Pioneer Valley Cappella, Northampton, MA
May 6-7, 2017
by Michael J. Moran
For over thirty years the Pioneer Valley Cappella has
performed a wide range of classical choral music, from early Renaissance to
contemporary. Its Music Director for the past eleven years is Geoffrey Hudson,
an Oberlin and New England Conservatory graduate and a composer. Its 25
sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses “range from professional musicians to
skilled amateurs,” and they present two concerts annually (fall and spring),
each in multiple Valley venues.
The spring 2017 concert featured choral masterpieces by
three Russian composers. It opened with the “Three Sacred Hymns” written in
1984 by Alfred Schnittke. In remarks following the performance, Hudson referred
to Schittke’s “polystylistic” technique of drawing from many styles to forge a
distinctive voice of his own. This difficult music could not have been easy to
learn, but the Cappella’s clear enunciation of the Russian texts and the
expressive blend of their sound fully conveyed the austere beauty of the “Hail
Mary,” the quiet supplication of “Lord Jesus,” and the majestic sweep of the
“Our Father.”
Even more rarely heard are the five songs by Cesar Cui that
followed, the least known of the “Mighty Five” Russian nationalist composers of
the late nineteenth century, including Balakirev, Borodin, Mussorgsky, and
Rimsky-Korsakov. Though the least memorable part of the program, the Cappella’s
careful intonation and precise diction suggested how the romantic lyricism of
these charming songs informed the later styles of Stravinsky and Schnittke,
particularly in the lovely “Nocturne” and the dramatic “Two Foes.”
The Stravinsky piece that concluded the concert was the
familiar “Symphony of Psalms,” which Boston Symphony conductor Serge
Koussevitzky commissioned in 1930 for the BSO’s 50th anniversary. Brilliantly
accompanied by pianists Gregory Hayes and Heather Reichgott, the Cappella
highlighted the startling originality of this music with its Latin text,
sounding especially radiant in the closing “Laudate Dominum.”
Hudson’s engaging commentaries made up for the lack of
program notes, but the original Russian and Latin texts should have been
included with the welcome English translations. The acoustics of Amherst’s
Grace Episcopal Church on May 6 ideally balanced clarity and
reverberation. Choral music fans
should follow this enterprising ensemble.
