Master Chorale of South Florida

MUSIC REVIEW

Master Chorale majestic, powerful in antiwar cantata

By Lawrence A. Johnson
Classical Music Writer

January 17, 2006

Throughout his long life, Ralph Vaughan Williams remained a committed pacifist. The English composer served in an ambulance unit in World War I, and witnessed the gore and carnage of war up close in unsparing detail -- horrific images that left a lasting impression.

Two decades later, with new storm clouds gathering over Europe, Vaughan Williams wrote one of his finest creations, Dona nobis pacem, in 1936. The cautionary work has remained all too timely in the intervening decades and formed the main part of the Master Chorale of South Florida's belated season-opening concerts last weekend.

Scored for chorus, orchestra and two soloists, Vaughan Williams' antiwar cantata draws its texts from a variety of sources: the Latin requiem, Walt Whitman's war poetry and John Bright's House of Commons speech during the Crimean War. The characteristic quality of English folksong is apparent as well as nerve-jangling military fanfares and thunderous climaxes. Vaughan Williams' music shows extraordinary empathy and depth of feeling for soldiers and all of those affected by war's devastation.

These concerts were rescheduled from last fall when the Master Chorale's rehearsal hall and performance venues suffered damage from Hurricane Wilma. Perhaps that hardship produced a deeper response, for the powerful, majestic and deeply moving performance led by artistic director Jo-Michael Scheibe Saturday night at Second Presbyterian Church was the finest thing the Master Chorale has given us to date.

Scheibe and associate director Jeffri Bantz have been patiently honing and sharpening the Chorale's ranks, and that hard work has paid off. In "Beat! Beat! Drums" and the "Dirge for Two Veterans," the singers put across a massive yet well-blended corporate sound. The challenges of the exposed writing were met superbly, with the quiet singing evenly produced and more disciplined than in the past.

The tenor section still needs beefing up and diction can be more distinct; for a work mostly in English, it shouldn't be necessary to consult the program to figure out what is being sung. But in all other respects, the Chorale has taken a big leap forward with much tighter ensemble, greater brilliance and projection.

The performance was aided immeasurably by two first-class soloists. David McCutcheon's clear, commanding bass made the most of his moments, resonant and stentorian in the "Angel of Death" and extraordinarily moving in Whitman's "Reconciliation."

Rebecca Sherburn's slender voice sounded lightweight at first, but the soprano rose to the challenge with reserves of strength. Her timbre lent an apt, fragile vulnerability to the hushed final pages with the slow fading away of her pleas for peace.

Scheibe is widely known as an excellent chorus builder, but he's also a very fine conductor. His taut, idiomatic direction of the Chorale and Boca Raton Philharmonic Symphonia forces showed a clear empathy for Vaughan Williams' humanist vision. The orchestral playing was polished and committed throughout, with magnificent brass work led by trumpeter Jeffrey Kaye.

The brief orchestral first half set the populist tone, opening with a rousing, pew-shaking rendition of Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. Performing in the back balcony of the church, the Boca Symphonia's combined brass and percussion made a mighty, sonorous sound.

Bantz led the Boca players in Barber's Adagio for Strings. Some transition points could have been more adroitly negotiated, but for the most part this was a sensitive, understated reading. It's striking how rich and burnished the Boca Symphonia strings sound in a more welcoming acoustic than their usual FAU venue.

The Master Chorale of South Florida will perform Mozart's Mass in C minor March 31, April 1 and 2. Tickets are $25; $30 at the door. Call 954-418-6232 or go online to masterchoraleofsouthflorida.com.

Lawrence A. Johnson can be reached at 954-356-4708 or ljohnson@sun-sentinel.com.