Vox Views and Reviews

May, 2008 Reviews

May 3
Battenkill Chorale, St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Greenwich, NY

Performers: Battenkill Chorale, Janet McGhee, director, Erich Borden, piano

Program: "An American Celebration!": Virgil Thompson (1896-1989), "My shepherd will supply my need"; Williams Billings (1746-1800), "David's lamentation" (1800); Alice Parker (1925-), "Wondrous love"; Jeremiah Ingalls (1764-1828), "New Jerusalem" (1805); Aaron Copland (1900-1990), "I bought me a cat" (1950), "At the river" (1964), "The boatmen's dance" (1952), "Ching-a-ring-chaw" (1955), "The little horses" (1952); Eric Whitacre (1970-), "Sleep" (2000); Randall Thompson (1899-1984), "Glory to God in the highest" (1958), "Choose something like a star" (1959), "The Lord is my shepherd" (1964); Wendell Whalum (1931-1987), "Oh, freedom!"; William L. Dawson (1899-1990), "Soon ah will be done" (1934), "Zion's walls" (1961); Samuel Barber (1910-1981), "Sure on this shining night" (1941); Clara Edwards (1880-1974), "Ol' Jim" (1952); Scott Joplin (1867-1917), "Aunt Dinah has blowed de horn" (1910); George Gershwin (1898-1937), "Sing of spring" (1937), "Oh, Lawd, I'm on my way" (1935); Jester Hairston (1901-2000), "Elijah rock" (1955); Hall Johnson (1888-1970), "His name is so sweet" (1935); Ernst Toch (1887-1964), "Geographical fugue" (1930)

Before I revert to my curmudgeonly self & "go negative", let me say that the 4 opening selections (shape notes), Virgil Thomson to Jeremiah Ingalls, were an absolutely wonderful way to start things off. And in that most resonant space, what an impressive sound! The movement of voice parts in all 4 pieces worked extremely well, basses & tenors were quite audible (And on pitch!), sopranos & altos were an impressive driving force in the melody line. And what has to be one of the hardest things for any chorus to master, pianissimo singing without losing pitch & energy, worked as well, e.g. last 2 lines (repeats) of "My Shepherd":

No more a stranger, nor a guest,
But like a child at home.

I also appreciated very much the informative program notes (Janet McGhee, author) as well as having texts. Makes my job of eviscerating, I mean reviewing what I heard that much easier!

In the 2nd shape notes piece, "David's Lamentation", good energy, focus & pitch, e.g. "Oh my son! Oh, my son. Would to God / I had died for thee, Oh Absalom, my son." The pathos of these lines came through loud (Not too loud!) & clear, & again, the basses were most impressive.

In "Wondrous Love", excellent singing by the sopranos & altos in the melody lines, basses & tenors underneath, in the 1st stanza, basses taking the melody line in the 2nd stanza, & the diminuendo at the end ("I will sing, I will sing. / While millions join the theme, I will sing") worked extremely well.

If I had to pick one of these 4, it would be the 4th ("New Jerusalem"), also the shortest: Fugal lines, interweaving, brought out so well by all voice parts, sustained fast tempi, no let-up to the end ("And bring the welcome day"). The driving beat is what keeps things rolling here & in the other shape notes selections. It worked in this early part of the program, but I noticed a distinct loss of energy & focus from here to the end, with a few exceptions. In the all too familiar Copland selections, for example, "I Bought Me a Cat", piano & soloist were sometimes not in synch, & the soloist (baritone Nick Lasoff) was drowned out. Definite signs of fatigue by the chorus in "At the River": A lovely song by Copland but which demands energy & focus, neither of which I heard much of here. Pitch was a problem in "Boatmen's Dance", also with baritone Nick Lasoff: Enunciation needed to be a lot crisper (Refrain: "Then dance the boatmen dance!"), some overplaying by the accompanist in Verse 2 ("I went on board the other day"), & the otherwise superb acoustics of that space worked against the soloist here. The last stanza (Verse 3: "The boatman is a thrifty man") sounded murky to my ears.

