Master Chorale: From Small to Large

This week, the Los Angeles Master Chorale moves from small to large. Friday and Saturday, a 16-voice contingent sang an unaccompanied French program, as part of the Nakamichi series. Next Saturday, the full 143 voices of the Chorale sing “Great Sounds of the Chorus” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

“It’s a program of big pieces,” says John Currie, Master Chorale music director. “It’s not full of lollipops. Come and hear choral music that has size. “

To critics who have complained of a lack of size and strength in the Chorale’s recent singing, Currie responds with polite but forceful disagreement and a quote from St. Matthew: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

“The Chorale’s sound is bigger and richer this year than last, and it was bigger and richer last year than when I heard it before,” the conductor avows.

The program places an emphasis on the late Romantic style, with three pieces by Bruckner, two by Brahms, two by Verdi, and Schoenberg’s early “Friede auf Erden.” One of Schoenberg’s last compositions, “Dreimal tausend Jahre,” Penderecki’s Stabat Mater, and the “Geographical Fugue” by Toch represent more modern currents, with familiar works by Tallis and Handel rounding out the classical portion of the agenda.

“Nearly all of the pieces we are performing are by symphonic composers,” Currie notes. “This is really a program of ‘symphonic’ a capella music.”

There are also four folk songs on the program, two of them in new arrangements by Currie. “I like folk-song arrangements that let you hear the tune as simply as possible,” he states.

Organist Samuel Swartz will accompany the Chorale in the opening and closing numbers, Bruckner’s “Ecce Sacerdos” and Handel’s “Zadok the Priest.” Otherwise, the program will be purely vocal. Currie will use only 36 singers for “Dreimal tausend Jahre,” and 40 solo voices in Tallis’ “Spem in alium.”

In the rest, the full chorus--75 professionals, with an almost equal number of volunteers--will be heard. “This displays a side of the Chorale’s technique that the audience doesn’t always hear--the actual sonority of the full group on its own.”

OPERA CASTING: Long Beach Opera gives the first U.S. performances of Karol Szymanowski’s “King Roger,” Jan. 24 and 27, at the Terrace Theater. The 1926 opera will be sung in English by a cast of American singers: baritone James Johnson in the title role; soprano Nancy Shade as Queen Roxanne; tenor Jon Fredric West as the Shepherd; tenor Jonathan Mack as Edrisi; bass Michael Gallup as the Archbishop; and mezzo Lisa Turetsky as the Abbess.

The important choral parts have been assigned to the William Hall Chorale and the Long Beach Opera’s Children’s Opera Workshop. The ballet will be danced by members of Shale, bringing the number of on-stage performers to 150.

Murry Sidlin conducts the expanded orchestra. The production has been staged by David Alden and designed by Philipp Jung, with choreography by Mary Jane Eisenberg and lighting by Pat Collins.

COUNTY GRANTS: The Board of Supervisors has approved $10,900 in matching grants for four Los Angeles County music groups and $16,500 for three local dance companys. The grants come through the National/State/County Partnership, administered by the County Music and Performing Arts Commission.

The dance recipients are: AVAZ International Dance Theatre, for dancer’s rehearsal salaries; Los Angeles Chamber Ballet, for the two artistic directors’ part-time salaries; and LTD/Unlimited Dance Company, for rehearsal and performance fees.

The music ensembles awarded grants are: the California Traditional Music Society, for the Eighth Annual Summer Solstice Dulcimer Festival; I Cantori, for salaries; the Jewish Music Foundation, to produce three concerts of Jewish music; and the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, for artists’ fees.

BAROQUE ORCHESTRA: The Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, one of the recipients of the National/State/County Partnership grants, offers three performances of its first concert of the new year, Friday, Saturday and next Sunday. Led by violinist Gregory Maldonado, the ensemble will play Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concertos Nos. 3 and 6, two Vivaldi concertos, and a “Battalia” by Heinrich Biber on period instruments. (213) 578-7698.

PIANO COMPETITION: There are more than 300 entrants, from the western United States and Canada, in the Young Keyboard Artists Assn. “Celebration of Young Talent” at Chapman College this week. They will be competing for more than $10,000 in prize money, a grand piano donated by Young Chang America, and scholarships.

This is the first western regional for the Young Keyboard Artists Assn., which has held an international piano festival and competition in Ann Arbor, Mich., for the last six years. As part of the event, Kyung Sook Lee will give a recital at Chapman Auditorium on Wednesday, followed by James Barbagallo on Thursday. The six finalists in the competition will be heard Friday in concertos with the Chapman College Symphony. (714) 547-4225.