By Jim Ruggirello on Gazettes.com on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 2:24 pm
You have to love a concert called “Blast!”
That was the season-opening effort by the Long Beach Camerata Singers, presented the other evening at Covenant Presbyterian, and devotees of choral music certainly had a you-know-what.
Artistic director Robert Istad is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about his chosen art form, and his programs are invariably put together with intention and a good deal of thought. For this one, he chose 20th and 21st century works for chorus, organ, percussion and harp.
Given that framework, the repertoire turned out to be extremely varied, with composers new (Jonathan Dove, Tarik O’Regan, Nico Muhly, Ken Walicki) and old (Ralph Vaughan Williams, Martin Shaw, Herbert Howells) exploring different ideas about what this particular combination could achieve. One of Istad’s stated intentions was to give an historic context to the contemporary works and to make the older compositions sound modern. By gosh, it worked.
I suppose some good things can come out of Orange County, and one of them is Jung-A Lee, who was the amazing organist on this concert. She was by turns supportive and extremely virtuosic. Her sizeable and technically accomplished contributions to the success of the evening were extraordinary.
Lee was an equal partner with Istad in the concert’s culmination, an excellent performance of a 20th century classic, Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms.” The percussion ensemble from California State University, Fullerton, where Istad is the director of choral studies, and harpist Ellie Choate also distinguished themselves here, as they did throughout the program.
The excellent Senior Wave Chorale from Manhattan Beach Middle School performed two numbers on their own, Martin Shaw’s too-short “Fanfare” and Sheldon Altman’s lively “Bim-Bam,” and guested with the Camerata in Nico Muhly’s difficult but effective “A Good Understanding.” Five boys from the group also collectively sang the alt solo in the second movement of the Bernstein, and very nicely, too.
Speaking of public school music, the Camerata began giving a Music Educator of the Year award a few years back, which is a lovely idea. This year’s recipient is Paula Riley, from our own Stanford Middle School.
The highlight of the newer works for me was “just like a dream experience…” by Ken Walicki, who also teaches at Fullerton. The immediately attractive choral lines, accompanied by the organ and punctuated by percussion and harp, made for an entertaining and satisfying world premiere.
Istad described Tarik O’Regan’s “Dorchester Canticles,” written in 2004, as “wild and crazy,” and it certainly was that. So was the Muhly for that matter, and then the Bernstein was there to demonstrate where all that wildness and craziness came from. Howells and Vaughan Williams represented a tamer and saner tradition.
There was so much going on, I almost didn’t notice how good the Camerata was. Istad has fashioned a wonderful sound, seamlessly blended, powerful when necessary, and capable of giving terrific, authoritative performances in a variety of styles. What really came through during the entire concert was the singers’ energy and enthusiasm.
They seemed to be having a blast.
Originally posted on Gazettes.com by Jim Ruggirello