Another familiar Copland selection ("Ching-a-ring Chaw") was much better, more energy was apparent, basses were impressive ("Brothers gather round"), the one shortcoming was occasional lapses in enunciation ("Nights we all will dance").

I have been mightily impressed in the past with mezzo Chelsea Law's voice, but here, in a lullaby ("The Little Horses"), the singer actually overmatched the music. Way too much voice for the piece, from "Hush you bye, don't you cry" to "Oh you pretty little baby". 2nd stanza was actually inaudible ("Blacks & bays, dapples & grays"), as was 4th ("A brown & a gray, & a black & a bay"). Overall, not successful & a waste of a fine voice!

Much more successful was the Eric Whitacre piece ("Sleep"), fine legato singing by all parts: Impressive bass line ("The evening hangs beneath the moon"), a gorgeous line by all parts ("Then I surrender unto sleep"), & lovely rising & falling lines in the last stanza ("What dreams may come both dark & deep"), ending in a fadeout with the repeated lines: "As I surrender unto sleep, / As I surrender unto sleep".

Before intermission, a livelier piece by Randall Thompson ("Glory to God in the Highest") & two spirituals to wake us up from our Whitacre-induced "Sleep". Good sustained rhythm in "Glory", attention to dynamic & tempo changes, & an impressive bass line ("and on earth peace, good will t'ward men").

My criticism of the spirituals has to do with dialect singing: It just didn't work for me! Janet McGhee did talk about this aspect of the program, how retaining the slave dialect forms was not necessarily racist caricature, but I heard precious little of the flavor & depth of that form of speech. Perhaps if Chelsea Law had sung out some of these lines, e.g. "And go home to my Lord & be free" (in "Freedom!"), or "I'm goin' t' live wid God" (in "Soon"). I think Chelsea could have pulled it off, & she may have been able to bring the others along with her. The heart in these 2 selections just did not come out, however much volume was produced by the chorus.

The 2nd half opener worked very well: Randall Thompson's setting of Robert Frost's enigmatic "Choose Something Like a Star". The music is lovely, especially when well sung, there are rising & falling lines among & between vocal parts, dynamics are important, but also pitch, which can easily be lost in the emotionality of the text. The soprano line, in particular, kept up the pace & provided much needed ballast for the moving lines of the lower voices, creating a gripping effect. From "O Star" in the first line to the enigmatic last line: "To stay our minds on & be staid": There is social commentary, even some wicked bits of irony here ("Say something to us we can learn"), not just a paean to nature ("O Star the fairest one in sight"). What does Frost mean by "staid"? ("Settled, sedate, not flighty or capricious", "ingrained seriousness & propriety") What of his reference to Keats ? (In, appropriately, Keats' "Bright Star", the poet asks: "Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art - / Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night / And watching, with eternal lids apart, / Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite"). Where is the poet leading us? It is an apparently uplifting message ("It asks of us a certain height") leavened by skepticism & doubt ("Use Language we can comprehend").

Equally successful was the Samuel Barber selection ("Sure on this shining night"): Lovely legato ensemble singing, sopranos & altos soaring in the 2nd stanza ("The late year lies down the north, / All healed, all is health. / High summer holds the earth, / Hearts all whole"), basses & tenors extremely impressive in the last stanza ("Sure on this shining night / I weep for wonder / Wandr'ing far alone / Of shadows on the stars"), accompanied beautifully & sensitively by pianist Erich Borden.

Much less successful, however, was the last part of the program, attributable most likely to depleted energy & hence loss of focus. In "The Lord is my shepherd", for example, too much piano, some weak entrances, & muddy diction. Even in the climactic final lines ("Surely goodness & mercy / shall follow me all the days of my life; / and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever"), while pitch was restored, focus was not, & the pianissimo "Amen" got lost. In the spirituals, tenor Paul Lambert's efforts were not well supported by chorus or accompanist, who overplayed. Also, the problem I cited earlier of inauthentic slave dialect muddied the waters here, as in "Aunt Dinah" & "Oh, Lawd". Rhythms are an essential part of this genre, & they were lost in "Aunt Dinah". In "Oh, Lawd", too much piano, diction was often murky ("if you are there to guide my han'"), the overall effect being confused. The last three spirituals were more successful, especially "Elijah Rock", where the chorus rediscovered rhythm & even a bit of heart. "His Name", while impressive for the call & response format, was spoiled by muddy diction &, again, lack of heart. "Zion's Walls" was a bit better, but the soprano soloist failed to project well, & words got lost by the chorus.

