Music Reviews : L.A. Master Chorale in a Bold Opener

Paul Salamunovich and the Los Angeles Master Chorale threw away the book--or rewrote it--with their “Reflections of Freedom” concert Saturday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. It was hard to be sure just how that title applied to all the music on the program, but reflexively--as in freedom from hackneyed repertory and humdrum performance--it fit perfectly.

Spanning roughly a century of tumultuous Eastern European history, the opening program of the choir’s 29th season made a bold State of the Chorale address and an evening of exciting music-making.

At the end of the agenda was the “Prague Te Deum 1989” by Czech composer Petr Eben. Composed during the 1990 New Year holiday as “an act of thanksgiving for all that had happened,” the nine-minute piece is filled with a fierce joy.

It uses the traditional Gregorian tune as an audible frame, layered with inventive countermelodies. It is resourcefully scored, both for the voices and the accompanying ensemble of brass, organ and percussion.

Salamunovich and his singers projected a sense of radiantly solemn dance in the elastic lines, and stunning clarity of text.

The chronologically ordered program began with Sergei Taneyev’s “John of Damascus,” dedicated--as is the whole season--to Roger Wagner, the Master Chorale’s founder, who died last month. A choral cantata of late but undecayed Romanticism, it is sincerely felt and quite flattering to voices.

Or at least to voices as disciplined as these. Numbering 116 in the current program book, the chorus produced a remarkably flexible sound, capable of both fragility and heft. Balances are preserved and the text served under stress as well as in repose.

Three of the singers stepped forward for the solo roles that dominate Szymanowski’s unduly neglected Stabat Mater. Lesley Leighton displayed a cool, clear soprano with a gloriously ringing top and a careful approach to phrasing. Now if only she hadn’t overshot the final chord. . . .

Mezzo Michelle Fournier supplied affecting point and rich vocalism in her assignments, and baritone James Drollinger delivered the least grateful of the solo work with clarion fervor.

Szymanowski’s piquant, Stravinskyan scoring offered ample opportunity for the Sinfonia Orchestra to prove its accomplishments, which it did effectively.

The quirky, uneven Missa Brevis composed at the close of World War II by Kodaly completed the program. Salamunovich lead a performance somewhat distracted in moments of the busy “Gloria” and “Credo” but elsewhere firmly focused and decisively executed.