Two church-sponsored concerts span Bach, Mozart and a contemporary chorus-and-orchestra work

The history of Western art, architecture and music would be very different without the patronage of the churches. Few churches in Dallas are considered architectural masterpieces, but quite a few have ambitious music programs. Some even present important concert series.

On September 11th, the Highland Park Presbyterian Church’s Highlander Concert Series presented the Highland Park Choral and Orchestra in the Moody Performance Hall. On September 14th, the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation opened a series of baroque music concerts at lunchtime, scheduled for every second Tuesday of the month.

Highland Park Chant and Orchestra

Identified early on as a virus spreaders, choral performances – and rehearsals – have been particularly challenged by COVID-19 protocols. With Moody, the choir (except for a noticeable tenor) and the strings of the orchestra were masked. Two of the four vocal soloists and two trumpeters wore masks when they weren’t performing. Most, but not all, of the audience wore masks.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the conductor Gregory Hobbs gave a thoughtful spoken introduction to a program of Mozart Requiem and Martyr by the contemporary British-American composer Tarik O’Regan.

Composed in 2008, 17 minutes long, the O’Regan honors St. Alban, who is considered the first British Christian martyr. Designed for four soloists, a choir orchestra (three trumpets, timpani, organ and strings), it intersperses a Wordsworth homage with a Latin hymn praying for the saint’s intercession.

The musical language mixes bold declamations for the soloists, glowing floods of gently dissonant choir harmonies, cackling string figures and free-running trumpet and organ solos. Both here and in Mozart, texts and translations were printed in the program and projected as surtitles.

Hobbs led an effective and impressive performance. With three dozen singers and two dozen instrumentalists gathered after a long stretch of minimal performance, this was no small feat. The weakest moments were some uncertainly tuned solo string passages.

Hobbs certainly played up Mozart’s theatrics. His approach was compelling most of the time – the opening of “Dies irae” was hair-raising – but some of the busier sections felt rushed, even rushed. The kyrie and the “ne absorbeat” part of the offertory are requests for mercy, not virtuoso show pieces.

The choir, including well-known singers from the area’s professional scene, was closed and honed, but the masks muffled the women’s voices more than the men’s. The orchestra, which added two basset horns (alto clarinets) and two trombones, played skillfully, although the well-done trombone part in the “Tuba mirum” could have been more reserved.

The soloists, all of them accomplished singers, were not ideally coordinated with one another. Julie Liston Johnson’s tall, luscious soprano would have suited Puccini better. Paradoxically, Mezzo Claire Shackleton was a lighter, grainier tone. Barrett Radziun’s radiant tenor lived in a very different world than Stephen Morscheck’s darkly covered bass.

Bach’s lunch

The incarnation concert played viola da gamba sonatas by JS Bach (in D major, BWV 1028) and his son Carl Philip Emanuel Bach (in C major, H. 558). Eric Smith played a beautiful Timothy Johnson viol based on an English model from the 17th century. Incarnation’s music director Scott Dettra played the church’s new Hubbard & Broekman harpsichord, based on a German instrument made by Hieronymus Haas in the 1730s.

Scott Dettra (left) plays the harpsichord while Eric Smith plays the viola da gamba during Bach’s Lunch Concert at the Church of the Incarnation on September 14, 2021 in Dallas.(Elias Valverde II / employee photographer)

From a distance, a viol looks a bit like a cello, but has sloping rather than rounded shoulders and a wider fingerboard under six or seven strings (as opposed to the four strings of the cello). The sound is similar to a cello, but a little softer and more nasal, with a sweet whine in the upper register.

Smith and Dettra gave the music well-leaped, dance-like impulses. With eloquent phrasing, Smith elicited an amazing palette of colors and textures from his instrument, and both he and Dettra were sure to deliver virtuoso licks. Between the two viol sonatas, Dettra quickly sent an early JS Bach Capriccio in E major (BWV 993), which brought some real surprises with it.

[ad_1]