O.C. Music Reviews : Master Chorale’s B-Minor Mass--A Mixed Blessing

Of all the works in the modern canon of sacred choral music, it is Bach’s B-minor Mass that presents virtually insurmountable challenges and difficulties to the contemporary choir.

This two-hour monument to High Baroque counterpoint, a grand summation of antique polyphony and religious devotion, was written for smaller forces than most modern performances provide, and gains little with the addition of numbers to the choir and orchestra. Its big moments are complexly textured moments, not concerted, declarative statements. In the B-minor Mass, almost anything a big choir can do, a smaller choir can do better.

At 165 strong, as it was Sunday night, the Master Chorale of Orange County far exceeds in number the choirs in every day use in Bach’s day. It makes a sound which, at bottom, is at odds with such tightly woven linearity as, for example, the five-part fugue of Bach’s opening Kyrie.

In leading the Master Chorale at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, then, William Hall had a task that largely was one of adjustment, of fitting intricate music to inflated forces--a task he dispatched with sensitivity and intellect, if not entirely without mixed results.

His general modus operandi was to keep textures light and transparent. He coaxed gentleness from his orchestra, never allowing its sounds to challenge the predominance of the choral utterances.

He clearly traced each fugal entry in the choir with bright accents and provided rhythmic point by enforcing clear pronunciation. He sought a careful gradation of dynamics, out of which linear focus survived, even if it didn’t always thrive. He opted for easygoing tempos which kept clutter to a minimum.

It was a stately, soft-colored, genteel performance. What it lacked was brilliance and detailed character. The orchestra seemed relegated to mild-mannered support of the choir--the gleaming piccolo trumpets burbling meekly in the background, the celebratory timpani thudding complacently. The characterful instrumentations that aptly capture the spirit of the arias gave way to uncontested focus on the solo singers.

And at times, one missed the full-throated vigor, rhythmic dash and leanness that a smaller choir could bring to the big fugues.

Soprano Patricia Prunty offered resonant, fluid accounts of her solo numbers, and combined in richly blended duets with both mezzo Catherine Stoltz and tenor John Nuzzo.

Nuzzo provided lyric grace in the Benedictus, and Stoltz sang clearly and solidly throughout. But one missed the darker, creamier color required in the contralto solos that she additionally was assigned. Bass Douglas Lawrence supplied weighty and unclouded vocals, doubled heartily by hornist John Reynolds in the Quoniam tu solus sanctus.

The Master Chorale sang with balanced and generally tidy ensemble, an easily flowing rhythmic inflection, attentive dynamics and well gauged fortes. Despite its size, it avoided lumbering, and it offered conviction throughout. Ladd Thomas provided discreet harpsichord and chamber organ continuo support.