Music Review : Pacific Chorale Performs Last Concert of 20th Season

Poulenc and Brahms can be odd musical bedfellows indeed, unless the forces performing both on one night give equal-opportunity devotion.

Fortunately, this was the case Saturday in Segerstrom Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center when John Alexander led the Pacific Chorale and Pacific Symphony in the Frenchman’s “Gloria” and the German’s “Ein Deutsches Requiem.”

Alexander’s unwaveringly sure command of all elements produced an evening of distinguished music-making. Chorus dynamics were beautifully judged and executed: hushed pianissimos were never dry, fortissimos never screamy until the penultimate movement of the Requiem, when massed choral flesh, but not spirit, weakened.

Throughout, chorus unisons were wonderfully tuned and expressive. The instrumentalists responded in equal, well-modulated fashion, with orchestra/chorus balance nearly always exemplary.

Poulenc got his due: the “Gloria” was an exuberant romp. Though missing that ultimate soupcon of Gallic crispness in the lively sections, push-button poignance was instant where required. Such less-than-profound effects were the composer’s tendency, not the performers’ miscalculation.

Brahms’ lengthy peroration of hope for the living is by nature much harder to pace. Alexander didn’t rush those parts that can become messy, nor did he dawdle over the long, expansive phrases. No chaos, no schmaltz. The Requiem emerged whole, not as disjointed sections in this less than Romantic but hardly sterile reading.

The soloists were problematic. In both works, Virginia Sublett’s small, radiant-topped, pitch-true soprano, not yet a fully formed instrument, produced little real sound below the staff, and she projected no compensating authority whatever as a performer.

Likewise, Peter Van Derick’s bottled-up, sometimes quavery baritone robbed his Brahms solos of dramatic impact, despite obvious conviction.

An appreciative audience found the performance a fitting valedictory for the Chorale’s 20th season.