San Francisco Classical Voice

Apart from Spem in Alium, the ensembles presented other ecclesiastical works from both the English and Latin services. The Schola Cantorum San Francisco opened the program with Tallis’ O nata lux. The work’s primarily homophonic texture may deceive some listeners into deeming it “simple,” but the motet’s rapid, frequent, and distant modulations belie such assertions. Unfortunately, Schola didn’t quite prove itself up to the challenge on Sunday afternoon. Curiously, there was an inexplicable soprano dominance to the balance, which is odd, given that there were nine men on stage (three of them altos) and only four women. The inclination is to blame the imbalance on acoustical properties of the church, and its plush carpeting. But later works on the program demonstrated both groups’ ability to muster up more sound from the bottom ranks of the ensemble.

There was also noticeable sagging in pitch at the modulatory cadences, including contributions on inner lines from some singers who were slightly fuzzy about exactly where their lines were supposed to go. The unfortunate result of this sag was a somewhat quieted and uncomfortable approach to what is optimally heard as a sudden and, to modern ears, wildly unorthodox modulation. John Renke, the ensemble’s director, must have sensed this shift himself. He provided a pitch from the pitch pipe before the inception of the second quatrain, which tellingly began monophonically on the same pitch as the preceding cadence’s soprano line. Considering the technical challenges posed by the work, you might question the wisdom of its placement first on the program.

The Schola’s next two contributions also possessed their share of technical disappointments. Consistent soprano “scooping” at the beginning of points of imitation clearly interfered with the answering parts’ ability to enter securely. This marred In ieiunio et fletu throughout its presentation. The following motet, Laetentur coeli, fared substantially better in its homophonic and rhythmically vital sections, which the ensemble presented with real flair and joyfulness. However, there was still some muddled polyphony and questionable diction in the work’s more imitative sections. Considering the type of resonance in the Mercy Center chapel, you might blame this confusion on an overly ambitious tempo for the final couplet. Finally, the group’s printed translations did not include the connective plainchant material that they included in this last work, which led to confused program ruffling from more than one section of the audience.

With the Schola’s fourth presentation, Byrd’s Ne irascaris Domine, we finally heard the finesse and refinement that have garnered the ensemble’s reputation as “equal to the best of the mixed-voice choirs in Great Britain” (according to the evening’s program notes). The ensemble boasted much better textual clarity, and polyphonic lines were rendered with glassy precision. This was especially noteworthy in those difficult passages where two homophonic lines have to maintain integrity against a polyphonically set second homophonic duet. The lower voices, if previously overshadowed, had their moment to shine at the close of this motet. Careful tuning and a beautifully produced vocal unity at the text Sion deserta facta est (“Zion has become a desert”) created a thrillingly “warm” sonority. (Forgive the pun.)

The younger of the two ensembles, Pacific Collegium, presented a slightly more modest selection of two works by Tallis without collaboration from the Schola. The group began with one of Tallis’s English motets, If ye love me, presented with remarkable suavity. Ave Dei Patris filia highlighted the ability of the ensemble’s 22 youthful members to produce a clean, full choral sound. The sonorities produced for the motet’s final Amen section were crisp, perfectly in tune, and offered with a unity of vowel production that would be the envy of many choral ensembles. These stellar choral moments were somewhat robbed by the far less polished three- and four-part polyphony performed intermittently by soloists drawn from within the ensemble. They suffered from an imbalance similar to Schola’s difficulties earlier in the evening. Nonetheless, the ensemble’s overall choral excellence was more than enough to compensate for these small sectional shortcomings, which will doubtless be ironed out as the ensemble matures.

The concert’s second half provided the true highlights of the evening. The Schola firmly came into its element with Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices. Indeed, we heard a different choir than in the first half of the program: perfectly cohesive sound throughout the Mass, beautifully blended part singing, and particularly beautiful interplay between small ensemble and full choir in the work’s Benedictus. The two choirs collaborated for the final work on the program, Byrd’s setting of the Great Service. Curiously, the program’s printed texts omitted the final lines of the Magnificat (the Minor Doxology), once again confusing a number of attendees.

Aside from this small extramusical mishap, however, you would be hard pressed to find anything other than praise for this final contribution. Throughout the Great Service, the two ensembles, standing across from each another in the chapel’s choir stalls, formed a remarkably well-integrated single group, and produced a transcendent sonic quality more than the sum of their parts. If the performance of Great Service and Spem in Alium are any indication, we in the Bay Area can only hope that we have witnessed the beginning of a long and fruitful collaborative partnership between the two groups.