REVIEW: Berkshire Choral International, "Vaughan Williams"

UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center, MA

www.berkshirechoral.org

June 29, 2024

by Michael J. Moran

Joe Miller

Joe Miller, Professor of Conducting & Director of Choral Studies at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, led the 130-member BCI chorus, baritone Emmett O’Hanlon, soprano Laura Strickling, and a freelance ensemble of area professional musicians in two masterpieces by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams for an evening of choral-orchestral magic.   

Since 1982, BCI has gathered experienced amateur singers from across the USA during the summer for weeklong intensive rehearsals in various American and international venues, culminating in a public performance at the end of the week. While still based in the Berkshires, this was their only local concert in 2024.

 

The program opened with “Five Mystical Songs,” which Vaughan Williams wrote in 1911 for the Worcester Three Choirs Festival and based on four poems by George Herbert (two songs set different verses of the same poem). O’Hanlon’s supple baritone suited the music’s radiant beauty. The chorus was hauntingly expressive in the wordless final bars of the cycle’s sublime centerpiece, “Love Bade Me Welcome,” and ardently ringing in the jubilant closing “Antiphon.” Miller and the orchestra offered sumptuous support throughout.

Then came a thrilling account of the composer’s first symphony, which he called “A Sea Symphony,” because the texts in all four movements are selections from Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” which compare a sea voyage to the human journey through life. Written between 1903 and 1909, the hour-long piece was first played at the Leeds Festival in 1910.

The first movement, “A Song for All Seas, All Ships,” was urgently dramatic, and the chorus, O’Hanlon, and Strickling all sang their solo passages with heroic heft. O’Hanlon was mesmerizing in the quiet second movement, “On the Beach at Night, Alone.” The chorus (without soloists) was virtuosic and nimble in the explosive third movement, “The Waves.” The finale, “The Explorers,” alternated exhilaration with yearning and closed quietly on the lines “O farther, farther, farther sail!” Miller kept the huge ensemble of musicians in sonorous balance.  

The warm and spacious acoustic of the Fine Arts Center’s Tillis Performance Hall showcased the clear enunciation and carefully modulated phrasing of the singers along with the impassioned playing of the instrumentalists. Full texts were provided in the digital program.

This concert was a glorious feast for the ears of all choral music lovers.

Ellington & Dvorak

Berkshire Choral International, Berkshire School, Sheffield, MA

www.choralfest.org

July-August 2015

by Michael J. Moran

Since its founding 34 years ago, Berkshire Choral International has gathered “choristers from the U.S. and abroad to rehearse and perform the great choral-orchestral masterpieces,” according to BCI’s program notes. This summer they presented one concert in Maynooth, Ireland, one in Portland, OR, and three in Sheffield, MA, the last two of which illustrate the wide range of programming BCI now undertakes.

Besides the 150-member BCI Chorus, the first concert, “Music of Duke Ellington and His Era,” featured guest conductor Philip Brunelle, artistic director and founder of VocalEssence in Minneapolis, pianist Sanford Moore, four vocal soloists, and the David Berger Jazz Orchestra. The first half of the program included spirituals arranged or written by various African-American composers, some familiar (Harry T. Burleigh’s rousing “My Lord, What a Mornin,” popularized by Marian Anderson), others obscure (Nathaniel Dett’s revelatory “Ave Maria”), all performed with loving sensitivity by the mixed chorus and soloists.

The second half was a radio hour of “Duke Ellington on the Air,” complete with hip announcer (a cool Frank Nemhauser as Dr. Jazz), inept field reporter (a hilarious Sean Taylor), and sound effects (a versatile Buzz Moran). But spirited renditions by the singers and the Berger ensemble of excerpts from the Duke’s rarely heard Sacred Concerts and more mainstream Ellingtonia (“Come Sunday,” “Take the A Train”) provided rich musical substance.

The other concert showcased the resident Springfield Symphony Orchestra with the Chorus and four vocal soloists in more traditional BCI fare, Dvorak’s “Stabat Mater.” This moving oratorio in ten short movements sets a thirteenth-century Latin poem about Mary’s grief as she stands at the foot of the cross bearing her son, Jesus. The text must have resonated with the composer, who lost three of his young children while writing the piece.

