For most choral aficionados, the words
English anthem call to mind the rich repertoire of English-texted music for the Anglican liturgy. But this term has a different meaning for George Frideric Handel, whose set of 11 Chandos Anthems share more in common with Bach's cantatas than Byrd or Purcell.
Handel's anthems aren't single pieces at all, but large-scale collections of airs, choruses, and instrumental interludes. Three of the anthems comprised the opening concert of the California Bach Society's current concert season, whose debut Friday at San Francisco's St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church showed the choir to be well-equipped for the task of performing these impressive pieces.
Handel composed his 11 Chandos Anthems in 1717-1718, shortly after moving to England and finding employment with Henry James Brydges, the first Duke of Chandos. This is music in a grand style, originally intended for performance in the duke's parish church and suitable for the finest cathedrals and royal chapels.
As Pants the Hart for Cooling Streams, likely the first to be composed, is also the most intimate, while
Let God Arise and
O Praise the Lord With One Consent are more expansive collections with bolder dramatic gestures.
Paul Flight, CBS' artistic director, deserves much credit for bringing consistency to his choir's sound. CBS does a fine job with the fundamentals: The singers have good blend, nice balance, accurate intonation, and solid diction. Their sound is on the lighter side, displaying sweet and delicate qualities well-suited to the Handel anthems. Much of this music involves quick contrasts — rapidly moving rhythms against a steady cantus-firmus-type line, with sudden stops and starts in momentum. CBS handled these with unerring confidence, never faltering in the rapid lines and nicely sustaining the elongated melodies.
Choir Poised to Bloom
Flight is in only his second year as CBS' artistic director, and it will be interesting to see where he takes the ensemble vocally. Having cultivated a solid foundation under Flight's command, the choir is now poised to introduce greater expressivity and boldness to its singing. Lovely as the sound often is, you might ask for heightened vigor in a chorus like "In the voice of praise and thanksgiving" from
As Pants the Hart, or a greater sense of joyfulness in the rolling melodies of "O sing unto God" from
Let God Arise, accentuating more the dramatic elements of Handel's setting.
The same might be said of the solo singing, which is uniformly pleasant and confidently handled but sometimes lacks a certain fire. Flight's own capabilities as a veteran countertenor soloist were clearly evident in the airs "Tears are my daily food" from
As Pants the Hart and "Praise Him, all ye that in his house attend" from
O Praise the Lord, though he admirably avoided overpowering the other soloists. Closest otherwise to a truly soloistic quality was baritone Adam Cole, whose energy and robust tone enlivened the militaristic "That God is great" from
O Praise the Lord.
Two other touches in the program deserve mention. CBS thoughtfully introduced a tribute to Ted Flath, CBS' founder, on the 20th anniversary of his death. "Ach Herr, lass dein lieb' Engelein" (Ah Lord, let your dear angel), the final chorale from J.S. Bach's
St. John Passion, was an apt choice for a memorial, and the choir's elegant, affecting performance was a fitting tribute to Flath's memory.
Finally, CBS' novel internship program merits some praise. College music students who successfully pass an audition spend a full year in the choir, gaining exposure to quality early music. They even get to sing solos. And guess what — the kids are pretty good. CBS' two current interns, soprano Liz Coppock and tenor Mark Bonney, acquitted themselves nicely in a collection of arias from two anthems. Bonney displayed fine agility and a silky vocal quality in the airs "Like as the smoke vanisheth" from
Let God Arise and "For this our truest interest is" from
O Praise the Lord. Coppock has a bright, agile voice with a fine lyrical style, well-suited to "God's tender mercy," also from
O Praise the Lord.