November 16
Williams Chamber Choir, Thompson Memorial Chapel, Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.

Performers: Williams College Chamber Choir, Brad Wells, director, Matt Allen, student conductor, Scott Smedinghoff, organ, Vocal soloists: Augusta Caso, soprano, Eric Kang, alto, Chaz Lee, bass, Yanie Fecu, soprano, Matt Allen, tenor

Program: "Music & the Departure of the Soul": Galina Grigorjeva (1962-), "On Leaving" (1999); Arvo Pärt (1935-), Littlemore Tractus (2000); Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), "Rest" (1902); Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), "Hymn to St. Cecilia" (1942); Gustav Mahler, "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" (1901/1983), arr. by Clytus Gottwald; Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998), "Complete this work", IV, from Choral Concerto (1984-85)

An absolutely marvelous performance of a diverse, interesting, at times gripping program! Bradley Wells has excelled in training a group of superb chamber singers! Dan Foster (Aoede Consort), look out!

Being a stickler for such things, I very much appreciated having texts provided, even the Russian, in original Cyrillic, plus translation. I would like to have had a transliterated text in front of me, to follow along, not being fluent in that language. Sopranos & basses excelled in "On Leaving", balance was never a problem, however, here or elsewhere in the program. I also appreciated Wells' brief but informative remarks about this little known Ukrainian composer. Unknown to me, at any rate! All of the essentials of good chamber or choral singing were observed: Pitch, dynamics, sense of text, musicality, control, & balance. And having several Hilliard Ensemble recordings in my collection, I could hear some of that group's seamless music-making. What a wonderful way to open a concert! And so resonant in that churchly space!

Pärt, Littlemore Tractus

May He support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over and our work is done! Then in His Mercy may He give us a safe lodging and a holy rest and peace at the last.

Not quite as successful, certainly not on the same high level was this 2nd work on the program: Some murkiness in enunciation ("He gave us a safe lodging"), & the melodramatic ending ("and a holy rest, & peace at the last") didn't come through convincingly. Perhaps this was more the fault of the original text & its author, John Henry Cardinal Newman (from his sermon, "Wisdom & Innocence", 1843).

Vaughan Williams, "Rest"

O Earth lie heavily upon her eyes;
Seal her sweet eyes weary of watching, Earth.
Lie close around her,
Leave no room for mirth with its harsh laughter,
Nor for sound of sighs.
She hath no questions, she hath no replies,
Hushed in and curtained with a blessed dearth
Of all that irked her from her hour of birth;
With stillness that is almost Paradise.
Darkness more clear than noon-day holdeth her,
Silence more musical than any song;
Even her very heart hath ceased to stir;
Until the morning of Eternity her rest shall not begin nor end,
But be, and when she wakes she will not think it long.

This is an early work by Vaughan Williams, one of the less familiar ones to choral aficionados, but the cadences of the Rossetti poem of the same name (1862) come through beautifully, the way the composer set them to music, also the generally successful execution by this student chamber ensemble. Melody is in the upper voices, but I didn't detect any great imbalance. Definitely a good move by Brad Wells to move up front, closer to the audience, as that space (Thompson Chapel) tends to be quite resonant & swallows up the more discrete sounds, instrumental or vocal. Best line for me was "Silence more musical than any song", referring no doubt to eternal rest. Also: "Darkness more clear than noon-day".

Hymn to St. Cecilia
Benjamin Britten
Words by W. H. Auden

I
In a garden shady this holy lady
With reverent cadence and subtle psalm,
Like a black swan as death came on
Poured forth her song in perfect calm:
And by ocean's margin this innocent virgin
Constructed an organ to enlarge her prayer,
And notes tremendous from her great engine
Thundered out on the Roman air.

Blonde Aphrodite rose up excited,
Moved to delight by the melody,
White as an orchid she rode quite naked
In an oyster shell on top of the sea;
At sounds so entrancing the angels dancing
Came out of their trance into time again,
And around the wicked in Hell's abysses
The huge flame flickered and eased their pain.

Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire.

II
I cannot grow;
I have no shadow
To run away from,
I only play.

I cannot err;
There is no creature
Whom I belong to,
Whom I could wrong.

