Master Chorale of South Florida Regales With Brahms' A German Requiem

By Charles Greenfield
Coral Gables Gazette

April 26 , 2007

The Master Chorale of South Florida led by Jo-Michael Scheibe has regaled South Florida audiences in the past few years with Mozart’s Mass in C minor, K 417a, Britten’s War Requiem, Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Beethoven’s 9th, and Johannes Brahms’ (1833-97) Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) April 15 in the felicitous acoustics of Trinity Cathedral adjacent to the Carnival Center. Each year Scheibe’s able and spirited conducting has steadily transformed the former Florida Philharmonic Chorus members into a tight crew of very competent singers. With his departure for the University of Southern California for fall 2008 the choral community loses a critical asset to our cultural scene.

The Master Chorale’s performance at Trinity started with a commemoration to Jeffri Bantz, their late and highly respected associate director, with a touching rendition of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756-91) Ave Verus Corpus, K. 618. As the female chorus stood in the center aisle of the nave the male singers responded on the right in rounded counterpoint (without conductor) under the handsome wooden barrel and mosaic ceiling.

To lend a more profane side of Brahms the Boca Raton Philharmonic Symphonia, composed of many former Florida Philharmonic players, ended the first half with Variations on a theme by Joseph Hayden for Orchestra in B flat major, op. 56a, conducted by Matthew Ferrell, the interim associate conductor. Its ‘Chorali St. Antoni’ main theme has a bracing familiarity with light brass and winds followed by eight variations and a finale. While a bit stiff with the baton Ferrell managed to hold the piece together and coaxed a journeyman’s performance. In the double Vivace sections the segue was somewhat rough and the horns had a bit of a ‘hunting’ blare. The languorous Grazioso and Andante finale called for better definition and contour.

After intermission the audience was treated to one of the 19th century’s masterful musical and spiritual experiences, Brahms’ A German Requiem (1866). While Mozart was steeped in the Catholic ‘mass’ tradition with its strict liturgical structure, Brahms, the spiritual ‘son’ of Beethoven and Bach, followed a more flexible Lutheran plan of biblical excerpts (Psalms, Isaiah, Ecclesiastes, Revelation) melded to a rich, orchestral intuition.

The seven-section Requiem commences with these words from Matthew: ‘Selig sind, die da Leid tagen, denn sie sollen getröstet werden’ (Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall have comfort). Instead of simply mourning the dead, Brahms comforts the living, and the music reflects this life-affirming choice in a succession of swelling dynamics, gentle pianissimos, and triumphant fugal passages.

Scheibe drew an admirable arch of confidence and coherence in the slow building pacing of the work. In the tricky and shifting tone of the second movement ‘Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras’ (For all flesh is as grass’) he consistently alternated between resignation and assertion with a sure-footed use of crescendo. The interplay between tutti and chorus tended to be more diffident in a work that demands a certain bold resonance.

Baritone Keith Spencer displayed fine enunciation in ‘Herr, lehre doch mich’ (Lord, make me to know mine end) but failed to completely round out the long, solo passage. The fourth movement, the Requiem’s center, had lilting beauty although the strings needed more texture. Soprano Joyce Guyer’s vibrato in ‘Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit’ (And ye now therefore have sorrow) was solid in her high B-flat but sometimes grating in tone. The sixth movement’s famous line ‘Tod, wo ist dein Stachel’’ (Death, where is thy sting’) had sufficient bite as baritone, orchestra and chorus converged in triumph. Scheibe deftly lowered the overwhelming dynamics in ‘Selig sind die Toten’ (Blessed are the Dead) and gracefully drew out the hymnal praise of the gentler ending.

In November the Master Chorale presents Gloria!Gloria!Gloria! (Glorias by Rutter, Vivaldi and Poulenc) and in April 2008 they bring the pulsating rhythms and ribald lyrics of Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. Choral music in South Florida is definitely gaining momentum in its learning curve!