen Callahan and tenor David Vanderwal did better, although (as usual with ABS) instrumental soloists excelled over vocal performances.

Except for the wondrous Judith Malafronte, who overcomes obstacles and defies the laws of physics with ease and regularity. When she launches into a lament over the "most unhappy band of wayward spirits," the cathedral roof descends, the tallest Gothic-style fleche in the US becomes a microphone, and the alto's lines come across as if you were sitting in the same studio with her. If you think this hyperbolic description of the rearrangement of Grace's architecture is impossible, be assured that to project the voice in that space with Malafronte's accuracy and pliant musicality is even less likely. And yet it happens.

Malafronte and Vanderwal carried most of the vocal burden of O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort ("Eternity, thou thunderous word"). BWV60, with Katherine Kyme and Michael Dupree shining in the violin and oboe d'amore obbligato. It was a busy evening for Kyme and her playing kept peaking, to a stunning accompaniment for the soprano aria in Herz und Mund and Tat und Leben ("Heart and mouth and deed and living"), BWV 147.

Kyme and John Abberger, oboe, were mighty impressive in Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut ("My heart bathes in blood"), BWV 199, but the soprano is "it" in this solo cantata and Callahan, a last-minute replacement, was found wanting. She replaced Nancy Argenta, cancelling because of illness, and apprently flew in for the occasion. For all its brilliant top, her soprano lacks muscle in the middle range where so much music is concentrated. At her best, she had the white tone of a boy soprano. Where that sound was appropriate, Callahan's performance was a delight; when the score called for more, it was not.

The Soloists are truly that and every member of the ensemble, regardless of the extent of solo assignments, played with an appealing combination of discipline and passion: Carla Moore (violin), George Thomson (viola), Tanya Tomkins (cello), Stephen Schultz (flute), Kate van Orden (bassoon), John Thiessen (trumpet), Steven Lehning, violone and Corey Jamason (organ).

(Janos Gereben, a regular contributor to www.sfcv.org, is arts editor of the Post Newspaper Group. His e-mail address is janos451@earthlink.net.)

©2002 Janos Gereben, all rights reserved