Erin Freeman

Conductor Erin Freeman, choral director for the Richmond Symphony and Virginia Commonwealth University, led a vibrant account of this characteristically Slavic-flavored score, and the strongly distinctive voices of the solo quartet – soprano Laura Strickling, mezzo-soprano Ann McMahon Quintero, tenor Theo Lebow, and bass-baritone Kevin Deas – perfectly complemented each other.

Britten’s “War Requiem” on this season’s opening Sheffield program and the announced repertory for 2016, including Masses by Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert, confirm the matchless opportunity that BCI offers to hear great choral works in an idyllic setting.

Vivaldi and Britten

Berkshire Choral Festival, Sheffield MA

www.choralfest.org

July 27, 2013

by Barbara Stroup

The unlikely pairing of works by Vivaldi and Britten provided excellent large-scale choral music for a perfect mid-summer evening in the Berkshires. Conductor Nicholas Cleobury, from the United Kingdom, led over 100 choristers plus orchestra and soloists in Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria and in Benjamin Britten’s Spring Symphony.

The chorus seemed most comfortable with the familiar Gloria. Orchestra and chorus were well balanced, and the strings kept vibrato to a minimum. In the cavernous Jackman Center, the organ continuo enhanced the orchestra sound (but the player, unfortunately, went unnamed in the program). There were several lush and expressive passages of cello and organ. Under Cleobury’s direction, both orchestra and chorus produced an admirably wide range of dynamics.

Less familiar to all, Spring Symphony of Benjamin Britten was a treat of 20th century sound and revealed the composer’s reverence for text as a source of theme and meaning. Britten used poetry -- medieval to modern -- to write interweaving lines for soloists, chorus, and orchestra sections. His chosen texts conjured a palpable longing for spring to emerge. Put together with a complex texture of sound, the work reminded the listener of that late winter impatience for the sun and flowers to appear.

Spring Symphony required an array of ‘extras’ -- a cowbell, a children’s chorus, and several measures of bird sounds from the soloist, all of which brought smiles. The stark reminder of nearby war was contrasted with the relative calm of England’s hills in “Out on the Lawn I Lie in Bed” which featured mezzo soprano, Ann McMahon Quintero. There was nothing ‘middling’ about her voice; the dark richness was enthralling.

This work, although operatic in its reliance on the solo work of three singers, kept the chorus busy and interwove all. The brass were especially authoritarian and solid. Complex to say the least, kudos to the choristers for learning the piece so well in one week's time, and to the Berkshire Choral Festival for presenting it.

Lauridsen & Vaughan Williams

Berkshire Choral Festival

Berkshire School, Sheffield, MA

www.choralfest.org

July 20, 2013

by Michael J. Moran

Guest conductor Jerry Blackstone, director of choirs and chair of the conducting department at the University of Michigan School of Music, led the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, the Chorus of the Berkshire Choral Festival, and two vocal soloists in compelling performances of music by Lauridsen and Vaughan Williams in the second concert of BCF’s 2013 season. 

At age 70, Morton Lauridsen may be considered the dean of living American choral composers.  A longtime music professor at the University of Southern California, he wrote the 17-minute cycle “Mid-Winter Songs,” setting five poems by Robert Graves, in 1980 for USC’s centennial. The music is more agitated than usual for Lauridsen, from the chilling “Lament for Pasiphae” to the playful “Mid-Winter Waking” and the dramatic “Intercession in Late October,” with its long poignant ending. The men and women of the chorus captured the shifting moods of the music with clarity and assurance, and with sensitive accompaniment from the orchestra. 

Two of the greatest works for chorus and orchestra by the English master Ralph Vaughan Williams completed the concert. He wrote the “Five Mystical Songs” to four poems by George Herbert (two songs are based on the same poem) for the Worcester Three Choirs Festival in 1911. Baritone Timothy Lefebvre was a mellifluous soloist, and the chorus was especially moving in its wordless passages during the sublime central song, “Love Bade Me Welcome.” The orchestral playing throughout this radiant cycle was suitably rapturous. 

Closing the program after intermission was the cantata “Dona Nobis Pacem,” written in 1937 to biblical texts and Civil War poems by Walt Whitman for the Huddersfield Choral Society as a plea by Vaughan Williams for peace in a world increasingly threatened by war. Chorus and orchestra were joined by baritone Lefebvre and soprano Sun Young Chang for a viscerally exciting performance.

