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CHORAL REVIEW
An Intense Evening Of (Mostly) Sacred Music
March 31, 2001
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By Ching Chang
Sergei Rachmaninov's opulent piano concertos are a popular staple of our concert stages, but the Russian composer's 128th birthday this past weekend (4/1) went largely unacknowledged in the Bay Area, save for the San Francisco Choral Society's two performances of excerpts from his "Vespers" at Calvary Presbyterian Church.
Led by artistic director Robert Geary, the Choral Society performed four sections from this epic 15-movement liturgical cycle, based on ancient chants and Byzantine. Created for the all-night vigil of the Russian Orthodox liturgy, this massive score is set a cappella; traditional Russian church music scorned musical instruments, regarding them as reminders of the material world.
Well-suited to large choral forces, Rachmaninov's "Vespers" weaves the voices into lush and sinuous harmonies, creating a thick and reedy polyphonic tapestry. From the intensely felt calls to assembly in "Priidite Poslonimaya" ("Come, Let Us Worship") to the floated, sotto voce juxtaposed melodies in "Bogoroditse Devo, Raduisya" ("Rejoice, O Virgin"), the 150-member strong Choral Society delivered a visceral, overtone-rich reading, with particular attention to the juicy, soft-voiced consonants of the Russian language.
The Choral Society's second offering was Benjamin Britten's great festival cantata for chorus and organ, "Rejoice in the Lamb." Set to the words of Christopher Smart, the devout but deeply disturbed 18th-century religious poet, "Rejoice in the Lamb" finds the English composer at his most expressive. Britten displays a level of skill in tone-painting that is nothing short of virtuosic, while the transcendent sweetness of the recurring "Hallelujah" has become a theology in itself, and a sublime affirmation of art and the divine. It is nevertheless a difficult piece, and Geary fortunately led his singers with a firm hand. The opening chant was a bit chunky in its syllabic motion, while the festive ensuing section, with its fleet bravura and rapid sequence of scales, found this listener wanting greater precision. Still, for a choral group of this size, the Society comes across as a surprisingly communicative single entity. The four soloists were unevenly matched. Soprano Sandra Corin sang with an attractive, fluttery soprano, but didn't quite capture the serenity needed for Smart's meditation on his cat, Geoffrey. The excellent mezzo-soprano Stacy Cohen depicted the following battle of the mouse with a finely tuned measure of operatic energy, to delectable results. Tenor Ralph Nieder-Westermann and bass Robert Lloyd Huber were less impressive in their assignments.
Brahms' popular Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 52 found the ensemble less sure-footed stylistically, in the later part of the evening. Pitch problems plagued the opening movement, and though the performance regained its composure shortly, the work felt oddly out of place. There were some nice contributions by the soloists, particularly soprano Sandra Corin, who occasionally recalled Barbara Bonney. But I wondered what this work was doing in the middle of a program of sacred music. That this large, disciplined amateur chorus is capable of unified and polished tone was amply evidenced in the reading of Morten Lauridsen motet "Ubi caritas," performed with an affecting sensitivity and refinement. But otherwise, the most intriguing entry in the second half of the concert was the U.S. premiere of an "Alleluja" by Polish composer Marek Jasinski, a piece that holds together surprisingly well given its sudden and abrupt variations in rhythm, modality, dynamics and texture. (Ching Chang writes about classical music and opera for SFGate.com, the SF Bay Times, Opera News and other publications.) ©2001 Ching Chang, all rights reserved |