Singing for the Joy of It

Jason Victor Serinus on December 16, 2008
What would Bay Area choral groups do without Christmas? Even if our amateur choruses can’t compete with the professionals, the warmth and good cheer they generate among audience members, plus the delicious postconcert receptions, go a long way toward justifying the price of admission. A good example is Voices of Musica Sacra, a chamber chorus of some 40 volunteer members. Founded in 1993 by Kathleen Fleming, VMS primarily performs sacred choral music in its twice-annual concerts. For its two 2008 holiday concerts, held this past weekend in churches in Concord and Walnut Creek, the enterprising ensemble engaged a 17-person orchestra to accompany them in John Rutter’s Magnificat. In the second half, the chorus followed works by Herbert Howells and Sir William Turner Walton with sing-alongs of four ever-popular Christmas carols, accompanied by organist John Walko. Though the acoustic of St. Stephen Catholic Church made a mush of Sunday's performance (especially the Rutter) for people sitting close up, those farther back benefited from a coherent soundstage and considerable clarity.

Getting by With a Little Help From Their Friends

Voices of Musica Sacra unfortunately suffers from the same affliction that many other volunteer choruses in the Bay Area have to endure — a lack of male voices. Men seem to have no problem mouthing off on Internet forums, but when it comes to opening their mouths in song, they are unusually reticent. Hence, in a chorus of 15 sopranos and 10 altos, the tenor and bass sections numbered five persons each. The tenors consisted of two hired male professionals, two women, and one volunteer male chorister. Two or three of the five basses were also hired. What saved the tenor section from vocal oblivion were Andrew Truett and Colby Roberts, two professional singers whose voices have enough edge to override the warmer timbre of the two female “tenors.” VMS Director John Kendall Bailey is an amiable, good-natured sort who likes to talk and josh with his audience. He also wears multiple hats as principal conductor and chorus master of Trinity Lyric Opera, associate conductor of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, and artistic director of the San Francisco Song Festival, not to mention filling other roles as a composer, baritone, organist, and pianist. A versatile musician, Bailey clearly knows how to gauge an audience’s taste, as well as his singers’ limits. Hence the choice of Rutter’s Magnificat, which he characterized as accessible. “It’s an A-word work,” he said, explaining that critics tend to disparage it while audiences love it. I may have been an audience member way before I was a critic, but I sure know when music sounds uninventive and repetitive. The Magnificat was the second Rutter work I had heard in two days, and both of them open with Technicolor orchestral splashes that seem ideal for movie sound tracks. Cliched passages surface throughout. The final Gloria, for example, begins with a big percussion roll, an obligatory harp glissando, and various trumpet blasts. Then come the cymbals — not just once or twice, but wherever Rutter wants to insert an exclamation point. One section jangles away like the start of the Overture from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. (It’s not the same, but you get the idea.) After a host of ambling, good-natured measures, complete with bubbling winds, the section predictably ends with percussion, cymbals, and everyone and their mother blasting away. Rutter’s Magnificat might have sounded more involving had the chorus been capable of varying color as well as dynamics. But in the fourth section, "Et misericordia," it merely sang softly, rather than creating hallowed tones. And in high passages, sopranos sometimes sounded a bit thin, hooty, and slightly under pitch. In the midst of all this, the lovely voice of soprano Christa Pfeiffer was like balm to the ears. Pfeiffer’s low range and midrange have a grounded, mature quality that brings to mind the late-career Arleen Auger at her finest. Here as well as in the lovely, lyrical "Esurientes" — the most successful movement of the piece — Pfeiffer’s artistry elevated the performance.

Rose With Spots

Addressing the audience, Bailey described the three early pieces by Herbert Howells as calm, reflective, moving works that contemplate the mysteries of the Christmas season. “They’re not Jingle Bells,” he joshed, “so don’t fall asleep.” Who would want to fall asleep during San Francisco Opera Chorus baritone Jere Torkelsen’s handsome solo in A Spotless Rose? Nonetheless, listening to what the Phoenix Chorale makes of that hymn on its recent Grammy-nominated Chandos CD, titled Spotless Rose, clarifies that Voices of Musica Sacra's imbalance between female and male voices submerged the most interesting harmonies in the work. The chorus fared best in four works by William Walton, in part because the harmonies commanded attention. The sing-along Christmas carols were a joy, even if the applause ended before all the bows had finished. The yummy pastries were the icing on the cake. Hey, it’s the season for love and good cheer. Ignore what the dumb, Grinch-like critic who would steal Christmas has to say. Despite musical shortcomings, it was a lovely, totally "A" afternoon.