Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

The Los Angeles Master Chorale wrapped up its 49th season on Sunday with a program of American works. And while eyes were increasingly focused on the 50th anniversary season that lies just a few months ahead, this closing performance captured the Chorale at the height of their powers. It was a show that took a broad swipe at an immensely large body of choral music and it captured much spirit and artistry of the group where they are right now in time under the musical direction of Grant Gershon. All of the works on the program outside of four traditional spirituals that closed the evening were from the 20th Century. And while that designation sends some music fans running, there was little discordant modernism to be found here. The evening opened with Samuel Barber’s Sure on This Shining Night which set the tone with majesty and beautiful sound. Barber’s choral setting of his own Adagio for Strings, Agnues Dei also surfaced on the program. There was an early work from Elliott Carter and a puckish work from the iconoclastic Charles Ives, General William Booth Enters Into Heaven. Accompanied only by piano, The chorale showed off its way with difficult scores here to exciting effect.

But there was plenty of contemporary music on the bill as well. And while some of it was not the most intellectually challenging material, it did highlight the chorale’s interest in new commissions and advocating living artists. There were Three Songs of Faith from Eric Whitacre that came off as somewhat maudlin. Perhaps more notable though was the world premiere Plath Songs, a new cycle from the LAMC’s own composer-in-residence and member, Shawn Kirchner. Kirchner is well known for his arrangements that have been performed by the chorale, but in his recently adopted role of composer-in-residence he is flexing his artistic muscles in new ways. These settings of Sylvia Plath’s poems benefit from superb texts. Kirchenr’s music can actively avoid the darker streaks in these six poems that were heard on Sunday. However, the works are well orchestrated for the chorus and Kirchner has an excellent feel for writing for a vocal ensemble of this size. It’s a collaboration worth continued watching.

The evening closed with four more off-the-beaten-path spirituals including “Hold On!”, “Keep Your Lamps!”, and “The Battle of Jericho.” This material can be touch and go with some ensembles although it is a huge part of the American choral tradition. These numbers were well done and enthusiastically received by the audience to a greater extent than anything else all evening. This eclectic mix of new and older music and programming that hits a wide variety of buttons is part of what makes the LAMC so great and this closing season certainly promises a lot to celebrate in the 50th anniversary year starting this fall.

Labels: LA Master Chorale 12/13

The Los Angeles Master Chorale kicked off the Spring leg of their season with a beautiful reflective program this weekend pairing two large orchestral works for chorus and soloists – Peter Lieberson’s The World in Flower and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem. Both works focus on redemption in the face of death and provided an opportunity for the chorus to shine. That’s not unusual; they and their Music Director Grant Gershon are always great. But sometimes the chorus doesn’t quite get the starring role it deserves, especially when placed as the backdrop of so many other simultaneous musical forces. Brahms’ Requiem is a familiar staple. It's easy to hear it performed by any number of the worlds’ great orchestras often with the most rarified of conductors and soloists. But sometimes the choral contribution to such performances can be left wanting by comparison. Take Daniel Harding’s 2010 performance with the Dresden Staatskapelle in New York with Matthias Goerne and Christiane Karg. Beautifully played and sung, the work sounded somewhat flat and uninvolved, and the chorus while admirable was a ramshackle amalgam of various local choral groups. The work fared little better with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2011 under Gustavo Dudamel. Again Goerne was joined by Christine Schäfer and the LAMC, but the whole affair collapsed under Dudamel’s typically ponderous, excessive conducting penchants. The LAMC performances this weekend with the assembled orchestra under Grant Gershon couldn’t have been farther from either such previous outings. Here the chorus was given pride of place and room to shine without the intrusive overworked contributions from previous conductors. With the focus shifted, the Requiem came alive underscoring Brahms’ humanistic approach to the mass. Suddenly this was a requiem for and by the people, and that community spirit shone through for a stirring and often quite touching hour.

Of course, the fine work of the soloists Hayden Eberhart and Brian Mulligan also helped make the evening such a success. Mulligan has repeatedly given remarkably strong and earnest performances on so many stages this year that his international super star status seems all but a certainty now. He was no less impressive here, muscular and warm with a note of heartbreak deep inside, he gave another stirring vocal performance here. Mulligan was also one of the soloists for Lieberson’s The World in Flower alongside mezzo and Los Angeles favorite Kelley O’Connor. Neither vocalist is a stranger to contemporary music (O’Connor will tour with the LAMC and the LA Philharmonic this spring to take John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary around the world) and their experience paid off here. The song cycle, which features settings of poems by a variety of authors including Rilke, Hopkins, Whitman, and Neruda, was put together for Lieberson’s wife who sadly died before the work’s completion and premiere. Lieberson himself had completed a round of chemotherapy for his own cancer prior to orchestrating the work and the spiritual life-affirming elements of the piece hit very hard. O’Connor and Mulligan soared above the exquisite choral writing for a remarkable opening to the concert. Lieberson used a more constrained sound palette for The World in Flower in contrast to several other of his late works (his percussion concerto, Shing Kham will receive its world premiere by the LA Philharmonic next season) but the even-handed tone fits well amid such charged material overall. It was a beautiful start to the year from the LAMC. One that brings hopefully as much joyful artistry as they offered up this weekend.

Labels: LA Master Chorale 12/13