Word: basses
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...WAILERS--One of Jamaica's hottest reggae groups, the Wailers have remained faithful to the early, sparsely arranged, stoned-out reggae sound. With just their bass, lead guitar, electric organ, and a steady, understated drum beat, they create an eerily hypnotic musical style. The force behind the group's unrelenting swaying rhythms builds up like the lava emerging from a volcano. Bob Marley's lyrics combine Rastafarlan spirituality with an uncompromising insistence on political freedom; the Wailers create an atmosphere of a revolutionary cadre holding a ganja party in a Kingston ghetto. Unfortunately, Paul's Mall, which offers no dance...
Neither of the first two arias in Cantata #80 are exceptional pieces. David Buchner negotiated a painfully difficult bass part with good control. The string ensemble accompanying him was sharply attentive to dynamics: filling out in their tutti passages and quickly dropping back during the singers' sections...
More remarkable for its content and execution was the brief bass recitative, sung by Charles Hefling. Hefling sings with a baritone's lightness and ease. He gave intelligent emphasis to the text; were his range a tenor's, he would make an admirable Evangelist for the Passion settings. Ronald Coons, singing the tenor recitative, fared badly in comparison where his vibrato obscured his diction. He was much better, joined by alto Paula Shepard, in the duet which was the climax of the piece...
...BACH was only part of the Evensong's music. One of the anthems was Maurice Greene's Lord, let me know mine end. The Greene was almost funereal in quality and was lent a somber cast by the walking bass throughout the movement. The exceptional quality of the Choir's string accompanists was evident in their first entrance: they were even in their attack and in tune without the dead quality that comes from intonation obsession. The soprano soloists were well-matched and in good balance with the rest of the ensemble...
...uninspired set of variations, and the postlude, the brilliant Sinfonia from Bach's Cantata #29 known in solo violin, solo organ, full orchestral, and Moog synthesizer versions. The Sinfonia was played brightly by strings and brass only to be let down by the organ. There was not enough bass registration to carry through the Church--in part, a design flaw of the Fisk instrument--but even the upper voices were too thin to compete with such a healthy orchestra. Coupled with a number of fingering lapses in an admittedly difficult part, the Sinfonia was still exciting--but it could have...