Berkshire Choral Festival, Berkshire School, Sheffield, MA
August 4, 2012
by Michael J. Moran
Guest conductor Kathy Saltzman Romey, Director of Choral
Activities at the University of Minnesota and Artistic Director of the
Minnesota Chorale, led urgent performances of two cornerstones of the standard
choral repertoire – Haydn’s “Lord Nelson Mass” and Schubert’s “Mass No. 5” – to
close the Berkshire Choral Festival’s 2012 season in Sheffield.
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra and the 180-member
Berkshire Festival Chorus were accompanied by four vibrant soloists: soprano
Mary Wilson; mezzo-soprano Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek; tenor Christopher Pfund;
and baritone Paul Max Tipton.
Both works are products of their composers’ artistic
maturity, written just over 20 years apart. As Laura Stanfield Prichard points
out in her insightful program notes, the Schubert is performed much less often
than the Haydn because Schubert’s “ambitious writing and heady textured
harmonies make this work too difficult for most ensembles.” But the Schubert’s
lyrical warmth makes it sound more comforting than the tragic drama of Haydn’s
Mass, which is also subtitled the “Mass in Time of Anguish” because of the
ongoing Napoleonic wars it reflects.
Performances by all the musicians were strong. Wilson’s
radiant soprano was touching in both works, as in the closing measures of
Haydn’s Credo” or the “Gratias agimus” passage of Schubert’s “Gloria.” Tipton’s
mellow baritone was the other standout solo voice. His “Qui tollis peccata
mundi” in Haydn’s “Gloria” was resonant, clear, and moving. They blended
beautifully with the other two soloists in their frequent ensemble work. The
chorus demonstrated some fine unison singing in Haydn’s “Credo” and did full
justice to Schubert’s often rich and dense harmonies. Romey drew sensitive
playing from brass and strings in both works and particularly from the
additional woodwinds in the Schubert.
The exemplary program book also included the full Latin
texts of the five standard Mass liturgy sections used by both composers (Kyrie,
Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei), along with an eloquent tribute to the
concert’s dedicatee, the late Mary Hunting Smith, founding executive director
of BCF, whose career paved the way for “generations of women arts
administrators to come,” like the night’s conductor.
