Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 14, 1993 TAG: 9312140169
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The capacity crowd got its money's worth on the bitterly cold and snowy night in a two-hour intermission-less program that tested the Christmas spirit of a few rear ends. The 86-voice Master Chorale - short this year on men and especially tenors - did two major works whole or in part.
The Brass Dominion, composed mainly of Tech music faculty brass players, assisted and performed several Christmas arrangements.
The Master Chorale in general did well. They have sounded better, let it be said; the current roster is less than a third men and less than a sixth tenors, and the imbalance was detectable. And in a few spots they sounded either in need of more practice or fatigued from the grueling daylong rehearsal that preceded the concert.
But the three opening arrangements of "O Come, O Come, Immanuel," the "Danish Christmas Round" and "Angels We Have Heard on High" were mellow and rich.
This was followed by "The First Noel," in which director Craig Fields invited the audience to join in singing. Several other audience sing-alongs were scattered throughout the program.
After a 10- or 15-bar false start, the Chorale began again and turned in a competent collection of highlights from Bach's "Christmas Oratorio." Brass Dominion players Allen Bachelder and substitute James Kluesner handled the original Bach trumpet parts on tiny D trumpets.
Tenor James Frazier and mezzo Rita Litchfield-Good were satisfactory soloists, but the vocal luminary of the night was Wayne Kompelian. The Opera Roanoke star's commanding bass-baritone voice sounded huge even in the big church nave, especially in the aria "Mighty Lord and King All-Glorious."
Frazier makes beautiful music in his midrange, but he tended to blur the definition of long 32nd-note runs such as were found in his aria "Haste, Ye Shepherds."
Brass Dominion did a number of Christmas arrangements. Notable were Morley Calvert's "Danse Villageoise," which is based on the French Christmas carol "Il est ne," and "The Twelve Days of Christmas." The latter was the same highly difficult but humorous Andrew Kazdin arrangement which the Philadelphia Brass Ensemble made famous in the late '60s.
The major unabridged work of the night was Benjamin Britten's "Ceremony of Carols," Op. 28, which ranks as one of the most significant Christmas pieces written in the last half-century. (It was composed in 1942 as Britten journeyed by ship from America to England.)
It was written for boys' voices and harp, though it's more frequently heard with women's voices given the double scarcity not just of boys' choirs, but of boys' choirs good enough to tackle the difficult piece.
I prefer hearing it with boys' voices, but the Master Chorale women did an acceptable job with their warmer-sounding adult instruments. Sally Duran turned in a fine performance on the harp, especially in the central interlude for solo harp. The interlude, based on the plainchant antiphon "Hodie Christus natus est" from the Christmas Eve Vespers, is the pivot point of the piece.
The women processed into the church to the same antiphon, though they skipped the recessional at the end. Of the medieval and 16th-century poems Britten set between these two points, the best Saturday night were "Wolcum Yole!" "There Is No Rose," "This Little Babe," and "Adam Lay Ybounden."
At a couple of points the complex canon in "This Little Babe" threatened to fly out of control because of some muffed entrances, but in general this was a strong performance of a strong piece.
The men of the Master Chorale sang male-voice arrangements of "O Tannenbaum," "Still, Still, Still" and the Adolphe Adam chestnut "O Holy Night," the first featuring fine solo work from Frazier.
The most ambitious vocal arrangement of the night - excluding the Bach and the Britten - was Conrad Susa's "A Christmas Garland." A complex and pleasing medley, it featured the Master Chorale, Brass Dominion, organist James Bryant and Ken Mulzet, who deftly handled the piano part.
The long concert came to an end with the chorus "Hallelujah" from "Messiah" by George Frederick Handel, a solo harp version of the Appalachian carol "I Wander as I Wander," and an audience sing-along version of "Silent Night."
During "Silent Night" the lights were dimmed and Master Chorale members on both sides of the nave held candles.
Seth Williamson produces news features and a weekday afternoon classical music program on public radio station WVTF (89.1 FM) in Roanoke
by CNB