Two among many vocal highlights were: Lefebvre’s tender singing of the words “my enemy is dead, a man as divine as myself” in Whitman’s poem “Reconciliation;” and Chang’s recurrent and heartrending cries of “Dona nobis pacem,” especially when echoed by the chorus at the hushed close.   

Haydn & Schubert

Berkshire Choral Festival, Berkshire School, Sheffield, MA

www.choralfest.org

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.

Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezin

Berkshire Choral Festival, Berkshire School, Sheffield, MA

www.choralfest.org

by Michael J. Moran

Rafael Schaechter

Subtitled “A Concert Drama,” the second program of BCF’s 2012 season was a moving tribute created by guest conductor Murray Sidlin to Czech musician Rafael Schaechter (1905-1944), who trained 150 of his fellow prisoners in the Terezin concentration camp to sing Verdi’s “Requiem,” of which he led 16 performances there from a legless piano between 1943 and 1944 before he and most of his singers perished at Auschwitz and other death camps.

A complete account of the Verdi “Requiem” by the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, the 180-member BCF Chorus, and four soloists was supplemented between movements with video testimony about these Terezin performances by surviving singers, excerpts from a Nazi propaganda film about Terezin, and a narration about the historical background. To suggest how the Terezin performances may have sounded, the orchestra was replaced in a few passages by solo piano.

The BCF performance was impassioned and intense. Soprano Rochelle Ellis, mezzo-soprano Janet Hopkins, tenor Scott Ramsay, and bass Stephen Bryant sang well individually and in various combinations. The large chorus sang with consistent clarity and unanimity. The orchestra played with distinction throughout, from the thundering brasses and percussion of the “Dies Irae” to the hushed strings of the “Offertorium.”

Three narrators, including Sidlin, also made strong contributions. Actor and bass-baritone John Arthur Miller read the words of Schaecter; and acclaimed British baritone Benjamin Luxon, sounding as mellifluous as on his many recordings, read testimony of various Terezin survivors.

Perhaps the most touching part of the performance was the end, when the chorus exited through the audience singing a Jewish lullaby, accompanied only by clarinetist Michael Sussman and concertmaster Robert Lawrence, the rest of the orchestra having exited backstage. A video projection requested a moment of silence for Schaecter in lieu of applause.

In a program note, Sidlin quotes Schaecter as telling his Terezin Choir, “We will sing to the Nazis what we cannot say to them.” This “concert drama” poignantly reaffirmed the power of music to bring “absolute joy” (which one survivor remembered feeling when she sang Verdi’s “Sanctus” at Terezin) even in the face of death.

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis in D Major, op. 123

Berkshire Choral Festival

Berkshire School, Sheffield, MA

www.chorus.org

by Kait Rankins

Every year, the Berkshire Choral Festival brings together choral singers from around the world to live and breathe the music for a week, attending music classes and rehearsing for five hours a day. Each singing week culminates in a concert for the public. While BCF's home is in Sheffield, MA, they also have singing weeks in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Mondsee/Salzburg, Austria. This year BCF opened their season in Sheffield with what Beethoven acknowledged as his greatest work: the Missa Solemnis, a liturgical work containing the text of the Latin Catholic Mass.

Under the leadership of guest conductor Craig Hella Johnson, the 80-minute performance flew by, taking on the highs and lows of worship: quiet pleas for mercy and triumphant declaration of faith in God. The choir was accompanied by the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, BCF's partner for the past 31 years, who handled the complex piece with masterful ease.

The concert featured soloists Mary Wilson (soprano), Emily Lodine (mezzo-soprano), Derek Chester (tenor), and Kevin Deas (bass), all of them accomplished classical vocalists who came together to create a magical quartet that led the 200-member choir. Of particular note was Wilson, whose bell-like soprano was bright and easily distinguishable from the choir's rounder sounds. Her tone added clarity and precision to the performance, particularly when paired with Lodine's mezzo-soprano in close harmonies.

At times, the choir seemed to lag slightly and didn't always seem to be together when it came to diction (one notable moment being the clatter of "t" consonants ending a short "et" during the Credo), and there were moments when the tenors and basses should have been in focus but the far more numerous sopranos and altos overpowered them. However, the overall sound was full and majestic, inspiring whispered praise from the audience following the Gloria.

