Baroque Choral Guild: Reviews, March 2004

Centerpiece

March 12, 2004

The Baroque Choral Guild continued its 25th anniversary celebration this past weekend with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Vsenoshchnoye Bdeniye, the All-Night Vigil from the Russian Orthodox Vespers liturgy. The acoustic of Berkeley’s First Congregational Church suited the piece and the performers perfectly, and the performance was a triumph for the Guild Chorus, director Sanford Dole, and all the people who have supported the Guild in its 25-year history.

Dole’s program for this anniversary season is an ambitious one, featuring “three of the most magnificent choral works of all time:” the chorus performed Bach’s B Minor Mass in the fall and will perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in May. The Rachmaninoff All-Night Vigil, though it often sounds so effortless and simple (in comparison to the fugal passages in the Bach or the Beethoven, for example), is an extremely demanding work. It utilizes a wide vocal range with difficult tessitura in all four parts, splits individual voice parts into two or even three sections, and calls for large dynamic contrasts throughout.

For the most part, the Guild Chorus handled this challenge well. The overwhelming effect throughout the concert was a warm, deep and rich sound. The blend was lush and smooth, the sense of musical line always present, and the import of the text always clear. Dole had a good rapport with his singers, giving them clear and sensitive direction to which they were extremely responsive. The chorus particularly excelled at expressing dynamics, and was most impressive with its fortissimo passages. Two pieces which stood out for all of these qualities were “Come let us worship” and “O joyous light.”

Rachmaninoff’s music offers many moments for each voice part to shine—some notable points being the pianissimo bell-like chords for the sopranos (split three ways) at the beginning of the Lesser Doxology; the alto melody based on a Znamenny chant at the beginning of the Greater Doxology; the tenors delicately moving the melody along in “Bless the Lord, o my soul;” and the male chorus singing in perfect octaves for the first half of “Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ.”

There is a famous anecdote in which the first conductor of the Vigil, Nikolai Danilin, listening to Rachmaninoff playing through the score, shook his head at the lowest notes in the fifth movement where the basses descend slowly—pianissimo—to a low B-flat, wondering where he could possibly find men capable of singing the part. Rachmaninoff later wrote, “Of course, he did find them. I know the voices of my countrymen, and I well knew what demands I could make of Russian basses!” The Guild basses would have impressed Danilin, and probably also Rachmaninoff. Throughout the concert, their low notes were consistent, round, and audible, and this passage at the end of “Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart” was truly impressive.

The chorus was joined by tenor Kevin Gibbs, who sang his four solo passages with nuanced expressiveness. The contrast between Gibbs’ strong clear voice and the chorus’ warm full support underneath was hauntingly beautiful.

Rigorous demands

The biggest challenge for the Guild Chorus was the stamina required to sustain to the end the beautiful intonation found in the early portion of the program. While the lower voices managed this fairly well, the high sopranos had a more difficult time. If the choir suffered from anything else, it was a lack of true Russian diction. Their vowels were persuasive, but American consonants were prevalent.

Nonetheless, the performance was passionate and powerful; and after the bright and spirited final movement “Songs of victory to the leader in battle,” the audience responded with a standing ovation. Congratulations to the Guild, its Chorus and to Dole, and here’s to the next twenty-five years!

(Kaneez Munjee is a singer, writer and editor. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Musicology at Stanford University.)

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Baroque Choral Guild, 953 Industrial Ave. Ste 118, Palo Alto CA 94303, 650.424.1410