May 21, 2011
Backward to Bach Again
I must have been caught in some sort of Bach nexus to review three concerts of the composer's choral works over the past three weeks. Saturday's performance of Bach's B-minor Mass by the San Francisco Bach Choir at the Calvary Presbyterian church gave me a unique opportunity to observe the effect of artistic leadership and performing environment on a period instrument band with the same concertmistress, a majority of the same instrumentalists, and even common soloists. Unfortunatley, Saturday's performance suffered from the uninspired leadership of the choir's Artistic Director Corey Jamason.
I
avoid critiquing volunteer and amateur ensembles because, as an outsider, I am not in a position to determine standards and levels of achievement with groups that, by nature, fall short of professional expectations. I was in a unique position Saturday, as I had stepped in as the Bach Choir's assistant conductor for several months in 2006 to help prepare the B-minor Mass, as the previous music director suffered from deteriorating health. Saturday's performance was below the choir's potential.
I had the impression that Jamason, music director since 2007, instead of identifying vocal problems and offering suggestions of how to sing better, simply told the choristers to sing less — especially during exposed and tricky passages. The result was an unfocused and a far less robust sound than I knew was capable with this group. Even basic choral problems, such as avoiding an American lilt in words like terra, went unadressed.
Jamason's conducting seemed unsure, with most movements starting in one tempo and settling into another, and flapping his arms in unclear scowls of frustration. Part of this may be an understandable lack of rehearsal time with the expensive orchestra, but that is exactly what a conductor is supposed to do: compensate for the lack of time by giving assured, encouraging, and inviting gestures. A messy tenor entrance opening the "pleni sunt coeli" was due to Jamason's lack of clarity and not any fault of the choir members. Jamason, a talented keyboardist, seemed to battle over tempo with concertmistress Elizabeth Blumenstock in the famously difficult violin solo in the "Laudamus te" movement, frustrating even her usually superb playing. The string playing in general was muted and restrained, yet this is music that thrives on crisp delineation of the intricate musical lines. Veteran oboist Marc Schachman simply ignored Jamason's upbeat to the "Qui sedes" movement and took a tempo that worked; the result was the best instrumental playing of the evening.
Te
nor Brian Thorsett, with his typically refined tone, and flutist Louise Carlake deftly handled the Benedictus. The aria "Quonium to solus sanctus" with its famously difficult horn solo was simply a mess. Bass Paul Murray made it through it. Soprano Jennifer Paulino sang with assured clarity, and Danielle Reutter-Harrah performed a very lovely Agnus Dei.
With such a wealth of resources as his disposal, it was a shame Jamason failed to harness them to give a compelling interpretation of the work. Alexandra Amati-Camperi's lucid program notes would have been one starting point. Bay Area audiences had the option of attending Soli Deo Gloria's performance of the work in Palo Alto the same evening; in addition, the San Francisco Symphony gave five performances in March, the American Bach Soloists is performing the work in July, and the Pacific Collegium has programmed it for September. With such oversaturation, I wanted to find aspects of Jamason's interpretation and Saturday's performance that would speak to those outside of the Bach Choir's local constituency. I found none.
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Comments
Thank You for this honest review. Sometimes it is very good to reflect on and analyze weaknesses in order to gain the strength to grow. People with the 'guts' to provide such clear and honest feedback that can be used constructively are few in today's world.
Many people have had discussions and similar thoughts and it is good to hear these thoughts reflected from you Tom. And thanks for your stellar work preparing us for the Mass way back when - your vocal coaching is still dearly remembered.
Thanks for all the hard work and dedication and keep it up!
An SFBC fan!
Hmm...is somebody jealous of Corey Jamason?
I agree that the "Quoniam tu solus sanctus" was terribly messy. The laboriously slow tempo really didn't work. Jamason was obviously frustrated that the orchestra had strayed into their own world, oblivious to his direction. What does one do when a player simply refuses to give the conductor even a glance and stubbornly does his own thing? Obviously one doesn't hire that musician again, but what does one do mid-performance? Stop, scold, and start again? Flap one's arms in scowls of frustration? Perhaps. Somehow I doubt that encouraging and inviting gestures would have done the trick.
Evidently, the problem was corrected by the second night's performance. I was in the audience for both, and the "Quoniam tu solus sanctus" on Sunday was done at a quicker pace, the horn solo was next to perfect, and Paul Murray, rather than just "making it through," really shined. It was truly superb in every way.
You hit this one hard, Mr. Busse, but I'm sure your comments are meant to be constructive. Since you've worked with this group under David Babbitt, perhaps Corey Jamason would welcome your return to the role of assistant conductor to help prepare their next performance.
It is clear from Tom Busse`s review of the Bach Choir`s performance of Bach`s b-minor Mass,that he has a personal vendetta against Corey Jameson.His mention of his short tenure with the choir makes it obvious that he feels wronged, in that he was not selected as music director after David Babbit`s passing.To misuse this forum as a place to hash out his personal tribulations and insecurities comes across only as incredibly unprofessional,not to mention immature.While he is certainly welcome to his viewpoints,I found the review most tedious and uninformative.The fact that the audiences gave standing ovations tells me that Corey is doing an outstanding job.I have come to expect more professionalism from the staff at Classical Voice,I hope they do some Spring cleaning.