Programming "Geographical Fugue" as the finale was both an inspiration, given its extreme differentness, a problem, because of this very differentness. It has to be even more demanding on the chorus than the shape note tunes that opened the concert, but they handled the various difficulties very well. "Gesprochene Musik" (Spoken Music) is like "Sprechstimme" (Speak Voice) without the musicality, the emphasis being on sounds of individual words & rhythms, recalling the vocal trajectories of the spirituals.

The one thing I can agree with reviewer Joseph Dalton about (Times-Union, 5/4/08) is how impressive the basses & tenors were. By my count, 16 tenors & 18 basses, which is a healthy number, especially for tenors in a mixed chorus, also about McGhee's engaging & very steady hand at the podium. It was also very nice to see bass Tom Griesemer back after some very serious physical problems. A nice touch to recognize him & give him some flowers!

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May 4
Williams College Concert Choir & Orchestra, Chapin Hall, Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.

Performers: Williams College Concert Choir & Orchestra, Bradley Wells, director, Soloists: Mary Ellen Callahan, soprano, Kerry Ryer-Parke, soprano, Pam Dellal, alto, Charles Blandy, tenor, Keith Kibler, bass-baritone

Program: Bach, Mass in B minor, BWV 232

The main problem I had with this performance wasn't so much the quality of what I heard, which for the most part was very good, it was the hall's acoustics. Sound tended to soar upward in that ornate space, to the distinct disadvantage of the soloists. I asked why bass-baritone soloist Keith Kibler was so far back, in the orchestra, near the bassoons, & the answer was that it was deemed appropriate, given the timbre of those instruments. The other soloists were up front, but only the alto (Pam Dellal) managed to project well enough to be heard & establish a presence. And she was excellent! She was engaged with the music & audience, she projected well, despite the acoustics of that space, & she even seemed to enjoy the experience. The others, with the possible exception of Kibler, seemed to struggle with notes, & soprano Ryer-Parke appeared to be completely at sea, as far as her register was concerned. Tenor Blandy, who has discovered what to do with his hands, was technically sound, but even he seemed somewhat distracted & not sufficiently into his part. Soprano Callahan could also have projected better, her somewhat light, lilting voice never fully engaging music or audience.

That said, this was an extremely impressive outing for Brad Wells' singers, some 46 strong, as well as by the orchestra, 31 strong. Preparation for this monumental work couldn't have been easy, with school work & other imperatives competing for time, & I did not detect any significant loss of energy or focus, beginning to end. What the college needs is a large, acoustically "sound" performance space, for this kind of large work. Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall next door is fine for chamber music & recitals, not for B Minor Masses, & Thompson Memorial Chapel is probably too small, if more appropriate for sacred works. I have not been to the new spaces at the '62 Center & cannot comment.

Overall, the amount of preparation for the chorus clearly showed, in attacks, diction, observation of dynamics & tempo changes, but what I found most impressive was the chorus' ability to sustain energy & contact with the music. This is not always the case with this big a work, especially with amateur choruses. Brad Wells deserves a lot of credit, as do the choristers.

I did bring along a score (G. Schirmer) & marked it up, but suffice it to say that I was impressed with ALL the performers. Now if Williams College can only figure out a way to build a good performance space for this kind of work!

That said, the performance by the 46-strong chorus, all Williams students, as well as the orchestra (31 strong), as well as Bradley Wells' conducting, was generally superb. It is a daunting task for any mixed chorus, amateur or professional, to undertake this mighty work, & the Williams Concert Choir performed admirably. Perhaps an intermission would have helped all the performers, as opposed to a brief pause, but I detected no significant loss of energy or focus from the opening "Kyrie" to the final "Dona nobis pacem". Being a bass/tenor myself, I invariably pay greater attention to the men, & the 6 tenors & 13 basses (subdivided into 7 baritones & 6 basses) were a significant presence in this very large work. Excellent attacks in the opening "Kyrie" by all voice parts, crisp enunciation of "k", sustained line to the end of this section, diminuendo from 3rd to 4th measure.

