Voces Novae Voces Novae opened their ninth season yesterday afternoon at Church of
the Ascension. Their concert lasted almost two hours, and that's a long
time to sit on a church pew! It's a long time to sing, too, and there were times when the voices sounded
noticeably weary. Most of the selections were contemporary -- written since
1990 -- and many of them quite difficult. The singers responded to the direction
of Frank Heller and Angela Hampton at every turn, but sometimes things were
a bit of a scramble before turning out right. In the sacred music half of the program, Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Bogoroditse
Devo" ("Rejoice, O Virgin") was the most exciting number
-- every nuance of the Russian liturgical style was carefully inflected,
the basses rumbled wonderfully, and the great central climax practically
took the roof off. (I wanted to shout "Stop now! You can't get any
better!") One wished that Heller had used about one-fourth of his chorus for Mozart's
"Laudate Dominum." It sounded more like the Mormon Tabernacle
than Salzburg Cathedral. Carrie Bohnert sang the florid soprano solo a bit
too modestly, missing the inherent theatricality at the heart of the work. The "Cantique de Jean Racine" by Gabriel Fauré was pleasant
sounding, if a bit broadly realized for such a delicate text. The chorus'
diction of the French text was quite clear, which is no mean feat, but one
would never have mistaken them for Francophones. "How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings" from Brahms' "A German
Requiem," sung in English, was pretty blah. Even the big fugal climax
of the piece failed to excite. Henryk Górecki's "Totus Tuus"
has been heard quite a bit over the last 10 years, and it's getting pretty
stale. Paul Hume once characterized a work as "somewhat longer than
its better parts;" he could have been talking about this one. There were three sure winners in the concert's secular portion, "Sing
Me to Heaven" by Daniel Gawthrop, "Prelude to Peace" by Z.
Randall Stroope, and "There Will Be Rest" by Frank Ticheli. All
were beautifully performed, and one would be hard-pressed to say which was
best. Gwyneth Walker's "Love Is a Rain of Diamonds," sung by the
women, was delightful and filled with interesting textures. Closing the program was an old favorite, Randall Thompson's "Choose Something Like a Star" from his "Frostiana" suite. Here the chorus was assured and confident and pulled from their last reserves to end the concert on a high note indeed. |