I was a performer for last weekend's rendition of the Bach B minor Mass, and I thought that Corey's leadership was very inspiring. These comments are disrespectful to the performers and audience, who thoroughly enjoyed performing and listening the the performances. This review is definitely immature and unprofessional. Any criticism could've been presented in a more constructive way, but evidently, it is the reviewer's intention to be completely destructive.
I thought Sunday's concert was lovely. It is hard to go wrong with a reasonably fine B minor Mass, but this one was far more inspiring than another group's effort I recently attended.
Quoniam was quite excellent! Actually, the whole show was quite strong. Perhaps Saturday's was terrible, but I sense that the author has personal issues with Jameson. It's rude to insult the man publicly over something else just to get revenge. Leaves me wondering what the REAL issue is between these two men?
"Since you've worked with this group under David Babbitt, perhaps Corey Jamason would welcome your return to the role of assistant conductor to help prepare their next performance."
...ummm.
Probably not.
Never have I
ve read such a personal attack in a review. Mr. Busse should issue an apology and resign to more of an administration role, leaving the reviews to someone more qualified, without a personal agenda.
As Managing Director of the San Francisco Bach Choir, I have two questions regarding this review. Why didn't Mr. Busse recuse himself when, by his own admission, he had a history with us? And why did the editorial staff of the SFCV allow this totally unprofessional and unprovoked attack to be printed?
For the record, Mr. Busse was one of two semi-finalists competing for our position of assistant director in spring of 2005. As such, he participated in choir rehearsals leading up to performances of the Bach Mass in B Minor. The other candidate was awarded the position in June of 2005 (which then turned into an interim conductor position after the death of our former director.)
Mr. Busse's experience with us consisted of about eight partial rehearsals that took place six years ago under a different director and somehow this is what he believes qualifies him to critique the conducting of Corey Jamason. What Mr. Busse wrote was not a review; it was cyber-bullying, a practice that I see has produced some traffic on your website. Given the obvious resentment he shows toward Mr. Jamason and the odd bias I believe that motivated his piece, I hope you will seriously consider not supporting this kind of inappropriate personal commentary in the future.
Sharon Gustavson
As a friend and supporter of the SFBC I completely agree with Sharon Gustavson. I couldn't have said it better myself. Well said !
Corey is doing a fine job and I thoroughly enjoy the performances. Issues? Sure. Here and there. But given the context and overall sound, I'm happy - grateful in fact - that this organization continues to bring us great performances at such a modest ticket price.
Dear Mr. Busse,
I was deeply disappointed and dismayed to read your ‘review’ of the SF Bach Choir’s B Minor Mass concerts. Your job, as a reviewer, as I understand it, is to represent an objective view of a common cultural experience. Part of that representation is sharing your understanding of the nature of the organization putting forth artistic expression and effort, and observing the response of the audience involved.
Your submission to San Francisco Classical Voice is not a review. It does not describe the music that led to two evenings of standing ovations, nor does it honor 75 years of cultural enrichment provided by the Bach Choir to the city of San Francisco or the legacy of performers, conductors, audiences and supporters that have kept it alive for nearly a century. Your brief personal encounter during a completely unrelated phase of the choir’s existence has nothing to bear on your evaluation of the performance in any regard, and certainly has nothing to do with Corey Jamason.
Your personal history with the Bach Choir is just that, it is only your individual experience and has no place in the body of, or the thoughts supporting any review you would write.
Clearly, you missed the aspects of this performance which was led, inspired, invited, encouraged and nurtured by Corey Jamason that caused hundreds of people to leap to their feet, both Saturday and Sunday! Those folks were obviously moved, as were the members of the choir. I sincerely wish you would have had enough courage and compassion to invite and welcome the privilege of that experience into your own, and I regret that you were not able to enjoy the truly celebratory nature of the entire weekend, both within the music, and as a part of the community.
I was going to suggest the SFCV remove this review as incendiary and more a personal attack than a review. But keeping it up here may help Mr Busse to learn a lesson for the future, as the review's comments seems to be bringing more damage to Busse's reputation than to the Bach Choir's music director.
But perhaps Mr Busse is not surprised by the reactions? He is a smart man- I can only guess that he had his bags packed when he published.
Agreed. Perhaps even a retraction or even an apology from either Busse or SFCV would be in order.
What is this banter, attacking Mr. Busse, who wrote a review with great criticism, and rightfully so.
If it were the case that Mr. Busse was on a personal vendetta would that warrant your many unhelpful, unprofessional attacks back at him? It is embarrassing and I am sad that I have been part of a choir who are not willing to accept criticism gracefully but choose a high school eske fight. Grow up!
It sounds like there are two reviews competing for space: the one with the baggage and the one with the feedback/criticism.
The standard snarky adjectives ("uninspired leadership") in today's critiques, become inappropriate given the baggage. It is an understandable professional mistake, but it IS a professional mistake.
If you find yourself in this professional situation again, with baggage AND criticism, either recuse yourself or find a copy-editor.
If you do not know what you are doing then you will find out sooner or later that you do not know what you are doing. This seems to have happened to Corey Jamason by way of a bit of an unprofessional review, but that is not the point.
Do not blame Mr. Busse (calling him a jerk in an all-choir email is hardly professional) that you are upset and realizing you picked the wrong guy for the job (who himself admitted so in one of the rehearsals).
How interesting! I am wondering how would a concert review generate so much reaction from the readers of the SFCV.org. I have to say I have been enjoying reading all the comments and telling many of my friends to read the daily updates.
Outrageous review - This should be removed, and an apology issued to Mr. Corey Jamason. At ONCE.