Music Review:
Singing a different tune
May 22, 2000
By Alwin Tonkonogy,
Correspondent for News and Observer, Raleigh
Most choral performances
are built around a familiar central work. The Capital Area Chorale,
performing Friday at Edenton Street United Methodist Church, took a
different approach with a program of shorter works that would be appropriate
in a standard church service. If the evening inherently lacked the depth
of a more epic centerpiece, there's room for such an event -- especially
one that includes music outside the mainstream -- in the region's offerings.
The chorale is a small group -- 22 women and 12 men, conducted by William
Weisser -- but it gained a mass with the addition of 27 members of the
Raleigh Boychoir. The program was titled "Music Fit for a Queen," works
associated with England's cathedrals and royal court events. To open
the concert, all singers joined in a stirring performance of Sir Hubert
Parry's anthem "I Was Glad." The Boychoir, led by Thomas Sibley, then
sang four standard works in Latin: Bach's "Donime Deus" with a well-played
violin obligato, Josef Rhineberger's "Kyrie et Gloria" and "Ave Maria,"
and Herbert Sumsion's "Magnificat in G." The boys did well, even if
their combined voices sounded small in the large church. The massed
voices then performed "The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune" by the English
master Ralph Vaughan Williams. The singing was solid, though the music
was less than inspired. The program continued with two anthems performed
by the chorale: William Harris' "Behold, the Tabernacle of God" and
a better known Coronation Anthem, Handel's "Zadok the Priest." The music
of the latter piece was hardly up to the caliber we expect from the
composer, but the singing was better than the music. The chorale was
then joined by boy soprano Ben Sparrow as soloist in an another anthem
by Vaughan Williams, "O Taste and See." The combined forces sang "Song
for Athene," an interesting anthem by John Tavener, followed by Tavener's
"The Lamb." The program closed with the major work of the evening, "Judge
Eternal" by the organist of St. Thomas Church in New York, Gerre Hancock,
in which the massed voices filled the large space with a well-focused
tone in an unusual piece with modern overtones. The chorale's organist,
Sue Crocker, was ill, and Boychoir organist Kevin Kerstetter played
not only for his group but for the Capital Area Chorale as well. To
learn and play all this music on a one-day notice was quite a feat.
The performance served those those who like standard church music in
an interesting program well sung and authentically performed. The conductors
had their forces under firm control and provided one that was well performed
and strongly led.