BCF continues its season with three more concerts in Sheffield, starting with Defiant Requiem, a concert drama about Jewish prisoners during WWII created and conducted by Murry Sidlin. 

Vaughan Williams, Brahms, and Elgar

Berkshire Choral Festival
Berkshire School, Sheffield, MA
www.choralfest.org
July 30, 2011
by Michael J. Moran

Two British rarities surrounded the more familiar Brahms Alto Rhapsody in a moving program dedicated to BCF founding executive director Mary Hunting Smith, who died just days after the 2010 season ended last August. It was fittingly led by the ever-youthful Robert Page, who conducted the very first BCF program thirty years ago and has since led more BCF concerts than any other conductor.  

Along with the 60 men and 100 women in the Chorus of the Berkshire Choral Festival, 57 members of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, and mezzo-soprano Phyllis Pancella, Page did stellar work throughout the evening. The pleasure of this program was enhanced not only by the excellent performances but by the opportunity to discover at least two little-known works by three major composers, all writing at the height of their powers.

While this radiant 1932 setting of the Magnificat for contralto (mezzo-soprano) soloist, female chorus, and orchestra could only have been written by Vaughan Williams, it also reflects, in the words of program annotator Laura Pritchard, "a modal flavor typical of the French music [he] had studied with Ravel." Through its mostly quiet 15-minute length, the piece featured a lovely repeated solo flute melody that represented the Holy Spirit and earned SSO principal flutist Albert Brouwer a well-deserved solo bow.      

In his 1869 Alto Rhapsody Brahms set a portion of Goethe's poem Winter Journey in the Harz Mountains which describes a young man who has withdrawn from the world after an unhappy love affair, and which may have reflected the composer's unrequited love for Julie Schumann, the daughter of his friends Robert and Clara. The tragic power of Brahms' music and Goethe's text was dramatically conveyed by Pancella and the male chorus members.

Elgar's 1912 setting of Arthur O'Shaughnessy's 1873 ode  The Music Makers expressed both the composer's and the poet's belief that music makers and dreamers of dreams are "the movers and shakers of the world." Quoting several of Elgar's earlier works, especially the Enigma Variations, and featuring contralto and full mixed chorus, the 35-minute piece brought this rewarding program to a poignant close.          

All Brahms Evening

Berkshire Choral Festival
Berkshire School, Sheffield MA
www.choralfest.org
July 31, 2010
by Barbara Stroup

The Alpine-like setting of The Berkshire School provides a beautiful backdrop to the Festival’s season, when choristers from all over the world choose one of four intensive week-long ‘camps’ to rehearse and concertize under notable conductors. Vance Y. George led this week’s group in a program of Brahms that ranged, in his words, from the ‘sublime to the gutsy.’

George began with the sublime, “Schicksaslied” (Song of Destiny). This work started with orchestra lushness, and the instrumentalists kept it calm and sedate, allowing the audience to enjoy the magnificent harmonies of the score. The chorus was on top of their role – indeed throughout the program-- never stumbling over the language, managing a vocal balance and avoiding shrillness even at the top of the required range. The confidence of their singing speaks well of both the skill they bring to the program and to the ability of their conductor to prepare these 100 adult singers. Orchestral support was solid, with bold solos of flute and oboe and deep resonance from the basses.

Both the orchestra and chorus achieved a light effect on the “Liebeslieder Waltzer” but returned to the sublime for “Nänie.” George’s explication of the mythological references was valuable to the audience, and the chorus’ achievement was once again successful in intonation and in ensemble presentation with the orchestra.

George added a “Hallelujah Chorus” to the program as a surprise offering, but the real surprise of the evening was the beauty of the contrapuntal writing and the Amen section that closes the short “Geistlicheslied.” Brahms wrote this ten years before completing “Ein deutsches Requiem,” but it foreshadowed many of the fugal effects he used in the later work -- both works were movingly performed.

What this evening lacked, in contrast to performances during previous seasons, was a feeling of energy and drive. There was a restraint from the stage that exceeded the respect due these pieces. The chorus was smaller by half than in the other weeks of the Festival, and the audience filled only half the seats. The new facility gives back a dry sound, but this reviewer hopes that future Festival programs will be able to reverberate with more excitement.

