MUSIC REVIEWS : Cansino’s I Cantori: Life, Death and Bach

Edward Cansino’s I Cantori concluded their three-concert Occidental College season Saturday night, mixing contemporary music by Daniel Kessner and Greg Fish with music by Bach and beyond.

After the men opened with the resonant flourishes of Perotin’s “Sederunt principes,” the entire ensemble sang Cal State Northridge professor Kessner’s “Ritual Music” (1947) with impressive conviction and skill.

Described by Cansino as a “contemporary ritual of life and death,” the 18-minute work used three contemplative texts, including Joseph Auslander’s “Interview With Lazarus,” as the basis for a series of profound, if conservative, musical ideas in which overlapping vocal lines, a wonderfully wide-ranging soprano solo, parallel-universe harmonies and the superb acoustics of Thorne Hall all played major roles.

The first half ended with Cristobal de Morales’ “Missa pro Defunctis,” in which the group’s talent for soaring purity served the antique aesthetics well.

The second half was dominated by the first complete performance of the 45-year-old Fish’s “Oratorio for a New World” (1981). Scored for singers, two percussionists (Amy Knoles and Timm Boatman) and interactive computer, and using texts about imperial power, slave auctions and the Brahmin banalities of former President George Bush, the 20-minute work fashions a powerful if occasionally kitschy musical statement about the ravages of authority.

The concert ended with a beautifully shaped performance of Bach’s Cantata No. 79, expertly played by the chorus and small orchestra but indifferently sung by soloists Diane Thomas, Michelle Fournier and Norman Goss, and too often distorted by an overly enthusiastic continuo cello.