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Spirited
singing
A
"Cyclopean" instrument and a witch
Sunday,
March 6, 2005
By
Paul M. Somers
VOICES Chorale, Lynne Ransom (music director), J. A. Kawarsky (guest conductor), Newtown Chamber Orchestra, with Emily Shick and Elizabeth Bouk (sopranos), Jeffrey Freuler (countertenor), Daniel O'Dea and Bigad Khloussi (tenors), John Sergey (bass). Handel: Saul. Presbyterian Church, Pennington.
VOICES music director Lynne Ransom was present but recovering from surgery. She said a few words to the full audience, and they acknowledged her with heartfelt enthusiasm. But it was J. A. Kawarsky who led the performance of Handel's operatic oratorio Saul while Ms. Ransom sat in a pew of the Pennington Presbyterian Church and listened.
She could not have been disappointed in Kawarsky's leadership, for he was clear and musical in his conducting. He was also gracious, reminding those who complimented him that it was Ms. Ransom who had done most of the preparation. But stepping in is not easy and he did a fine job.
VOICES Chorale is a solid and well-prepared ensemble. Each of the fifteen choruses was sung with gusto for there is not one which is meditative. To be sure, they captured the proper mood of "Mourn, Israel, mourn," but this was more declarative and operatic than introspective. In singing this work, not so often performed as Messiah or Israel in Egypt or even Solomon, they made a fine case for other groups taking up this dramatic tale with its energetic choruses. After all, this is David and Goliath and Saul's increasing envy of David; the death of Jonathan and the ascension of David to the throne of Judah.
Handel wrote several choruses on the text of "Hallelujah", and the one from Saul is superior, too rarely done. VOICES certainly gave a spectacular performance of it. Another highlight was the spirited and accurate singing of the fugal "O fatal consequence of rage." That emotion is depicted here as tearing a person asunder as the fugue subject flies from voice to voice.
Both John Sergey as Saul and Daniel O'Dea as Jonathan had marvelous diction, most important since we had no libretto to follow. They also were perfectly cast for their roles, Sergey on the mature side and O'Dea with a clear, bright, and youthful sound.
David was sung by countertenor Jeffrey Freuler in a voice more richly colored than many other countertenors. In this respect he reminded me of Derek Lee Ragin, though Freuler did not have the expressive body language of Ragin to complete the artistic package.
Soprano Emily Shick gave the role of Merab great focus with her penetrating and flexible voice. When she later portrayed the Witch of Endor she lacked only lighting effects to make her a summoner of "Infernal Spirits," as her dramatic aria begins.
Tenor Bigad Khloussi was the all-purpose man of the afternoon, covering four small roles, each one in *recitative style. He used an unusually fluid declamation to produce a most natural and effective sense of speech rhythm. One can imagine that it was a challenge to conduct, but it all came out very well.
Soprano Elizabeth Bouk sang the important role of Michal. Her voice was warbley when she pushed it, which was too much of the time. When she paired with Freuler for their Part Two duet "O fairest of ten thousand fair" she backed off to better match the countertenor. Though her voice was a bit smaller, it lost its warble and was far more effective.
The Newtown Chamber Orchestra was certainly a fine ensemble from across the Delaware River (though excellent bassist Bliss Michelson is a New Jersey fixture as one of the great voices of WWFM). It was certainly not their fault that Handel's full complement of players was not on hand. The work requires three *trombones for the summoning of the spirit of Samuel. Their absence, while not crucial, was a hole never the less.
Since Tim Brown played mostly flute stops on the church's organ the sound was as reduced as it could be. But even so it covered the soloists at times. A *positif organ would have been more effective, but this was a sensible use of what was available.
Many wondered what was going on when organist Brown left the bench to play a synthesizer with some sort of (too loud) bell sound. The orchestra part calls for *celesta, but this cannot be, for the celesta first appeared in Widor's La Korrigane in 1880, over a century and a half after Saul.
Handel's librettist Charles Jennens wrote to a friend about a visit to Handel:
"I found yesterday in his room a very queer Instrument, which He calls Carillon (Angelice a Bell), & says some call it a Tubalcain, I suppose because it is both in the make & tone like a set of Hammers striking upon Anvils. 'Tis play'd upon with Keys like a Harpsichord, & with this Cyclopean Instrument he designs to make poor Saul stark mad."
There being a distinct dearth of this 18th century "Cyclopean instrument" nowadays, the synthesizer, the modern Cyclopean instrument, was trotted out.