MUSIC : Pacific Chorale Gives Voice to Unaccompanied Program

He acknowledges that putting on an a cappella concert can be “a very risky thing to do,” but Pacific Chorale music director John Alexander says that even so, he can’t resist programming such works.

“The literature is so wonderful,” he says. “Besides, last year, our a cappella program turned out to be our subscribers’ favorite program.”

He’s hoping lightning will strike twice when the chorale sings its unaccompanied “Voices Past and Present” program Saturday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.

The problem is that “many people think a cappella programs are dull because there are not enough musical colors,” he says.

“Choral music does not lend itself to the same versatility that listeners get in orchestral music, with differences in strings, winds, brass and percussion,” he concedes. “However, I think you can create tremendous differences in colors by the right programming.”

Usually, he says, a cappella programs deal with “two or three musical styles and that’s it. What I’ve done is use a lot of different styles, and within those differences, get as much variety from the choir as you can get from an orchestral concert.

“Some might call it a potpourri approach. I think it works.”

The program will follow “an international format,” with music from England, Russia, Germany, France and America.

The British will be represented by works composed by Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten. “The English really know how to write choral music like nobody else does, because they have so many fine choirs,” Alexander says.

Russian composers on the program will be Sergei Rachmaninoff and Pavel Chesnokov. “In Russian music, the bass production, alto production and vowel production are done in a completely different way than in English music. So it’s similar to the differences in hearing strings play and woodwinds play.”

German composers will be Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. The French will be Claude Debussy and Maurice Durufle.

The American contingent will consist of North Dakotans Rene Clausen and Edwin Fissinger.

“The use of many different styles keeps the choral concert alive and interesting to the listener,” Alexander stresses. “Without that diversity, choral concerts can be very boring. I know an a cappella program is much more difficult to market. But once the people are there, they love it.”

What: John Alexander conducts the Pacific Chorale in an a cappella program.

When: Saturday, March 28, at 8 p.m.

Where: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

Whereabouts: San Diego (405) Freeway to Bristol Street exit. North to Town Center Drive. (Center is one block east of South Coast Plaza.)

Wherewithal: $15 to $40.

Where to Call: (714) 252-1234.