MUSIC REVIEW : LONG BEACH BACH FESTIVAL CLOSES

A former director of the Royal College of Music in London and music director of the London Bach Choir since 1970, Sir David Willcocks brought imposing credentials to his guest duties of closing the 14th annual Long Beach Bach Festival by leading the Mass in B minor on Saturday at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Long Beach.

Yet, the expected revelations did not occur. Willcocks’ reading was solid, efficient, even dignified. But it was not fervent or inspiring.

The conductor took stylishly brisk tempos, but within them created unstylishly luxurious and spacious phrasings and even allowed instrumental soloists in obbligato parts to romanticize their interpretations. The mixing of styles blurred the impact.

Willcocks seemed to have an eye more for the overview rather than for the telling detail or for informing the music bar by bar. But by tending to reach high dynamic plateaus very quickly, as if to emphasize Bach’s certainty of religious belief, the conductor had little to build upon emotionally from there. The result was a weakening of the work’s momentum and a loosening of its firm architecture.

The chorus, at 64 members, was capable of creating a broadly well-nourished sound. But it also could be edgy in attack, muddy in texture and prone to letting contrapuntal lines go slack.

The soloists--sopranos Sarah Carr and Jeanmarie Nielsen, tenor Larry R. Parsons and bass Gordon Brock--seemed underpowered and varied in quality. Nielsen, however, capably took on duties originally announced for countertenor (and festival director) G. Edward Bruner. On occasion, Parsons and Brock seemed to be making use of a microphone at the side of the stage. But they remained inexpressive.

The 24-member Festival Orchestra played with bright precision and style. Still, a sense of exaltation and excitement were missing.