40 Voices Singing

The Singers augmented their 16 voices by joining forces with another newcomer to the Philadelphia choral scene, PhilHarmonia, and a professional early music quartet, the Laughing Bird. For the first half of the concert, they surrounded the audience at First Unitarian with 40 voices and presented works that filled the church with intricate sonic patterns, unexpected solos, and resonating chords.

Take my word for it. Forty unaccompanied human voices can do anything an electronic synthesizer can do. And do it better.

My personal favorite was a piece by a living composer, Jordan Nobles, which set the names of the stars to music. But that’s just a reflection of my personal biases and preoccupations. The other items on the first half included an incredibly complicated motet by the Elizabethan composer Thomas Tallis and the death prayer of an Icelandic chieftain.

A mixed mass

The second half presented sections of the mass composed by five different composers, ranging from a 14th-century Gloria by Palestrina, sung by the Laughing Bird, to modern pieces like a Kyrie by Vaughan Williams and a Russian-language Credo by Igor Stravinsky.

The evening ended with one of the grandest grand finales in the repertoire — Samuel Barber’s choral arrangement of his most popular work, his Adagio for Strings. As a string work, the Adagio is beautiful and mysterious. As a choral setting for the Agnus Dei (“Lamb of God have mercy on us”), it rises to an intensely dramatic peak. In the last section, Barber’s music creates a serene foundation for the closing prayer for peace. This is only the second time I’ve heard the choral version of Barber’s signature work. If you’ve never heard it, I recommend that you attend any concert that includes it.