VOLTI'S INSPIRING MODERN BENT
                As the Professional Chorus Finds Stimuli from High-Schoolers too
                                              By Paul Hertelendy 
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music and dance 
                                                                 Week of May 17-24, 2010
                                                                  Vol. 12, No. 101
        BERKELEY---West Coast composer Morten Lauridsen, 66, has the gift of writing ravishingly beautiful works for chorus, as he demonstrated in the latest Volti concert given at the First Congregational Church May 14.
            His piece de resistance is the religious a cappella chorus “O Magnum Mysterium” (Oh Great Mystery) with gorgeous interwoven mixed voices using a late-romantic palette, reminiscent of the late Franz Biebl---six minutes of instant ecstasy. But quite another side of his work emerged in ardent love songs from the collection “Nocturnes” in a variety of languages, which were played here with the composer himself accompanying on piano. Lauridsen is a hearty bearded man who is garrulous to a fault but articulate in his music, even in his more retrospective stylistic moments. 
            The professional Volti mixed ensemble, 19 strong,  was augmented in this set by several surprisingly adept high school choruses, ending up with more than 100 crowding the stage. Lauridsen has an eloquence in stretching out a key phrase for the final cadence, whether it’s Rilke’s “Summer night” or Neruda’s passionate “I await.” While hearing the German poet Rilke’s French poetry was a revelation, the greatest impact came from the Neruda poem “Soneto de noche” (Sonnet of the Night), a work I would take to the proverbial desert island, gladly.
            The Lauridsen offerings were warmly received, though the singers from three high  schools, however admirable at their singing, badly needed a diction coach for the foreign languages, starting with learning how to roll those R’s in Latin, French, Spanish, German. This is the missing link in Volti’s otherwise admirable Choral Arts Laboratory for younger singers.
            Elsewhere, premieres studded the Volti concert. A new work that translates as “Dedication” from the Philippine composer Robin Estrada, 39, was done in graphic notation, leaving part of the compositional process to Director Robert Geary. This produced much innovation, with chants and one-syllable exclamations, as well as tone clusters and chattering sounds recalling the Balinese ketjak. Estrada also imitated some traditional instruments with the voice, using syllables of the brief text. 
            Deconstruction also was an element in the other Volti world premiere, the 15-minute “Privilege” by Ted Hearne, 37. Hearne uses varied contemporary choral techniques to considerable effect, Repeating text fragments, sounding vocal punctuation, and setting a high soprano overlay above the musical lines. The repeated elements are worked to the extreme, and the political-protest message is lost unless you read the printed text.
            The fifth and final of Hearne’s sets shows considerable influence from Arvo Pärt, the 73-year-old Estonian---distant in so many ways---who has become, however improbably,  perhaps the most influential of living vocal composers internationally.  The effect of the ending, “(the train) it’s leaving me behind,” taken from an old South African protest song, is  eerie, unsettling and seemingly ever more unattainable.
            The Volti chorus managed this demanding repertory smartly, singing appealingly on pitch, responsive to founder Geary throughout. But they were in some ways upstaged, I think, by the visiting high-school choruses that could sing circles around most of our community choruses in modern selections drawn from Mollicone, Yohanes, and Lauridsen. They  represented Head-Royce, Acalanes, and Piedmont High School. All of a sudden, the choral future looks very promising.
            The weekend concerts concluded the 31st season of Volti, the elite chorus which formerly bore the name S.F. Chamber Singers.
             Volti, a San Francisco-based  chorus. For info: (415) 771-3352, or go online.


        ©Paul Hertelendy 2010
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           Paul Hertelendy has been covering the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with relish -- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
    These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never weakly) will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with forays into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local artists as well.
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