The Baltimore Choral Arts Society opened its 37th season over the weekend by celebrating its raison d'etre - and 20 years of leadership from Tom Hall. The program, a re-creation of his first with the ensemble in 1982, contained two works that reflect on the power of music and music-making, and music's patron saint, Cecilia.
Never mind that the historical Cecilia lived centuries before the birth of Western music and may have had little or no musical inclinations. Somehow, she became associated with the art form and inspired both the poetry and the music performed with considerable affection and polish by the chorus Sunday afternoon at Goucher College's Kraushaar Auditorium.
In Alexander's Feast, with verses by John Dryden, Handel created an engaging entertainment. The text involves Alexander the Great, Bacchus, a courtesan named Thais, the ghosts of Greek soldiers and, somehow, the "divine Cecilia." Whatever the poem lacks in narrative strength it makes up for in imagery, which Handel seized upon to create some of his most colorful music.
From the horns and oboes that introduce Bacchus to the pounding timpani and bright trumpet flourishes that accompany the ghosts, the orchestral score abounds in deft touches, while the vocal writing carries Dryden's words on wings of infectious song. It's no wonder Handel's public adored him. He gave them a level of action and adventure in sound that is still hard to beat.
Hall's knack for pacing and shading the music was apparent from the overture; the sensitivity to dynamic nuances continued throughout the piece. His disciplined, finely blended chorus responded with great care, articulating the startling loud-soft shifts in The list'ning crowd admire the lofty sound and the bold crescendos in The many rend the skies with particular virtuosity.
The solo quartet included baritone Sanford Sylvan, whose rounded tones, firm technique, superb diction and vibrant phrasing hit home every time. Hyunah Yu's silvery, sweet soprano sounded especially lovely in He sung Darius great and good; she capped Thais led the way with a striking, stratospheric cadenza.
Tony Boutte's small tenor was capable of considerable expressive molding. Soprano Jean Danton sounded uncomfortably stretched in florid or wide-leaping passages, but her animated singing got the job done.
The orchestra, which included many Baltimore Symphony Orchestra members, played in consistently cohesive, stylish form. There were lots of vivid solo efforts, notably by Langston Fitzgerald (trumpet), Mary Bisson and Denise Tryon (horn), Kristin Ostling (cello) and William Neil (harpsichord).
Benjamin Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia matches W. H. Auden's haunting poem to music of often astonishing imagination and prismatic effect. As Hall made clear in eloquent remarks to the audience beforehand, the piece really is a prayer for humankind - that "impetuous child with a tremendous brain."
The work calls for exceptional technical skill, which, one tentative chord aside, the chorus offered in spades, articulating the skittery middle section with admirable dexterity and filling in Britten's rich harmonies elsewhere with well-balanced tones.
Hall's assured, sensitive conducting unleashed the music's mixed emotions compellingly.