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May 10
Sharon Stohrer, Susan Hermance Fedak, Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, Starr Norman, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Albany, NY

Performers: Sharon Stohrer (SS), soprano, Susan Hermance Fedak (SHF), mezzo, Starr Norman, piano, Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz (AMB), violin

Program: "The Gifts of Women": Bach, "Et exultavit" (SHF), "Qui respexit" (SS); Reger, "The Virgin's Cradle Song" (SHF); Traditional, Stabat Mater (SHF, SS); Saint-Saëns, Ave Maria (SHF, SS); Schubert, Ave Maria (AMB); Dvorak, "Als die alte Mutter" (SHF, SS); Paul Sjolund (1935-), "A Mother's Love" (SHF, SS); Gladys Rich (1892-1972), "American Lullaby" (SHF); Brahms, Lullaby (SHF); Carol Hall (1939-), "Jenny Rebecca" (SHF); Carrie Jacobs Bond (1862-1946), "A Perfect Day" (SS); Clara Edwards (1880-1974), "Into the Night" (SS); Elinor Remick Warren (1900-1991), "Remembering", "Love's Riddle", "My Parting Gift" (SHF); Amanda McBroom (1946-), "Ship in a Bottle", "Errol Flynn" (SS); Richard Rodgers, "I Cain't Say No" (SHF); Cole Porter, "Give Him the Oo-la-la" (SS); George Gershwin, "The Lorelei" (SHF), "Nashville Nightingale" (SS); Irving Berlin, "Sisters" (SHF, SS)

What a varied program of song on this glorious Tulip Festival afternoon! A shame not more people opted to spend a short hour or so in this beautiful sanctuary, listening to some uplifting, sometimes funny, sometimes wistful music making.

My one complaint is the inclusion of translations. Why on earth include anything if it isn't what is being sung? If there is a need for the audience to know a storyline or background of a given piece, why not just provide a brief summary & let it go at that? Being of a fussy, nit-picking nature myself, I like to have the text of what is actually being sung in front of me! That said, I do appreciate the work that went into this program, also the program notes.

Starr Norman's accompaniment on piano was invariably appropriate & lovely, Ann-Marie's one moment to shine, in the Schubert Ave Maria, came off very well, demonstrating how far she has come as a soloist since the days of St. Cecilia Orchestra & the Schuyler String Quartet! Lovely, sweet sound, especially evident in the legato passages.

Of the two very different voices on display, suffice it to say that they both deserved a far better acoustical setting than this church sanctuary. Oftentimes, emotional or musical subtlety got lost in the swirling acoustics, causing each singer to belt out what should otherwise have been a softer, gentler sound. The lullabies, for example, by Reger, Rich, & Brahms, would have worked much better at a lower decibel. The Max Reger song, which I did not know, was positively lovely, but again, it would have profited by a smaller, more intimate setting. I am thinking of the church hall at First Presbyterian, just up the street, where I have heard vocal soloists hold forth & be much more effective. Steven Marking & Lucille Beer were among the performers there.

I must say that the highlight of the program, other than Ann-Marie's solo, was Susan's wicked rendition of the Richard Rodgers song from "Oklahoma". This required much less subtlety or intimacy!

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May 13
Findlay Cockrell / Parnas Duo, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, NY

Performers: Findlay Cockrell, piano, Cicely Parnas, cello, Madalyn Parnas, violin

Program: All-Ravel: Jeux d'eau (1901); Valses nobles et sentimentales (1911); Sonate pour violon et violoncelle (1921); Sonatine (1904)

Finally I have heard the famous Parnas Duo! And they lived up to their extremely favorable billing!

While Findlay had the lion's share of the program (Jeux, Valses, Sonatine), he 2 sisters made a definite impact with their sensitive reading of the Sonate. They play extremely well together without losing the individuality of each instrument.

