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By ROBERT MINER; Times Leader Correspondent
Tuesday, June 03, 1997 Page:
SCRANTON — The Lyric Consort closed out its 1996-97 local concert season
with performances of music spanning the centuries, including jazz, spirituals
and a new composition built around mystical poetry written in 16th century
France.
The performances took place Saturday at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in
Scranton and Sunday at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre.
The professional ensemble — sopranos Susan Kelly and Leslie Mason, altos
Jennifer Adam and Karen Kalinowski, tenors Alan Baker and Frank Hydash, basses
Christopher Gallo and Francis McMullen — is best known for historically
informed performances of the a cappella repertories of the 15th and 16th
centuries.
At St. Luke’s, the group started with the music of its mission; versatility
singing praises to God in Lodovico da Viadana’s peppy “Exsultate justi” and a
tranquil performance of John Dunstable’s “Ave maris stella” and “Quam pulchra
es.”
The group was never out of control with Hans Leo Hassler’s “Missa secunda,”
which mesmerized the audience of 100, and the consort pumped energy into the
“Gloria.”
There were two surprises in the first half of the program. The first was
Mozart’s “Quaerite primum regnum Dei,” a work that featured writing by the
classical period composer that was more in the style of compositions from the
high renaissance period.
The second was the world premiere of Hydash’s “Descripto Virtutis,” a
dramatic piece, set to mystical poetry by the 16th century French poet
Theodore de Beze, that the tenor composed in the old style, adding lots of
modern, difficult-to-sing dissonances. The piece, with its close harmonies,
went over big with the audience.
The second half of the program — featuring works the ensemble is not
normally known for — also was a hit. Claude Debussy’s “Trois Chansons” was
uplifting while Charles Villiers Stanford’s “The Blue Bird” — highlighted by
great singing in the high register by Kelly — was breathtaking.
And Benjamin Britten’s “The Evening Primrose” offered untroubled
peacefulness.
Jennifer Adam’s solo work on the spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” was
compelling. And the audience really got a kick out of the ensemble’s rendition
of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square,” a piece better known to jazz
lovers than lovers of serious music.
Review:
Choral