Twilight Pauses for May Festival Basilica Concert
The May Festival's
annual twilight concert at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in
Covington, Kentucky stretched the twilight a bit this year.
Starting hour was moved up an hour from its
usual 7 p.m. (Mass is celebrated at the Cathedral at 5 p.m. on Sundays), but it
was still possible to enjoy the last rays of sun through the church's magnificent
stained glass windows.
Performing were the May Festival Chamber
Choir and May Festival Youth Chorus led by their directors Robert Porco and
James Bagwell, respectively.
Except for Brahms'
"Zigeunerlieder" (Gypsy Songs), performed by the May
Festival Chamber Choir with accompaniment by pianist Heather MacPhail, the
program was entirely a capella.
It was also a mix of the sacred and secular,
with Vaughan Williams Mass in G Minor and Randall Thompson’s “The Paper Reeds
by the Brooks” based on Isaiah 14:7 sharing the program with Brahms' Gypsy Songs,
two of Hindemith’s Six Chansons and to open the concert, "Fire, Fire! My
Heart” by 16th-century English composer Thomas Morley.
Sung by the 50-voice Youth Chorus -- which to these
ears has never sounded better – “Fire, Fire” was a delightful, quick-as-a-wink
effusion about love, filled with "fa la la's" and cries for
"help." (I was reminded of the folk song “Scotland’s Burning”).
Taken
from Thompson’s “The Peaceable Kingdom” inspired by Edward Hick's famous
painting, “The Paper Reeds” was like a contrasting bookend, short, but plaintive
and sweet.
Likewise, Hindemith's "Puisque tour
passe" ("Since all passes") and "Verger"
("Orchard"), sung in French with remarkable spirit and accuracy, was paired
effectively with the rousing spiritual “Soon Ah Will Be Done,” arranged by
William Levi Dawson.
Porco and the 45-voice May Festival Chamber
Choir began with Vaughan Williams’ Mass, an ensemble work of the highest order,
that looks back to early English polyphony and music of the Renaissance. It had a “faraway,” almost mystical sound, as
in the opening, soft-breathed “Kyrie.” The “Gloria” had an antiphonal feel, and
the gentle “Sanctus” was succeeded by a lively “Hosanna.” The lovely “Agnus Dei” featured solo quartet.
It would have been more effective if
everyone had sung without vibrato (some of the soloists did, as in the opening
of the “Benedictus”). Overall, the work was
most satisfying in its purely choral moments.
Brahms’ Gypsy Songs, 11 folk-derived takes
on the delights and sorrows of love, churned with rhythm and spirit, if lacking
in clarity of diction.
The festival continues at 8 p.m. Friday (May
29) with an all-choral evening featuring “Hallelujah” choruses by Handel and
Beethoven, Bach’s Magnificat and a wonderfully pagan second half comprising excerpts
from Schubert’s “Rosamunde” and Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” ending
with Mendelssohn’s “The First Walpurgis Night.”
Grand finale is 8 p.m. Saturday at Music
Hall with Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a Thousand”).
May Festival music director James Conlon
will conduct both evenings.