Haydn, Lauridsen

Berkshire Choral Festival, Sheffield, MA
www.choralfest.org
July 24, 2010
by Terry Larsen

Extended compositions for orchestras and large choruses can be found as far back as the English Oratorio tradition of the mid 18th Century (i.e. Handel's "Judas Maccabeus" performed so very successfully last week by BCF). Significant sacred and secular texts coupled with the remarkable variety of timbres found in the families of instruments and voices, and the dramatic range of possible dynamics inspire composers and audiences alike. However, finding the delicate balance of volume between voices and instruments can be difficult, especially if the event features the larger orchestra used in Romantic and modern era works. BCF has found a winning solution to this problem by using an orchestra of about 40 players to complement the more than 200 singers in the Festival Chorus.

This balance of sonic forces was evident from the outset as Grant Gershon led a beautiful rendition of the "Paukenmesse." The orchestra played with precision and a warm, full-bodied tone that always balanced with the chorus and soli. This orchestral sensitivity enabled the chorus to project text, articulation, and phrasing, especially in the softer sections, while singing with a lovely timbre. Haydn's solo parts for this piece are not the extended, flashy vocal displays of sonic sequins found in many works, but rather discrete jewels that highlight the richness of the fabric woven by chorus and orchestra. The soloists executed their roles with grace, exceptional skill, and notably complementary timbres - their singing of the Benedictus quartet was sublime.

Lauridsen's "Lux Aeterna" has become one of the most popular pieces in the canon. The chorus and orchestra lovingly embraced its extended melodic lines studded with gems of dissonance, lush textures, and compelling texts, bringing an effortless grace to a piece that is much harder to perform than it might seem.

Two other aspects of the performance deserve comment. Dr. Laura Stanfield Prichard's program notes and pre-concert comments supplied historical background that was informative and entertaining. After the concert, members of the chorus moved through the audience extending greetings and gratitude for our attendance. Their smiles, flushed from this beautiful moment, reflected the joy felt by each listener.

Judas Maccabeus

Berkshire Choral Festival, Sheffield, MA
www.choralfest.org
July 17, 2010
By Terry Larsen

Handel's career encompassed the zenith and decline of opera in the Baroque period and the instigation of a new form, the English Oratorio - a genre of dramatic musical production that sets stories from the Hebrew Bible in epic musical narrative performed by orchestra, soloists, and the innovative element - a large chorus. "Judas Maccabeus" (1746) celebrates the victories of Jewish uprisings under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus against the Seleucid Empire in 165 BC and the subsequent restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem.

One of the pleasant surprises in the performance was the dynamic balance achieved between vocal soloists, an instrumental ensemble of 40 or so players provided by the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, and the more than 200 voices of the Berkshire Choral Festival. Details of phrasing, dynamic contrasts, word accents, precision of attack and clarity of line, particularly in the extended polyphonic sections, were very evident to the large, appreciative audience.

The ensembles were very well-prepared, some lack of precision on a few attacks and releases notwithstanding. The Chorus sang with gusto and attention to detail; however, balances among sections were not always ideal and a rather bright choral timbre did not always deliver the goods on the more bombastic passages despite the size of the ensemble. The six soloists made contributions that ranged from the beautiful timbres and expressive singing of Leslie Fagan and Charlotte Daw Paulsen (both of whom may have stolen the show), Jason Hardy, and Richard Giarusso, to the more perplexing efforts of Scott Ramsay whose technique did not always seem sufficient to the requirements of the part, and Matthew Shaw, whose lovely counter-tenor timbre was undermined by some poor intonation and the tendency to force the voice in its highest register.

The sheer length of "Judas Maccabeus" (64 section numbers) provides a distinct challenge to performers and audiences alike. Maestro Ferlesch kept the production moving. He led with an economy of gesture while producing attention to detail that is sometimes not found in performances of large works. An evening spent with the BCF is time well spent and highly recommended.

Bach's St. Matthew Passion

Berkshire Choral Festival, Sheffield, MA
www.choralfest.org
August 15, 2009
by Debra Tinkam

Johann Sebastian Bach's Matthaus - Passion BWV244 (St.Matthew Passion), much being derived from the first book, Matthew (26 and 27), of the New Testament, sung in German, was the show stopper for this Saturday evening. Together, with an abbreviated Springfield Symphony Orchestra (SSO), the night was divinely inspirational. In addition, there were featured soloists, performing the words of Jesus, Judas, Peter, and the Evangelist, to name only a few.

