San Francisco Classical Voice

CHORAL REVIEW

San Francisco
Lyric Chorus

August 26, 2006

Robert Gurney

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A Spirited Reading

By Michael Zwiebach

The San Francisco Lyric Chorus could have titled their Saturday concert "The Last Shall Come First," since it performed two worthy compositions that have been overshadowed by more acknowledged masterworks. The first half of the concert at Trinity Episcopal Church was devoted to Michael Haydn’s Requiem (an influence on Mozart’s Requiem), followed by Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem (a forerunner in kind of Britten’s War Requiem). The 36-member chorus performed reasonably well in both pieces, showing spirit and commitment in responding to music director Robert Gurney’s well-judged readings.

Johann Michael Haydn is one of those composers whom fate has doomed to be remembered as an auxiliary or associate of more famous composers. Joseph Haydn’s younger brother took the job in Salzburg that Mozart didn’t want, and enthusiastically wrote the music you would expect of a man in service to an archbishop — lots of liturgical works. He was Salzburg’s favorite adopted son until Salzburgers realized, long after both composers were dead, that there was more credit in Mozart worship.

Great expectations

Haydn’s Requiem Mass, written in 1771 after the death of his first employer, Archbishop Schrattenbach, is a masterwork in its own right (and can be heard on two recent recordings). From its soft, suspenseful, and suspension-filled opening, the piece develops a rhythmic drive that is balanced by bursts of gentle, elegiac melody. Haydn sweeps through the Dies Irae prayer, a movement that is usually far more sectionalized. The consolatory Sanctus is a jewel of a movement and the final fugue of the Agnus Dei lifts you out of your seat.

The Lyric Chorus nailed the opening, setting up high hopes for the rest of the performance. But the blend that they achieved there was often missing later. Climaxes and cadences were usually bright and well formed, but the journey to them was sometimes rocky. Slightly dodgy, mumbled entrances marred some sections, especially the fugal ones. The balances also favored the women at times — inevitable in some places, because women far outnumbered the men — and in other instances, instead of a group sound, individual male voices sometimes came to the fore. Still, the chorus held together enough to make the most glorious moments of the piece wholesome.

The soloists — soprano Julia Earl, alto Katherine McKee, tenor Kevin Baum, and bass Thomas Hart — were excellent, with Earl’s delicacy balanced by McKee’s directness. In place of an orchestra, the Lyric Chorus engaged the Arlekin String Quartet and timpanist John Weeks. The quartet drove through the piece on the strength of first violin Eugene Chukhlov, but seemed divorced from the other performers in strange ways. They were too loud in some places and some of their attacks seemed tonally disparate. David Hatt’s organ playing was fine, but I found myself wishing for actual trombones, which in this work can make an impression in favor of the singers.

Lyrical liberation

Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem is a choral work in praise of pacifism that premiered in 1936 amid the first examples of fascist aggression. It begins with a setting of the Agnus Dei prayer and moves on to exciting passages of Walt Whitman’s war poetry (including, inevitably, "Beat! Beat! drums!"). The last movement sets quotations from several books of the Bible. Musically, it is bound together by the soprano’s line "Dona nobis pacem," which recurs throughout the piece. Vaughan Williams moves through many of the styles associated with him, leading to the full anthem final movement, rendered splendidly in this performance.

In general, the Lyric Chorus seemed more at home with the Vaughan Williams works, which they sang confidently and with a well-blended sound. "Beat! Beat! drums!" was properly muscular, and the chorus' incisive rhythms made sense of the tumultuous music. "Reconciliation" showed fine dynamic control of the softer, lyrical parts of the score. But there could have been greater depth to the pianissimos — softer singing shouldn’t mean loss of tone.

The soloists, soprano Alessandra Kameron and bass Thomas Hart, were excellent again, with Kameron singing with exemplary control and Hart encompassing both the stentorian and restrained aspects of his part. The Arlekin Quartet also fared better in this music, and Hatt demonstrated the Trinity Church organ’s extraordinary trumpet and horn stops, which sound incredibly similar to real brass instruments. Music director Robert Gurney conducted his forces capably, providing clear beats and cues throughout the program, and generously conveying emotion in his gestures.