Having caught the smaller early contingent of the William Baker Festival Singers at their performance in tribute to Margot Freudenberg on Friday, I found myself quite excited at the prospect of hearing the full choir this afternoon at the Circular Congregational Church. The church is known for the warmth its acoustic properties impart to just about any musical activity, and is thus a favorite gig amongst musicians. Maestro Baker even commented that this church is his favorite performance venue in Charleston. With one or two very minor glitches, his choir made the most of that warmth and presented a most satisfying concert.
Their first offerings included a harmonized plainsong, Pange lingua, by Melchior Vulpius, Tristis est anima mea, by Orlande de Lassus, and Praise to the Lord, a German chorale arranged by F. Melius Christiansen. From the moment the plainsong’s single line was caught by the backing harmony (a modern arrangement perhaps?), a consistent, full, and very round tone enveloped the audience. This choir knows how to listen to itself in progress, creating that ever elusive quality…balance. As the de Lassus began, our sopranos danced around a note or two, but quickly found their stride, and the choir more than made up for that small lapse by giving quite a lesson in how to sing counterpoint. Praise to the Lord presented this hymn in a quite complex arrangement, furthering that counterpoint lesson, while never diluting the folk-like aspects of the basic melody.
Next came Songs of the Holocaust, which, if you’ve been keeping up with us, I described a few posts ago. Hearing these works, arranged by WBFS member William Dreyfoos, with the full choir enhanced their richness and poignancy. Margaret Cook, our wonderful soprano soloist once again, took a slightly more conservative approach to her duties today, but that in no way diminished the emotional wallop with which these works can strike even the casual listener. The only complaint I could lay at the choir’s feet came during the last song. Most of the choir had their eyes on the sheet music rather than their director during this fairly rapid piece, leading to some phrase and word ending issues. But hey, like I said in my earlier post, I’m not fluent in Yiddish, and I suspect most of the singers were more concerned with proper vowel intonation.
Two songs by composer Seymour Barab came next. If I didn’t rave enough about this composer in my previous post, this is good stuff! And I’ve only heard two songs! As before, Margaret Cook took these solo, and her more straightforward reading today imparted the barest hint of an elegiac quality to their meandering angles. Beautiful! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention in my earlier blog that for the performances of both Songs of the Holocaust and the two songs by Barab, our singers were accompanied by violinist Angie Loizides, cellist Wade Davis, and pianist Natalie Hackler.
And then we were on to works by two modern masters of the choral idiom. Tonight Eternity Alone, by Rene Clausen captured a bit of chill with its complex turns. At the beginning, the women were just the slightest bit out of balance, as they cast crossing lines around, but quickly found the sweet spot. If you’ve ever had the chance to talk choral music with Lindsay, then you’ve heard him sing the praises of composer Eric Whitacre. If you’ve never heard his music, I urge you to discover this true master. The WBFS gave an absolutely splendid reading of Whitacre’s popular Water Night, the highlight of this afternoon’s performance.
After that exquisitely draining performance, we gulped our hearts back into our chests in preparation for the closing section of the show. Gospel time! Now, your humble reviewer may prefer gospel with a bit more grit, but hearing these glorious arrangements, and seeing the obvious joy our choir takes in presenting them, made a believer out of me…for the afternoon at least… Highlights included a taut arrangement of The Battle of Jericho by Moses Hogan, which was conducted by Christine Smith; the WBFS signature tune, I Been In The Storm; and the rousing finale, John the Revelator.
An afternoon of choral delights! This was WBFS last performance this season, but don’t worry…they’ll be back.
