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Harmonium's "Winter Garden" is Holiday Highlight |
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| by Sherri Rase | |
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A FRIEND |
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photo courtesy of Harmonium Choral Society
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Dr. Anne Matlack
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On December 12 and 13, Harmonium Choral Society presented its annual Holiday program, even as it celebrates its 30th year of existence. The excellence that has marked Harmonium from birth made this required viewing for its dedicated fan base. Even through Saturday night's bitter cold and Sunday afternoon's freezing rain and sleet, St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Morristown rang to the rafters with the susurration of holiday greetings and the shaking of water from umbrellas. This review is of the Sunday afternoon, December 13 performance.
Harmonium Choral Society is primarily an a cappella singing group whose holiday tradition has its members performing their first selection arrayed around the interior of St. Peter's, surrounding the audience, with the sound focused in. This was especially effective for Praetorius "Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming," arranged by Jan Sandström. This holiday canard can sometimes border on the laborious, but the fresh musical arrangement as well as the choral (society) arrangement, made this piece a superb beginning to a special afternoon.
The choristers process single file to their places in the front of the church, with progress punctuated occasionally with the tintinnabulation of hand bells. The tone ascending to the heavens, as all took their places, heralded the beginning of a celebration. This celebration continued in the Flos Regalis, a 14th century piece. Segue smoothly from there to David Zahavi's "Y'Susum Midbar" that perfectly captures the spirit of Israeli folk dance-you can hear and feel dancers spinning and turning faster and faster. With soloists Ellie Escher, Laura Kosmich, Greg Jung and John Lamb, "Desert Rose" a contemporary piece of surpassing beauty, with the pure tones of the soloists contrasting with glorious polyphony, was next.
Changing pace a bit, next came a setting of biblical text "I Am Come Into My Garden," from the "Song of Solomon," by William Billings, for which director Dr. Anne Matlack seemed to choose her soloists, as for all pieces, by the texture each imparts to the piece as well as the sweetness. The recipe was delicious, with excellent turns by soloists Virginia Hicks, Adam Aguanno and George Aronson.
"The Wilderness" was written by Samuel Sebastian Wesley, when he was assigned to his first Cathedral post, and the adjustment from city life to country life was painful and abrupt. The talent pool was much less resourceful and much less flexible than the singers he had become accustomed to using for his work. Dramatic organ work by Brian Harlow punctuated the piece, as did dramatic turns by soloists James Douglas, Keira Caspar, Kim Williams, Matt Shurts, Marilyn Kitchell and Rob Morse, whose blend was divine with one another, as well as with the group. There are hints in the composition of what would come to fruition with later composers.
Greg Voinier has been singing with Harmonium since he was in high school and his rich, full baritone is featured in his solo in "A Spotless Rose." This is a lush contemporary arrangement where you can feel the cold wind as it brings the scent of the rose to you. The entire piece is delightful.
The final two pieces of the first act were a beautiful modern setting of "The Holly and the Ivy," arranged by Reginald Jacques, and John Rutter's "What Sweeter Music," in which the 17th century poet Robert Herrick's poetry is given a setting that is appropriate to both that time and this one. Once again organist Brian Harlow was featured.
Harmonium Chamber Singers opened the second act. This select group began with Thomas Morley's "Lirum, Lirum," starting at the back of the church and slowly coming forward as they continued the song, sweet voices of men and women making a light Doppler effect as they passed. Science and art came together with the meeting of music and physics.
Next came the companion pieces, complementary arrangements of "There is No Rose," the first a Medieval carol featuring soloists Linda Clark, PJ Livesey, Laura Kosmich and Andy Moody in great dynamic command, with a neat tintinnabulation with the chorus. The second version, by John Joubert, a contemporary South African composer, was a piquant and potent contrast. Both are lovely alone, and were wonderful together.
"The Darkling Thrush," of young American composer Timothy C. Takach, moves from darkness to light, with frequent conflict in the music, followed by resolution that mirrors the text of Thomas Hardy's poem of the same name. The final piece the Chamber Singers performed was Francisco Guerrero's "Pastores Loquebantur," a tuneful and intricate setting of the story of how the shepherds determined to act upon the knowledge of the birth of Jesus, as imparted by the angels. Guerrero was the leading Spanish Renaissance composer and this work shows how richly the accolades are deserved. This also neatly set the stage for the return of the full chorus with Giovanni Gabrieli's "Angelus ad Pastores ait," which musically details the conversation the Angel has with the shepherds to tell of Jesus' birth and has a thrumming, fulsome energy that bursts forth with the joy of the event.
A trip to the Eastern bloc followed, with a rich Russian song of winter, Georgy Sviridov's setting of Aleksandr Pushkin's "Zimneye utro" (A Winter Morning), part of a cycle of ten poems, called the "Pushkin Wreath." Sung in Russian and set modally, the icy cold beauty of waking on a Russian morning becomes part of our shared experience, as we wake a dear friend after a dreadful storm the night before and go to play on new fallen snow. Andrejs Janson's arrangement of two of Three Latvian Carols followed, specifically "Mekletaja cels" (The Christmas Rose) and "Ai, nama mamina" (The Christmas Season). The first celebrates the birth of Christ, and the second, a visit from some Holiday revelers. Latvian brings the number of languages Harmonium sings to well over 20!
The final pieces were also companions-the first being a sing-a-long version (from the blue hymnal, if you please) of the traditional "Go Tell It On The Mountain," with the concertgoers raising our voices to join with those of Harmonium. What a great recruiting strategy, Dr. Matlack! This was followed by Ken Berg's arrangement of the same song called "Go! Tell it!" that is much more free and fluid and a joy to be a party to, as what performance could there be without an appropriately appreciative audience? Soloists David Green and Nancy Watson Baker sang joyfully as they led Harmonium in the big Holiday finish. The crowd thundered its applause at the end, and as the Choral Society bowed, the applause continued. Dr. Matlack returned to the stage to lead Harmonium in its encore, also a Ken Berg arrangement, "My God is a Rock," which also garnered thunderous applause and had the added benefit of sending the audience, with tapping toes and the tune on their lips, through the cold darkness, into the warmth of the post-Concert reception. Productions like "Winter Garden" keep Harmonium Choral Society among the top vocal groups in the country. If you didn't get a chance to catch the concert, buy one of their CDs, and see what the buzz is about, at www.harmonium.org.
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