Ensemble is Presenting a Powerfully Musical Weekend
By George B. Parous
As is always the case with a Resonance Works concert, a program well thought out and then some is being presented by them this weekend. Last night’s performance, at the First Baptist Church, Oakland, was excellent, and it will be repeated tomorrow, Sunday, March 9, at the Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church at 4:00 pm. (Don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead tonight.)
“What does ‘dwelling together in unity’ mean for us today,” Maria Sensi Sellner, Resonance Works’ Artistic and General Director asks in the program notes. “Frankly, I don’t think it’s too controversial to say that we aren’t doing it very well – as a society, a nation, and a global community. But shouldn’t it still be our goal? If music can help us build connection as human beings, then let it also motivate us to work toward this ideal together.” The fairly good-sized audience on hand last evening certainly dwelled together in beautiful music, well performed by an excellent chamber orchestra, well-rehearsed chorus and outstanding soloists.
Rev. Dr. Herbert V.R.P. Jones conducts the Resonance Festival Chorus.
Ms. Sellner, as always, was lavishly effective in her conducting of the ensemble’s splendid orchestra and chorus. She polished what each score had to give quite nicely, and the gifted instrumentalists’ responses were precise, rich and robust. It was also very apparent that the chorus, a finely blended, large group of voices, had been meticulously rehearsed into a superlative body of sound. On occasions the singers were too loud for the front rows, but were exquisite toward the rear of the church.
The first half of the program included two outstanding numbers, the first being Joel Thompson’s Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, a profound piece scored for chorus, strings and piano. Thompson, in addition to composing, is a conductor, pianist and educator. He is Houston Grand Opera’s full-time Composer-in-Residence. His music performed last night was somber, and unfortunately still topical, the “seven” being Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., Trayvon Martin, Amadou Diallo, Michael Brown, Jr., Oscar Grant, III, John Crawford III and Eric Garner, men of color, and their last known words before being senselessly killed, set respectfully to music. Baritone Franklin Mosley stepped from the chorus for a brief solo turn, and the audience received the work enthusiastically.
Lucia Bradford, mezzo-soprano.
The late Julia Perry’s setting of the Stabat Mater closed the first half with a tidal wave of song – the beautiful voice of Lucia Bradford, mezzo-soprano, rolling from the stage in glorious currents of sound. Her voice is large and velvety, very warm, totally at her command and well placed through the registers – in certain passages she sounded like a contralto or soprano. She has a most appealing voice, and sings with exquisite finish. She received a powerful ovation.
Perry’s Ye Who Seek the Truth and Rosephanye Powell’s To Sit and Dream, the first conducted by Ms. Sellner and the second by the Rev. Dr. Herbert V.R.P. Jones, had received much applause earlier in the program.
Maria Sensi Sellner conducts the Reson8 Vocal Octet.
The second part of the program began with what was a much welcomed return of the Reson8 Vocal Octet – Charlene Canty, Amelia D’Arcy, Timothi Williams, Zanna Fredland, Andrew Bloomgarden (Lang), Donovan Elliot Smith (Green), Robert Frankenberry, Jake Churilla and Ivan Plazačić. The octet’s voices blended beautifully in David Lang’s make piece, the composer adapting the text for the short piece from the last part of the Kaddish, or Jewish prayer in memory of the dead. They also sang Brittany J. Green’s gospel inspired Speak – the first time the a capella number was sung on any stage. Both works were received with the enthusiasm they deserved.
In Patti Drennan’s The Water is Wide, another short piece for chorus and piano, conducted by Dr. Jones, some of the most ravishingly beautiful music of the program was heard. The chorus was at its very best, and sang the music with excellent body and tone. The music is a traditional English melody, arranged by Ms. Drennan, and is lovely, despite such text as “Oh, love is gentle and love is kind, the sweetest flower when first it’s new. But love grows old and waxes cold, and fades away like morning dew.” Many can relate, apparently, for the piece received hearty applause and set the tone for the evening’s final offering.
Victory Brinker.
It was Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, a piece commissioned to celebrate the 1965 Chichester Cathedral’s 1965 music festival. Bernstein originally scored the piece to Hebrew text, borrowing from Psalms verses – one line borrowed from Psalm 133: “How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” – for a male chorus, treble soloist, trumpets, trombones, strings and two harps. Resonance Works gave the work its all, right down to the two harps. The piece was given with the original text, but with a mixed chorus, of course, and the treble soloist was young Victory Brinker, always a joy, always delightful and sweet-voiced. In the three movement work subtle evocations of West Side Story and possibly Candide flit for seconds across the memory, but the music is original Bernstein at his best.
The show was a mighty lift on a dreary late-winter night. It shouldn’t be missed. A trip tomorrow to the Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church for the 4:00 pm matinee is highly recommended. Tickets can be had at the door of by visiting the Resonance Works website.
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