Word: choiring
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...choir was admirable for its good diction, pitch, and attack. The sopranos handled the difficult syncopations at the end of the first piece with precision. It seemed unlikely for the quality of Mem Church music to rise still higher after last year's triumphant Schuetz festival; but last Sunday's premiere was commendable for its technique and still more so for its presentation of contemporary choral material, a musical genre so often maligned or ignored...
Sheer size is a clear departure from the actual forces available in Bach's time for an indoor performance. Richter's ensemble numbers 140 singles and orchestral personnel; Bach's optimum number was less than half that. The Bach Choir's is a modern one, a product of the great symphonies after 1800. Between Bach's time and our own, instruments were generally engineered to be louder and more precise in pitch. Those listening to a cantata in the 1730's were not steeped in a tradition of massive sound; the scale of volume-production then was a fraction...
...They are capable of great projection, as in the also entrance of the first Kyrie eleison; and they are equally able to sing softly and expressively, as in the Confiteor unum baptisms. Their diction was clear; and strong emphasis was reserved for truly significant moments like the Crucifixus. The Choir showed immense poles in handling violent transitions: the Et resurrexit was a shock to the audience. Only once in the Cum Sancto spiritu was an entrance made without seemingly total assurance...
...balance, too, the Choir excelled. Rather than a collection of sopranos with others, it was a true equality of vocal parts so necessary to Bach's complex polyphony. Richter generally chose legato articulation, but the choir handled the staccato Pleni sunt coeli passage with case. The attention paid their conductor is yet another point: Richter varied his tempi suddenly, but singers and orchestra followed right along...
...Bach Choir presented an idealized--doubters might say distorted or impossible--image of the Mass. Far larger than the composer himself could have imagined this was not a purist's performance. It was honest enough to appreciate its own potential: valveless trumpets, natural horns, and wooden flutes all would have been senseless against a modern string section and mixed (rather than all-male) chorus. An unhappy marriage of old with new produces a far less satisfying result than either extreme followed completely...