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University Centre Auditorium
April 5, 2008
"There is no better stimulus for artistic work than suffering."
It is tempting to think that Zoltan Kodaly, in his 1946 lecture, was referring to the circumstances of the composition of his Missa Brevis - composed during the Soviet siege of Budapest in the winter of 1944-5 and premiered in a cloakroom of the Opera House by a small ensemble of soloists accompanied by a harmonium.
Scored for chorus, six soloists, orchestra and organ, the work provided a fine close to Saturday evening's chorus and orchestra concert at UVic.
From the lush, dramatic chords which begin the instrumental Introitus to the triumphant final pages, János Sándor directed an assured performance of great character and, one assumes, idiomatic authenticity.
The chorus - expertly trained by Susan Young - coped with what I imagine was some pretty difficult music more than adequately. Balances were generally good, although there was the odd occasion when individual voices could be heard, intonation and diction were excellent.
Kodaly uses his soloists sparingly, all six in this case being members of the chorus. The trio of sopranos - Barbara Walton, Eve Daniell and Tiana Malone - first added their ethereal gloss at the Christe eleison; the others - alto Nicola Kill, tenor Jeremy Notheisz and bass Alex Jang - were used in a more conventional manner, notably in the Qui tollis section. All sang very well.
Underpinning all this was one of the finest UVic orchestras to date. Kodaly was not history's greatest orchestrator, but he did provide some delightful moments for the winds.
A first-rate performance of a work which deserves more than the occasional outing.
Cherubini's Requiem in c minor (his first of two) was much-admired by his contemporaries and by the 19th century German Romantic composers in general.
There is certainly much to admire in the work and Cherubini achieves a more than usually sombre mood by omitting flutes from his orchestra and even dispensing, in the first two movements, with the violins.
Saturday's performance - the first half of the programme - was very well played and sung and Sándor shaped the music with his usual deftness: the suppressed energy in the accompanying figures in the Dies Irae, for example, was quite thrilling, even if the tam-tam stroke which preceded it was criticised by early listeners for vulgarity (what would they have made of Verdi?).
But for all of this, I could not quite bring myself to like the work greatly - certainly nothing like as much as the Kodaly.
Nonetheless, one should be - and I am - grateful for the opportunity to hear this repertoire, particularly when performed this well.
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