L.P. How, Max Bragado-Darman & Philip Lima
On a glorious Sunday afternoon at Carmel’s Sunset Center, the Monterey Symphony presented its next-to-last concert of its present season. Noteworthy on this occasion was that the Monterey Symphony featured a reduced string section omitting the violins, since all three works we heard featured this configuration. Its result was a subtle mellow timbre that added significantly to the effectiveness of the program.
The afternoon began with a work we hear rarely, Gesang der Geister über den Wassern (The Song of the Spirit over the Water) for male chorus and reduced orchestra. This was a fine performance that brought out the interesting melodies, lovely part writing and sensuous sonorities. Especially notable were a few passages for double bass that suggested a subliminal heartbeat and were quite effective.
Next we heard the Serenade No. 2 in A major by Brahms, during which the reduced orchestra (with added woodwinds) achieved many moments of beauty. In this work, even though written when Brahms was only 26, there is still a hint of the autumnal quality – a tinge of bittersweet sadness – that foreshadows later works by Brahms. The second movement, Vivace, featured some effective antiphonal playing between winds and strings, and the final movement provided a joyful and triumphant happy conclusion to this Serenade.
The major work of the afternoon’s program after intermission was the Fauré Requiem and on stage appeared to be “a cast of thousands” (as movie advertisements for biblical spectaculars liked to promise us). Well, maybe there were only three hundred people, but the stage was so crowded it appeared to be bursting at the seams with members of the Monterey Symphony Chorus, the San Jose Symphonic Choir and the Monterey Symphony.
Although as a spectacular event, it may not have approached the legendary extravagance of Hector Berlioz conducting a work requiring expanded orchestra, double chorus plus a military band (which he conducted with a drawn saber and allegedly collapsed over a kettledrum at its conclusion), what we heard was still a very impressive achievement.
The logistics of rehearsing two choruses, initially separately, and then later together with the symphony, is quite an undertaking, and Leroy Kromm, Choral Director of both the Monterey Symphony Chorus and the San Jose Symphonic Choir, deserves a lot of credit for how smoothly everything went. To conductor Max Bragado-Darman fell the task of coordinating the entire work, and in this he succeeded very well.
The principal soloist in the Fauré Requiem was the elegant baritone Philip Lima, whose strong masterful voice carried easily over the thickest of orchestral textures, and his solos in the Offertory and the Libera me were impressive. Three other soloists, sopranos Georgianna Askoff, Lynette Culbert and Sally Leschofs, had significant solos in the Pie Jesu and also made a pleasing impression.
There were beautiful moments where the ensemble between chorus, orchestra and soloists was very fine, and created considerable magic. The fabulous soft ending of the Introit and Kyrie was breathtaking, and the Agnes Dei (with a fine violin solo by L. P How) and the Libra Me were very moving.
I always envy members of the chorus and orchestra in a massive undertaking such as this, for they come to know the score in an intimate way denied to the average listener, and the experience of being a part of a significant performance like this can be a life changing experience.
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