San Francisco Classical Voice

It is the time of year for Christmas Favorites, and that is what the San Francisco Choral Artists served up Sunday afternoon at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Kensington. Persons familiar with the Oxford Book of Carols, hymnbooks, or common Latin church texts could hum along with many of the tunes or find familiar words reset. Claire Giovannetti, a founding member and past conductor of the chorus, returned as the able guest conductor for this concert. The Choral Artists are all professional singers. The program was pleasingly arranged to provide a variety of sound groupings, from solo passages to section unisons to full choral sound, including two lively medieval pieces for the men and Gustav Holst's double-choir "Ave Maria" for the women.

Of the composers on the program, the most distinctive voices were those of Benjamin Britten, Herbert Howells, Ronald Roxbury, and Francis Poulenc. Each of Poulenc's Quatre motets pour le temps de No”l (Four Christmas Motets), to familiar Latin texts, wonderfully catch the right spirit, combining voices in various ways and moving from mysterious to rustic to majestic to joyful. Howells' "Long, long ago" skillfully alternates unison sections with full choral sound. Like Poulenc, he uses textual and musical repetition to create a satisfying structure. Roxbury's dissonant setting of an ancient text, "As dew in Aprille," showcased the musical gifts of this ensemble.

Britten is a master at setting evocative old texts in his own musical language. Especially haunting was "Jesu, as Thou art our Saviour," which repeatedly weaves a soprano solo through the choral texture. This was well served by Deborah Underwood's pure, sweet tone. Other soloists were Susan Pierce and Leslie Hassberg, singing in canon in a carol by John Joubert, and Miriam Hill, in Hugo Distler's arrangement of "Es ist ein' Ros' entsprungen" ("A rose has sprung up"). Natalie Churchill brought a lovely, flowing voice to a French carol arranged by Paul Nash and to Kenneth Leighton's "Hymn of the Nativity."

The San Francisco Choral Artists combine good singing with high musical intelligence and often perform exciting programs of new works. In this concert, weighted toward familiar works in familiar tonalities, I began to feel a certain sameness of sound. Dynamic contrasts were in play, but more variety of articulation, phrasing, and vocal affect would have been welcome. At the end of the program, the singers showed what they could do with the butler's bowl in Vaughan Williams' "Wassail Song," which made me think back, regretfully, to their rather square "Bethlehem Down" by Peter Warlock.

Additionally, I might mention some occasional audible discomfort in the higher soprano reaches. Also, in most cases program notes are more useful when written than when spoken. Finally, I would advise using the whole first line of "Quelle est cette odeur agréable?" as a title. Omission of the last word takes the mind along amusing paths.

(Anna Carol Dudley is a singer, teacher, member of the faculties of the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University [lecturer emerita] and director of the San Francisco Early Music Society's Baroque Music Workshop.)

©2000 Anna Carol Dudley, all rights reserved