The first part, begun by orchestra and chorus, were beautifully and dramatically orchestrated as they describe the procession to Mt. Calvary, and, thus, the death of Jesus. The Evangelist, representing St. Matthew, narrates the story vocally, and the soloists' dialogue, sung in recitative style, became Bach's greatest opera. The150 voice choir came from as far as Japan and Canada and 28 of the United States.

Of particular mention was the part of Jesus, sung by Christopheren Nomura, who, incidentally, used no music for this dramatically moving portrayal of betrayal, suffering and death. His dynamics and emotion were comparable to very few. Conductor Gary Thor Wedow, who has appeared four times with the Berkshire Choral Festival, currently serves on the Julliard School Faculty. His conducting was emotional.

This Passion, split into two orchestras and two choirs were tools Bach used for variation and effect, and variation and effect were obvious throughout. The sounds of flutes and oboes on both sides of the orchestra, making up the two orchestras, created a stereo effect. Violins and voices for choral passage were uniquely symbolic in setting the stage for Jesus' demise. Strings were interlaced in Jesus' execution until the final passage where, after Pilate asks, "Which one shall I release: Jesus or Barabas?" The crowd screams (sings) "Barabas!" and in his final hour Jesus says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

This fifth, and final, performance of the Berkshire Choral Festival's2009 season, was moving beyond words. The talent of the chorus, orchestra and soloists emanated perfection to make for a once in a lifetime performance.

Vespers Opus 37

Berkshire Choral Festival, Sheffield, MA
www.choralfest.org

August 1, 2009
by Debra Tinkham

Twenty eight years ago, Berkshire Choral Festival's (BCF) voices of summer began its beautiful music, and this concert continued the tradition. Dale Warland, choral composer and conductor conducted Rachmaninoff's "Vespers Opus 37," an a cappella program. The Springfield Symphony Orchestra had the night off.

The work is all titled the All-Night Vigil. When performed originally, as part of a liturgical service, it could conceivably last as long as fifteen hours. That's a lot of church. There are 15 sections and the third, a Rachmaninoff original, known as "Blessed Is the Man," was beautifully harmonic and somber. The sounds of music were pure and eerie. Section five, "Lord Now Lettest Thou..." from the gospel of Luke, with its moving dynamics, long phrases and very low bass, sings of "...enlightening the Gentiles." The unification of voices in section seven, "Verses before the Six Psalms," from Luke 2 and Psalm 51, shortly proclaimed "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will among men."

Joyful, festive, dynamic and harmonic would describe section eight's "Praise the Name of the Lord." Allelluias" populated many sections of this vigil, but they were so musically beautiful, there could have been more. "Blessed Art Thou, O Lord" with sopranos and altos, then tenors and basses, then sopranos and altos, and a fast moving tenor and bass finale summed it all up with an even bigger building crescendo of SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass).

Sections ten through fifteen were equally as uplifting and invigorating as the previous nine. Warland looked simultaneously energized and exhausted. This was a triumphant evening performance that started on sweet notes and ended with victoriously abundant sweet notes. The lovely voices of summer of BCF continue their Saturday concerts in August.

Mendelssohn and Faure

Berkshire Choral Festival
The Berkshire School, Sheffield MA
www.berkshirechoral.org
July 25, 2009

Each summer the Berkshire Choral Festival offers enthusiastic singers a chance to attend singing camp, and to produce vocal and orchestral concerts of the largest scale. The late-July concert featured Magnificat by Felix Mendelssohn and Requiem by Gabriel Faure.

The week's 220 singers were in residence at The Berkshire School to rehearse under the direction of guest conductor Simon Carrington. Required to sing in both Latin and German, they sang as one voice with crisp diction, showing tonal security as they answered and supported the four soloists (Arianna Zukerman, Mary Gerbi, Carmund White, and George Cordes).

The chorus seemed most secure with the post-intermission piece, the "Faure Requiem," and was outstanding on the Offertoire and Sanctus sections. Zukerman sang with plaintive longing on the Pie Jesu section. The cello section of the orchestra was especially beautiful throughout and the organ's strong presence was an integral part of the orchestration.

