Music and Dance Reviews : Master Chorale Finale

Though John Currie and the Los Angeles Master Chorale finished their season at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Saturday evening with reduced forces in two Requiems, there was nothing funereal about the occasion. Rather, it was a case of something old, something new and both solidly done.

The new--relatively, of course--was John Rutter’s edition of Faure’s Requiem. This reduces the orchestra largely to organ and low strings, with harp, solo violin, timpani and some winds. The effect is startling in its intimacy and poignancy. Currie kept his 41 singers on a tight dynamic leash, allowing the choral lines the restrained bloom of pure tone and gently sustained lyricism.

The soloists served Currie and Faure well. Soprano Cathy Larsen sang “Pie Jesu” with affecting, almost vibratoless simplicity. Baritone LeRoy Villanueva rendered “Hostias” with equally muted eloquence, but made something of a star-turn out of the more impassioned “Libera Me.”

Currie had some trouble beginning sections cohesively, but generally elicited glowing, balanced work from members of Sinfonia, with concertmaster Stuart Canin providing sweet obbligatos.

If Currie was revisionist in Faure, he was emphatically traditional in his approach to Mozart’s Requiem--not just in choice of editions, but in pacing and stylistic observances as well.

Here, Currie asked for a bigger, brighter sound and got something close to stridency at some points, particularly from the tenors. When properly balanced, however, it provided the basis for clear, pliable lines. Soprano Susan Montgomery, mezzo Elin Carlson, tenor Agostino Castagnola and baritone Craig Kingsbury proved a fluent solo quartet, distinguished individually and in ensemble by clarity and poise.