Music Reviews : ‘Glorias!’ Diverge in Royce Hall Reading

John Alexander had a potentially interesting concept up his sleeve for the Valley Master Chorale, the “Angeles Symphony” and the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus in the unaccustomed (for them) surroundings of Royce Hall.

It was a program called “Gloria! Gloria!,” one that could have given us a wide, colorful mini-survey of diverse settings of that portion of the Latin Mass. But Alexander didn’t carry it far enough, instead throwing in all kinds of extraneous detours.

The result Saturday night was a jerry-built agenda that sporadically made room for only two Glorias and a teasing fragment of a third. There was the brief “Gloria in excelsis Deo” opening from Vivaldi’s Gloria in D, RV 589 (why not do the whole thing?), the complete Gloria from Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” and a rarely heard Gloria from Puccini’s youthful “Messa di Gloria.”

To these, the Chorale applied a generalized, cohesive yet puffy cotton ball of sound where barely a word could be understood. The Beethoven simply lacked definition and point; the result was a bland, murky mixture of voices, instruments and a reedy solo quartet (Laurel James, soprano; Lyria Pegram, mezzo-soprano; Beau Palmer, tenor; Ralph Cato, baritone).

The Puccini work, however, turned out to be an interesting 18-minute melange of singsong themes, patches of imitation Verdi, a solo spot for Palmer’s more-open middle range, and a nicely turned choral fugue.

Instead of exploring the Gloria idea further, everyone reverted to the usual season’s greetings elsewhere. There was a sing-along on “O Come All Ye Faithful,” a reverent medley of carols (“The Many Moods of Christmas:” Suite Four) containing yet another sing-along, the predictable encores of “Hallelujah” Chorus and “Silent Night.” Even the orchestra got into the act on its own with a dutiful opening movement of “Winter” from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” and a cautious Trepak from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker.”

In addition, the Children’s Chorus was given two pleasing showcases, handling even the sophisticated harmonies and tricky rhythms of John Rutter’s “Dancing Days” with well-rehearsed ease. Indeed, the kids could have taught the Chorale a thing or two about clear enunciation.