Reviews
|
March 1st, De Angelis Vocal Ensemble - Sacré France Matthew Gray, the founder and indomitable leader of eighteen exceedingly well-blended voices, is no stranger to derring-do. In the Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano, a venue of swampy reverberance that would overwhelm most musical endeavors, the de Angelites blazed an a cappella path beginning and ending with the often quirky, always contra-conventional writing of Francis Poulenc, starting with his atonal Messe en Sol majeur (Mass in G major) and ending with the short Psalm setting, Exultate Deo and the Marian Antiphon Salve Regina. |
| The acoustics of the Basilica was the nineteenth performer, blending perfectly with the human elements, which were comprised of five persons on each of the soprano and bass parts, and four each in the altos and tenors. This venue and this ensemble are co-partners in the truest sense. In the Poulenc Mass Sanctus movement, a moment of pure magic enveloped the church: second fractions after a phraselet was sung, the dome at the intersection of the nave and transepts drew in the sound and cuddled it briefly while the singers were singing the next phraselet – creating an overlapping effect that was ethereal, shimmering, a musical Holy Shekinah. One doubts that this moment could possibly be captured on audio- or videotape, or in most other venues. You had to be there, and a large, appreciative crowd, was. The soloist in the Agnus Dei movement of the Mass was Lauren McCaul, who sang with the security, perfect pitch, and appropriate straight-toned vocalism matched by her soprano colleagues Heidi French, Ashley Hoffman, Elizabeth Ladizinsky and Sarah Parga. This quintet of young women was asked repeatedly throughout the evening to make high-risk in altissimo entrances that would quiver the knees of most singers. It would be asking too much for every such entrance to be utter perfection, but when it was, the moment was pure gold. The five women, in whose singing nary an annoying flutter could be heard, had to possess the hearing of a night-flying bat in order to maintain a perfect blend. Their voices focused as intense points of light that illuminated the entire room without resorting to bombast or insincere emotion. They were beautifully matched by their fellow altos: Kate Ivanjack, Lisa Naulls, Agnieszka Lejman Norris, and countertenor Daniel Roihl. At least the altos could enjoy their crucial roles as pitch anchors without the death-defying entrances. On the other side of the aisle, the four tenors: Sean McDermott, Ken Potter, Will Rowley and Stan De Witt, had the most noticeable difficulty finding a perfect blend, and that only in forte moments of high tessitura. The late Roger Wagner set forth, in his choral ensembles, the principle that one builds a choir from the bottom up. If the men are not solid, the women have no security in their roles. No worries here. The foundational bass line was supportively performed by Duke Anderson, Robert De Carlo, David Headland, Jason Snyder and Dan Wilson. In between the Poulenc bookends, the Ensemble performed Flor Peeters’s Ave Verum and Ave Maria; Alfred Desenclos’s Nos Autem Gloriari; and Pierre Villette’s Hymn à la Vierge and O Salutaris Hostia. These works were equally interesting and challenging, offering varying facets of the Gallic charm heard in the Poulenc. Utter perfection was the single encore: Durufle’s inimitable Ubi caritas. It would be a mistake to assume that choral transcendence and luminescence were sacrificed on the altar of perfect blend. Daring to challenge this assumption, Maestro Gray, who also serves as Director of Music Ministries at the Basilica, urged his singers to their vocal utmost, risking much, but gaining more. Few chamber choral ensembles are this eager, and this able. It is obvious that much care has gone into choosing just the right roster of professional singers. It is hoped that as more support is attracted to this ensemble, the higher on the ladder leading to perfection they will rise, perhaps to challenge the world’s very best chamber groups. That standard would appear to be just a few major donors away, as the Director and all his singers must now split their time between this ensemble and church, school and studio duties. - Reviewed by Douglas Neslund |