The first half of the program ended with Mendelssohn's lyrical "Her Mein Bitten (Hear My Prayer)." Again, Zukerman had full command of this piece, and the chorus answered her with smooth transitions and supportive tonal security. Both chorus and soloist were adept at creating the longing and need that the "Psalm 55" words express.

The first offering, "Mendelssohn's Magnificat," was perhaps the weakest of the three. Although the chorus was effective in this piece, the presentation lacked vibrancy and there were intonation problems among the soloists when they sang as a quartet, perhaps reflecting limited preparation time.

The Springfield Symphony Orchestra provided a strong instrumental and professional presence throughout the evening, and the musicians seemed to enjoy the melodic beauty of these scores.

Handel's Solomon

Berkshire Choral Festival, Sheffield
by Debra Tinkham

The Berkshire School, (a private high school with a student body of 375) nestled at the base of Black Rock, and know for its rattlesnakes, was the setting for the Berkshire Choral Festival’s (BCF) presentation of Georg Friedrich Handel’s pastoral “Solomon”. Completed in less than 40 days, this masterful, Handelian-like work of art went off flawlessly. The performance featured over 200 voices, all gathered for this group performance only six days prior, from 27 states, Canada and Tokyo.

A very cordial BCF Trustee, Wendy Linscott, explained the beginning and short history of the group, often referred to as the “Summer Camp For Singers,” saying that the season itself is only four (short) weeks, and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is the resident orchestra for BCF. In Handel’s case, the SSO was slightly abbreviated in size.

Guest conductor, Kent Tritle is one of America’s top choral conductors. Prior to BCF’s long time founder and conductor, Richard Westenburg’s untimely death, Tritle served as Associate Conductor and Co-Music Director. For the sake of brevity, “such a gentle job he did.”

"Solomon’s" story comes from the Bible, depicting King Solomon and the tumultuous relationship between him and the Queen of Sheba. In the final act, the chorus celebrates the Lord, “whose goodness and wisdom have been shown in Solomon’s realm.” Act III, Scene I, Solomon sings, “Thus rolling surges rise, and plough the troubled main; but soon the tempest dies, and all is calm again.”

The soloists were talented – phenomenal! Pages could be written about their voices, their talent, their finesse. Be sure to catch BCF’s final 2008 concert on August 2 featuring “Water Music from the British Isles,” with John Alexander conducting music of Vaughn Williams, Rutter and Granger.

Berkshire Choral Festival

Rovensky Shed, Sheffield
Saturdays in July/August
By Shera Cohen

The experience of Berkshire Choral Festival was three-fold for this reviewer, having the privilege of attending three concerts in a matter of eight days.

For 27 years, thousands of choristers have gathered weekly to BCF for the love of singing and the camaraderie of those like themselves. An average concert includes 180 vocalists, who travel from nearly every U.S. state, the Americas, Europe, and Asian countries. One aspect that does not change is the “back-up” musicians – the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.

Each Saturday night features different conductors and selections. Oftentimes, soloists are featured. Be assured that the pieces are all big; nothing but the most challenging.

A musicologist speaks in a free talk prior to each concert, offering better insight into the background of the pieces and composers.

Titled “I Hear America Singing,” under the direction of Craig Jessop, the highlight was “Frostiana.” This was a flowing compilation of seven Robert Frost poems including “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Coupling Frost with music by Randall Thompson made for a wonder to the audience’s ears.

That same week, a select group of BCF members performed a free concert at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. Lead by an assistant conductor, the 20 or so singers crooned several old chestnuts, including big band tunes. Theirs was a nice teaser concert for the upcoming Saturday’s program.

There could not have been a better pair of choral works as Orff’s “Carmina Burana” was teamed with Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony (finale).” Tom Hall was the guest conductor. From the first loud and harsh bang of the instruments and voices to the soft and soothing movements, the lush and humorous songs of baritone Alexander Tall to the superior soprano notes of Penelope Shumate, “Carmina” was a standout piece. Its reputation precedes it as one of the most illustrious choral/symphonic works of the 20th century. To tackle the difficulty in the ebb and flow, ups and downs of the exceptionally long work, was no small task. This performance was without a doubt one of the most memorable music experiences for any in the audience. The well-deserved standing ovation lasted at least five minutes.