concert review: Haydn Singers
Mar. 11th, 2006 07:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimacVentured out in the bluster to one of Palo Alto's numerous Fifties Modernist churches - cold as a freezing pit it was in there - for the premiere concert of this new chamber choir (5/5/4/4) with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
irontongue in the alto section. Church music by two Haydns (Joseph and Michael), one genuine Mozart (W.A.) and one pseudo-Mozart (Quirino Gasparini, one of several composers whose music young W. copied out for practice, leading careless scholars to conclude that he composed it). Some acappella, some accompanied by strings & organ. The major work was Mozart's K.192, a "Missa Brevis", which means "Come on, we want this whole thing done in half an hour."
Lovely vocal sound, careful precise renditions, intricate counterpoint running hither and yon, sure sense of ensemble that didn't get hitched up by tricky bits, rich harmonies when all singing together. Most choral works have moments when the composer sends one voice out on a limb without any audible means of support, and that's the acid test, which few nonprofessional groups can pass. But these guys hung in there and didn't get thrown by the problems. Solo parts were variable, but the solo soprano, Rita Lilly, has a strong bell-like tone.
For a final entry we had four German partsongs by Joseph Haydn. Surprisingly humorous, or perhaps not so surprisingly if you know Haydn. The final one was a real gem with a joke ending which I shall not spoil, as they'll be doing this again tonight in Berkeley.
irontongue in the alto section. Church music by two Haydns (Joseph and Michael), one genuine Mozart (W.A.) and one pseudo-Mozart (Quirino Gasparini, one of several composers whose music young W. copied out for practice, leading careless scholars to conclude that he composed it). Some acappella, some accompanied by strings & organ. The major work was Mozart's K.192, a "Missa Brevis", which means "Come on, we want this whole thing done in half an hour."Lovely vocal sound, careful precise renditions, intricate counterpoint running hither and yon, sure sense of ensemble that didn't get hitched up by tricky bits, rich harmonies when all singing together. Most choral works have moments when the composer sends one voice out on a limb without any audible means of support, and that's the acid test, which few nonprofessional groups can pass. But these guys hung in there and didn't get thrown by the problems. Solo parts were variable, but the solo soprano, Rita Lilly, has a strong bell-like tone.
For a final entry we had four German partsongs by Joseph Haydn. Surprisingly humorous, or perhaps not so surprisingly if you know Haydn. The final one was a real gem with a joke ending which I shall not spoil, as they'll be doing this again tonight in Berkeley.
