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Mozart's Vespers, in their original setting
Choral Arts Society's Salzburg Vespers
Tom Purdom
Choral Arts Philadelphia offered a new view of a favorite piece when its music director, Matthew Glandorf, presented Mozart's Salzburg Vespers as the opening work in three concerts devoted to great vespers. Glandorf's take on the Vespers created an illuminating contrast to the two first-class performances presented in recent years by another Philadelphia group, Vox Amadeus.
Vox Amadeus presents the Vespers as a concert piece in the Kimmel Center's modern Perelman Theater. Under Valentin Radu's direction, it's an exuberant choral work varied by the serene soprano aria in the next to last movement.
Glandorf, on the other hand, presented the Vespers in St. Mark's Church, where he serves as music director. Here he tried to create the mood of an actual 18th-Century vespers service. Glandorf didn't recreate the entire service, but he included musical elements such as the short Gregorian chants that would have preceded each section of Mozart's music.
The result was a performance that was more subdued than the Vox Amadeus versions but just as affecting.
Mary and the angel
The centerpiece of the Vespers, for me, is the soprano aria in the Laudate Dominum ("Praise the lord all ye nations"). Most composers would have had the soprano soloist sing the final Magnificat— Mary's famous speech to the angel who announces her destiny.
The text of the Laudate Dominum offers the composer an obvious opportunity for a crowd-pleasing, full-blast choral treatment. Instead, Mozart assigned the Laudate Dominum to the soprano and gave the chorus a big part of the Magnificat.
The first time I heard Vox Amadeus do the Salzburg Vespers, Bonnie Hoke sang the Laudate Dominum as a tranquil proclamation floating over the world. In this Choral Arts version, guest star Julianne Baird presented it as a moving, reverent prayer. In her version, the critical words were the Latin text for "His merciful kindness is established upon us." It was one of her best local performances.
Glandorf followed the Laudate Dominum with a plainsong hymn that constitutes a long meditation on the same theme. Then the chorus opened the Magnificat with a big outburst, accompanied by brass and percussion, and ended it with an ebullient catalogue of the Lord's deeds.
Choristers' favorite
The congregation then received two more works by the young composer of the Vespers. Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus is a gentle, almost crooning work that has become a favorite with choristers. His setting of the Regina Coeli ended the evening with a rousing— but not too rousing— salute to the Queen of Heaven, with plenty of alleluias, more trumpets and drums, and another notably beautiful solo by Julianne Baird.
The program included two instrumental sonatas that might have been played during periods when the congregation would have been watching the priest administer certain aspects of the Catholic ritual, such as the consecration of the host. Both pieces received able, knowledgeable performances by the musicians of the Bach Collegium.
Mozart's Sonata in C Major for two violins, continuo and organ solo included a lively solo for portable organ, with a flashy set of runs and twists that the Collegium organist, Leon Schelhase, executed with all the light-fingered verve Mozart could have desired.
Glandorf's notes suggested that the instrumental pieces were used to keep the congregation entertained while the priest carried out his functions. Schelhase and his partners would have kept them happy.
Vox Amadeus presents the Vespers as a concert piece in the Kimmel Center's modern Perelman Theater. Under Valentin Radu's direction, it's an exuberant choral work varied by the serene soprano aria in the next to last movement.
Glandorf, on the other hand, presented the Vespers in St. Mark's Church, where he serves as music director. Here he tried to create the mood of an actual 18th-Century vespers service. Glandorf didn't recreate the entire service, but he included musical elements such as the short Gregorian chants that would have preceded each section of Mozart's music.
The result was a performance that was more subdued than the Vox Amadeus versions but just as affecting.
Mary and the angel
The centerpiece of the Vespers, for me, is the soprano aria in the Laudate Dominum ("Praise the lord all ye nations"). Most composers would have had the soprano soloist sing the final Magnificat— Mary's famous speech to the angel who announces her destiny.
The text of the Laudate Dominum offers the composer an obvious opportunity for a crowd-pleasing, full-blast choral treatment. Instead, Mozart assigned the Laudate Dominum to the soprano and gave the chorus a big part of the Magnificat.
The first time I heard Vox Amadeus do the Salzburg Vespers, Bonnie Hoke sang the Laudate Dominum as a tranquil proclamation floating over the world. In this Choral Arts version, guest star Julianne Baird presented it as a moving, reverent prayer. In her version, the critical words were the Latin text for "His merciful kindness is established upon us." It was one of her best local performances.
Glandorf followed the Laudate Dominum with a plainsong hymn that constitutes a long meditation on the same theme. Then the chorus opened the Magnificat with a big outburst, accompanied by brass and percussion, and ended it with an ebullient catalogue of the Lord's deeds.
Choristers' favorite
The congregation then received two more works by the young composer of the Vespers. Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus is a gentle, almost crooning work that has become a favorite with choristers. His setting of the Regina Coeli ended the evening with a rousing— but not too rousing— salute to the Queen of Heaven, with plenty of alleluias, more trumpets and drums, and another notably beautiful solo by Julianne Baird.
The program included two instrumental sonatas that might have been played during periods when the congregation would have been watching the priest administer certain aspects of the Catholic ritual, such as the consecration of the host. Both pieces received able, knowledgeable performances by the musicians of the Bach Collegium.
Mozart's Sonata in C Major for two violins, continuo and organ solo included a lively solo for portable organ, with a flashy set of runs and twists that the Collegium organist, Leon Schelhase, executed with all the light-fingered verve Mozart could have desired.
Glandorf's notes suggested that the instrumental pieces were used to keep the congregation entertained while the priest carried out his functions. Schelhase and his partners would have kept them happy.
What, When, Where
Choral Arts Philadelphia: Mozart, Solemn Vespers of a Confessor; Ave Verum Corpus; Regina Coeli; Sonata in C for two violins, trumpets and organ; Sonata in C Major for two violins, continuo and organ. Julianne Baird, soprano; Leon Schelhase, organ. Bach Collegium of Philadelphia, orchestra. Matthew Glandorf, conductor. October 9, 2010 at Saint Mark’s Church, 1625 Locust St. (215) 240-6417 or www.choralarts.com.
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