By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Southern California News Group

Grant Gershon conducts the Los Angeles Master Chorale and pianist Lisa Edwards during last night’s “Wade in the Water” concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Photo credit: LAMC
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When I sang with famed choral conductor William Hall several decades ago, he used to say that the hardest type of a program for a choir to sing was one with a dozen small, anthem-sized pieces. “It’s much easier to prepare Bach’s B-Minor Mass,” he said with a grimace.

For the penultimate program in the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s 2016-2017, Artistic Director Grant Gershon defied that perspective with a program that included 14 anthem-sized works (counting two encores) and one larger piece (Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor). To no one’s great the Chorale pulled it off beautifully.

The program was titled “Wade in the Water,” which Gershon said in his preconcert talk was to convey, “Music of the spirit and music of renewal.” Assistant Conductor Jenny Wong termed the evening one of “humility and harmony.” The title came from a spiritual of the same name arranged by Moses Hogan that was the second piece performed. During the program.

Gershon began with a twist. For the opening work, Stand in That River by Moira Smiley, Gershon had the singers enter the hall down four staircases leading from the Orchestra View level to the stage where they arranged themselves not in the four standard groups (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) but mixed together with two men standing next to two women who were next to two other men, etc. It made for a more homogenous sound throughout the evening.

The only work where that wasn’t the case was Vaughan Williams’ Williams Mass in G minor, which was written for double choir and four soloists. The two choirs were arranged in the Chorale’s standard horseshoe setup rather than being spatially separated but they sang this treacherous a cappella work with elegant precision.

The solo quartet, perched on an elevated riser behind the other singers, sounded like a separate choir when they sang together. The quartet — Andrea Zomorodian, soprano; Laura Smith Rethe, mezzo soprano; Michael Lichtenaur, tenor; and James Hayden, bass— sang with a purity of tone that resembled English singers. Lichtenaur was particularly effective in his solo lines.

All of the evening’s soloists were Master Chorale members. They included soprano Zanaida Robles, who delivered delicate but heartfelt lines in Wade in the Water, and later received a standing ovation for her gripping arrangement of Lift Every Voice and Sing, which included powerful solos from mezzo-soprano soloist Garineh Avakian.

Many of the works sung last night are in the repertoires of mainline church choirs and educational institutions. For those of us who are choral singers, it was a particularly glorious night. LAMC Assistant Conductor Jenny Wong conducted two of those familiar pieces in the first half: a rhythmically driving rendition of Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal and a breathtakingly gorgeous performance of Maurice Duruflé’s Ubi Caritas. At the conclusion of the latter, I said to my wife, “Oh! That’s what it’s supposed to sound like.”

The second half of the program opened with the Chorale delivering top-flight diction and intonation in The Word was God, a complex anthem by Rosephanye Powell. They continued with Randall Thompson’s famous Alleluia; the Alice Parker/Robert Shaw arrangement of Amazing Grace, which featured a luscious solo by tenor Nate Widelitz; and Bright Morning Star by Master Chorale member and former LAMC Composer-in-Residence Shawn Kirchner, with bass-baritone Luc Kleimer as the sensitive soloist.

A noble rendition of Moses Hogan’s arrangement of the hymn, Abide With Me, and rollicking account of Rockin’ Jerusalem as arranged by Rollo Dillworth closed the formal part of the program.

Wong conducted the first encore: another arrangement of the “Ubi Caritas” text, this one by Welsh composer Paul Mealor, which was written in 2011 for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. Gershon then capped the evening by leading a luscious account of Deep River, third Moses Hogan arrangement during the evening.

Hemidemisemiquaver:
The final concert of the Master Chorale’s 2016-2017 season, on June 18, will be a tribute to composer Morten Lauridsen with, among other works, a performance of Lauridsen’s iconic ZZZLux AeternaZXZ on the 20th anniversary of the piece’s premiere by the Master Chorale. Information: www.lamc.org
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(c) Copyright 2017, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Southern California News Group

There were several different ways to experience the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s 28th annual High School Choral Festival this afternoon in Walt Disney Concert Hall.

You could start with the observation that it was amazing that 1,000 students from 29 high schools could actually be quiet at the same time, not once but several times! Not only that, they managed to get into their seats not once but twice nearly on time, a logistical feat approximating the D-Day landings on Normandy.

One could also be amazed at the technical prowess of the combined forces who were seated in the orchestra and orchestra view seats surrounding the Disney Hall stage. In seven pieces that ranged from Handel’s Your Voices Tune to several contemporary pieces, the students — led by LAMC Artistic Director Grant Gershon — sang with impressive diction and articulation and managed to create a wonderfully harmonious sound in those pieces where harmonies were at their lushest.

Two of the pieces — Bring Me Little Water, Silvy and Stand in that River — were by guest artist Moira Smiley (actually, as she explained, the former was a Ledbelly tune), who was on hand to teach the performers the percussion to accompany Bring Me Little Water, Silvy. Although students learned all of the music ahead of time, somehow everything managed to come together in a morning’s rehearsal, yet another amazing feat.

Midway through the choral concert, Gershon led 91 singers selected from the participating schools who comprised the Festival Honor Choir in three difficult, contemporary songs from around the world. The ensemble acquitted itself with distinction during this set; the final work — Tiptipa Kemmakem by Philippine-born composer Nilo Alcala — was particularly intricate in its time signatures.

Another aspect of the concert was to experience the amazing acoustics of Disney Hall, the second day in a row where that was the case (read my review of last night’s Los Angeles Philharmonic HERE). Although Disney Hall is one of the world’s great orchestra halls, it is best during choral concerts, especially during soft moments.

Today was actually three separate programs, beginning with a performance by the 16-voice L.A. Master Chorale Chamber Singers, led by MC Assistant Conductor Jenny Wong. Considering that she memorized the entire 40-minute set, this may well have been part of her Doctor of Musical Arts degree program at USC’s Thornton School of Music. She conducted the set with expressive hands and careful attention to the pieces’ many moods, and the singers’ tone resonated throughout the hall.

Among the highlights was Wir Juden (We Jews), a new composition by 18-year-old USC freshman Lucy McKnight. The moving, five-minute work, McKnight’s first choral piece, was selected as the winner of the Master Chorale’s second annual Young Composers’ Competition and is based on a poem by Gertrud Kolmar, a German-Jewish writer who died at the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1943.

The hit for the assembled students was True Colors by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, as arranged by Saunder Choi. The students were given colored lights and encouraged to illuminate them at appropriate times; the results made for a dazzling light display to accompany the singing.

After the Chamber Singers’ program, organist John West gave a demonstration of the Disney Hall organ, beginning with Bach’s Toccata in D Minor and ending with a Star Wars medley that brought forth the waving light show once again. A good time was had by all, especially those who had never heard this instrument!

Prior to the afternoon program, the 29 choral directors were honored onstage with certificates from the Master Chorale. Later, Gershon paid tribute to his high school choral teachers and encouraged the students to keep on singing. “God knows we need harmony in our lives today,” he said.

Next Master Chorale concert:
Gershon and Wong will conduct 48 Master Chorale singers in a program entitled “Wade in the Water” on April 30 in Disney Hall. The program’s title comes from the spiritual of the same name by Moses Hogan that will be sung during the concert. The music ranges far and wide, including Maurice Duruflé’s Ubi Caritas and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G Minor. Information: www.lamasterchorale.org
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(c) Copyright 2017, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.