Music Reviews : Pasadena Pro Musica Premieres ‘Pooh’ Mass

It is fairly safe to say that Rayner Brown is the only composer to have set to music part of “Winnie the Pooh” in Latin translation. Given its world premiere by Pasadena Pro Musica Friday evening at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, “St. Winfred” Mass juxtaposes lines from the Latin mass with excerpts from A. A. Milne’s classic.

If it seems absurd or incongruous to follow “Io vivat Pu!” (Three cheers for Pooh) with “Gloria in excelsis Deo ,” that may explain why Brown chose to use Latin: The classical language distances the listener from the words somewhat, and helps make the work appear more cohesive than it really is.

After all, Brown has reduced Milne’s story to 225 words and the Ordinary of the mass to 18. The listener is better off simply regarding the words as a vehicle to carry his skillfully wrought music.

Scored for chorus with medium-sized orchestra, the 1986 composition exhibits grateful vocal writing, effective orchestration and logical pacing and, with its soft-edged triadic and quartal harmonies, is entirely agreeable.

Agreeable, but hardly memorable or particularly original. It seems a kind of all-purpose background music for a non-existent television nature documentary.

Baritone Ray Fielder produced a full, round, warm sound and brought much expression to the many solo lines. Under conductor Edward Low, the chorus sang with energy, vibrancy and fine control.

Fielder also brought stylish phrasing and expressivity to his solos in Mendelssohn’s “Ach Gott, von Himmel sieh Darein,” and the Pro Musica emphasized line and direction in delivering this Bach-inspired, contrapuntal motet.

Low and his choristers, by means of dynamic contrasts and textual clarity, made a credible case for Copland’s rarely heard “In the Beginning,” though the singers did encounter frequent pitch problems. Mezzo Paula Rasmussen, aside from some unevenness across her vocal range, sang with fine projection and sensitivity.