One of the great North American musical traditions is embodied in the community or civic chorus, typically large amateur ensembles made up of dozens or even hundreds of local citizens for whom singing the great choral masterworks is a meaningful, essential part of life. For its first recording for the Clarion label, Bach Choir of Pittsburgh shows just what this tradition is all about, filling the CD–and no doubt the church where the recording was made–with grand, big, brassy, full-textured choral works, five of them world-premieres, that effectively capture the sense of occasion embodied in the texts and musical settings. The world-premieres, all of them commissioned by the Bach Choir, receive special attention, not only in the enthusiastic and expressive singing and playing (by the excellent Pittsburgh Symphony Brass), but in the liner notes, where each composer comments on his work.
Few of the selections are widely known–the familiar ones being Darke’s In the bleak midwinter and the Willcocks arrangement of Jingle Bells–and that’s a good thing, for it allows us to come to this program with no preconceived notions–just fresh and open ears. Of course, not everything here is a masterpiece, but that’s not the point. The fact is, everything is tuneful, well-written for the voices and instruments, and properly conceived to convey both a spiritual and more visceral impact. Joseph Willcox Jenkins’ opening medley Cantate Hodie draws together eight carols from around the world, and, as with Joseph Martin’s Two Movements for Advent and Stephen Paulus’ three-movement We Sing Thy Birth (to Shakespeare, Milton, and Dunbar texts) incorporates both the more subtle aspects of choral singing with the full force of the instruments and voices to make an impressive, audience-pleasing statement. The real highlight of the CD undoubtedly is Craig Courtney’s Musicological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas. You can only imagine (and you’d still be wrong!) at the humorous and clever ways he treats each verse, quoting famous works and composers from Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky to Wagner–and ending with an amazing concoction involving nothing less than the Stars and Stripes Forever!
The sound on this hybrid-SACD is a bit too open and resonant for my taste (I listened on a standard CD player), but with these kinds of vocal and instrumental forces–which also includes the services of a beautiful and imposing E.M. Skinner organ–it’s difficult to find a perspective that will satisfy everyone. Overall, the singing is first rate–especially well-balanced for a group of more than 100–and it’s a treat to hear such polished performers in new repertoire. Occasionally intonation lapses (the sopranos in A La Nanita Nana, and a particularly jarring point in the middle of Silent Night where a subtle transition doesn’t quite make it), and the soloists aren’t as solid of tone and secure of technique as they could be, but these are small points in light of such a powerful, relentlessly joyous, memorable program, which ends with one of the more rousing renditions of Jingle Bells you’ll ever hear.