I am defeat
When it knows it
Can now do nothing
By suffering.

All you lived through,
Dancing because you
No longer need it
For any deed.

I shall never be
Different. Love me.

Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire.

III
O ear whose creatures cannot wish to fall,
O calm of spaces unafraid of weight,
Where Sorrow is herself, forgetting all
The gaucheness of her adolescent state,
Where Hope within the altogether strange
From every outworn image is released,
And Dread born whole and normal like a beast
Into a world of truths that never change:
Restore our fallen day; O re-arrange.

O dear white children casual as birds,
Playing among the ruined languages,
So small beside their large confusing words,
So gay against the greater silences
Of dreadful things you did: O hang the head,
Impetuous child with the tremendous brain,
O weep, child, weep, O weep away the stain,
Lost innocence who wished your lover dead,
Weep for the lives your wishes never led.

O cry created as the bow of sin
Is drawn across our trembling violin.

O weep, child, weep, O weep away the stain.

O law drummed out by hearts against the still
Long winter of our intellectual will.

That what has been may never be again.

O flute that throbs with the thanksgiving breath
Of convalescents on the shores of death.

O bless the freedom that you never chose.

O trumpets that unguarded children blow
About the fortress of their inner foe.

O wear your tribulation like a rose.

Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions
To all musicians, appear and inspire:
Translated Daughter, come down and startle
Composing mortals with immortal fire.

By my reckoning, though this was by far the longest work on the program, it was also the most successful, allowing for a few glitches (Pitch, etc.) here & there. Britten is not always the easiest to sing, this ensemble handled him with care, bringing out very well the "silent singing of martyrs". The lines penned by Auden are not always clear, their literal meaning, much less the soaring poetical trajectories, e.g. "O flute that throbs with the thanksgiving breath / Of convalescents on the shores of death", or the beginning of the 2nd part: "I cannot grow; / I have no shadow / To run away from, / I only play". In spite of the many ambiguities of Auden's text, the cumulative emotional effect of this entreaty to the patron saint of musicians is very great by the end: "O wear your tribulation like a rose".

Mahler

Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen,
Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben,
Sie hat so lange nichts von mir vernommen,
Sie mag wohl glauben, ich sei gestorben!

Es ist mir auch gar nichts daran gelegen,
Ob sie mich für gestorben hält,
Ich kann auch gar nichts sagen dagegen,
Denn wirklich bin ich gestorben der Welt.

Ich bin gestorben dem Weltgetümmel,
Und ruh' in einem stillen Gebiet!
Ich leb' allein in meinem Himmel,
In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied!

When one thinks of Mahler, one thinks of his symphonies, or his art songs. The text is a poem by the German Romantic poet Friedrich Rückert, arranged by Clytus Gottwald for choral ensemble. Mahler wrote a song cycle (1901-1902): "Fünf Rückertlieder", about his own near death experience in 1901. It is extremely passionate, reaching a Mahlerian climax at the end: "Ich leb' allein in meinem Himmel, /In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied!": " I live alone in my heaven, / In my love and in my song!" The singers handled the ebb & flow of these verses very well, all the voices contributed, not just the upper ones, though soprano & tenor led.

Schnittke, "Complete this work"

Complete this work
Which I began in hope
And with Your name,
So that my singing may become healing,
Curing the wounds of body & soul.

If my humble work is finished
With Your holy blessing —
May the divine spirit in it
Join with my meager inspiration.

Do not extinguish
The revelation You have granted,
Do not abandon my reason,
But, again & again, receive praise
From Your servant.

Amen.

In many ways, as impressive as the ensemble's handling of the very long Britten piece was, this was the most impressive performance overall in an excellent evening of vocal chamber music. Overlapping voices were most effective, a drone effect produced by soprano in the 2nd section ("I my humble work is finished"). Brad Wells moved his singers back from the audience, this did not seem to lose volume or clarity if what we heard. I am not at all familiar with anything Schnittke has written for voice, this was a first for me, I enjoyed it immensely, especially in the Russian. I would have liked to see the transliterated text, not being fluent in that language, but I did appreciate having the Cyrillic & translation side by side.

Many thanks to Brad Wells & his chamber choir of 19 for an inspiring evening of vocal chamber music!

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