MUSIC REVIEW : Saddleback’s ‘Missa Solemnis’

‘Tis that time of the waning concert season when a lack of heavy activity gives curiosity an opportunity to be satisfied.

There were many satisfactions in hearing a serious and probing Sunday-afternoon performance of Beethoven’s monumental “Missa Solemnis,” by the Saddleback Chorale and Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Alvin Brightbill.

The chorale is a community organization--founded by Doris Shields for offstage duties at the 1963 Laguna Beach “Pageant of the Masters”--now based at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. It would seem to have come a long way from its modest beginning.

Brightbill’s concept of the massive work, at least according to his literate program notes, does not include the piling up of performers in order to make a mighty sound.

In the welcoming acoustic at St. Nicholas’ Church in Laguna Hills, he used 93 singers in tandem with the 38 members of Gregory Maldonado’s L.A. Baroque Orchestra, and enforced-- coaxed may be the better word--balances that resulted in strong resonance but, more important, real transparency.

Though one might often have wished for more drive from the podium, this was a thorough and well-motivated reading, beginning with real reverence in the Kyrie, ending with genuine hopefulness in the Agnus Dei, and, at the core of the piece, offering tangible contrasts of mood and movement.

Playing mostly on 18th-Century instruments, or on modern copies thereof, the orchestra carried out its duties efficiently.

As tends to be the case with period-instrument bands, frequent tuning-ups become necessary; also, the kinder-but-gentler instrumental sounds take some acclimation--too-loud orchestras still being part of our Zeitgeist. Still, the gain in clarity and possible finesse, as well as the closer approach to the composer’s probable intentions, are cherishable virtues.

At this point in their history, the Saddleback singers seem to be at an admirable plateau of accomplishment. They sing in tune more often than not, their sections blend neatly and their powerful sound never becomes strident. Word-projection and the consistent use of energy are their present areas of weakness.

The four soloists made up a strong, self-complementing quartet and handled Beethoven’s rangy and florid demands without strain--if without a complete spectrum of dynamics.

They were Maurita Phillips-Thornburgh, Debbie Cree, Paul Harms and Michel Warren Bell.