Findlay navigated his way through the often difficult passages of the 3 pieces he played, with only occasional lapses of focus or concentration.

He is to be commended for bringing this dynamic duo (Couldn't resist that!) to our area (They also had a concert date in Glens Falls on Sunday), also for all he has done for music in the Capital Region.

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May 17
Albany Symphony, Albany Pro Musica, Palace Theatre, Albany, NY

Performers: Albany Symphony, Albany Pro Musica, David Alan Miller, conductor, Soloists: Lauren Skuce, soprano, Lucille Beer, mezzo, Scott Ramsay, tenor, Matthew Burns, bass-baritone

Program: Dorothy Chang, "Along the River of Stars" (world premiere); Beethoven, 9th Symphony

The one thing I can agree with reviewer Joseph Dalton (Times-Union, 5/19/08) about is the fact that the Palace Theatre does indeed "eat up sound", but it does not follow that the orchestra, soloists or chorus managed to overcome this rather large difficulty. From where I was sitting (Loge, right center, 3 rows back), supposedly an ideal location, I heard imbalances & problems with projection that should not have been. Period. Albany Pro Musica is a superb ensemble, augmented, as here, or not, all the soloists (Well, 3 out of 4), & even the orchestra do not as a rule have any problem with being heard. Only in the up tempo orchestral passages of the Beethoven, the glorious unison choral passages, & some of the vocal soloist passages did that famous sound ring out & hit the rafters.

Of the 4 soloists, the soprano was by far the most impressive. How Lauren Skuce was able to produce so much sound, & good sound at that, is beyond me! She literally blew away the competition, & neither the tenor not baritone soloist were any slouch. I am only familiar with mezzo Lucille Beer, & she did not have one of her better outings. Even if she only had a modest part in that bombastic 4th movement, what she did sing was often hard to hear, projection seemed to be a problem, & she appeared more intent on competing with the soprano than blending or sticking to her part.

What Dalton barely mentions, the chorus, was for me the highlight of the evening, by far! The women were simply astounding, ringing out those high-pitched, singular lines, the men equally impressive in lower register. Though it is only one movement & comes at the end, the choral component of the piece absolutely dominates, & the augmented APM Chorus managed to sustain energy & focus, beginning to end.

It was almost worth the price of admission, just to hear the chorus! If not for reviewer Dalton, for me! Earth to Dalton: "We are here! We are here! We are here!"

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May 20
Petia Kassarova, Todd Sisley, St. Paul's Episcopal, Troy, NY

Performers: Petia Kassarova, cello, Todd Sisley, piano

Program: Bach, Prelude from Suite No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1008 for unaccompanied cello

• Henry Eccles (1670-1742), Sonata in G minor (Largo, Corrente)
• Georgi Zlatev-Tcherkin (1905-1977), "Sevdana"
• Schumann, Fantasiestücke in E-flat Major, Op. 73
• William Henry Squire (1871-1963), Bourée for cello & piano, Op. 24

A delightful, varied program for that instrument we hear so little of by itself! And the acoustics were generally favorable, the exception being occasional overplaying by the piano, e.g. 2nd movement (Corrente) of the Henry Eccles piece.

Excellent handling of the changing dynamics & rhythms of the Bach opener, impressive fingering in the slow movement (Largo) of the Eccles piece, sliding up & down the scale without losing pitch.

I can see why Petia included the Bulgarian piece, "Sevdana", for patriotic reasons (Petia being Bulgarian), also because it provides an excellent platform to show of the player's manual dexterity & ability to handle slow & fast sections.

The same could be said for the much more familiar Schumann pieces, the best of which was he 3rd. Piano really took off here, not, however, to the detriment of the cello. Pianist Sisley was impressive throughout, mostly playing under the cello.

The final work on the program was no doubt selected for its liveliness, also to show off the cellist's virtuosity. "Rollicking" comes to mind here.

Overall, an impressive outing for cellist Petia Kassarova in an acoustically sympathetic setting, leaving us wanting to hear more!

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