MUSIC REVIEW : Boys Choir in a Mature Performance

Cloaked in serious demeanors that belied the youthful impishness one might expect, the Moscow Boys Choir upheld mature standards of discipline and musicality Friday during its Orange Coast College performance.

The 42-member chorus--27 boys, mostly 10 to 12 years old, balanced by 15 tenors and basses from 18 to 25--is in the midst of a grueling two-month U.S. tour, during which the group will pack in 55 concerts while traversing Alaska and the continental United States before heading to Europe.

But under the strict guidance of Ninel Kamburg)--choir director since 1966--and with the impressive backing of pianist Irina Krivchenko, the ensemble seemed unfazed by its demanding schedule.

In a culturally diplomatic program, Kamburg drew an impeccable, blended tone from her group, balancing the pure reediness of boys’ voices with the weighty fullness of men’s for a breath-taking effect.

The first half consisted of Romantic Russian secular and liturgical works, representing some composers rarely heard in the West, including Sergei Taneyev and Stepan Degtyariov--as well as other very familiar names: Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, , Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov.

Identifying the works, however, was not easy. A printed program listed 23 possibilities from which Kamburg was ostensibly to choose. Unfortunately, they were all sung in Russian, no text was provided and no titles were announced. Seventeen pieces did come from this roster, though not always in the expected order, while four--especially Glinka’ s busy patter song, “Poputnaya,” which preceded intermission--came as pleasant surprises.

The second half, billed as Act II, was a little less confusing because, while still a hodgepodge of selections, at least they were better-known selections. Baroque and Classical liturgical and quasi-liturgical pieces (all in pristinely enunciated Latin, except for a robust, Russian-texted rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from “Messiah”), mixed with Russian folk songs and the closing “America, the Beautiful.”

Helping the performance was the recent overhaul of the school’s Robert B. Moore Theatre, accomplished under the guidance of Newport Beach architect Rush Hill.

The revamp, which emphasizes geometric repetition in a style reminiscent of a Mondrian painting, provided a mildly reverberant acoustic that clearly projected the ensemble’s remarkable range of dynamic nuance and sensitivity, impressive breath control and seamless legato.

The Russian pieces, mostly a cappella, gave the choir ample opportunity to display these assets. Rachmaninoff’s vocalise, “A Quiet Melody,” emerged with particular organ-like purity, amid which Alexsey Kasatkin and Andrey Frolov united for an ethereal soprano solo.

The boys brought infectious spirit, and the first apparently relaxed smiles of the evening, to their two encores, both arrangements of Russian folk songs--”Kalinka” and “Sweepers.”