MUSIC REVIEW : Master Chorale Closes Season With Trio of Intriguing Works

Paul Salamunovich closed the 31st season of the Los Angeles Master Chorale with a West Coast premiere, a little-known ode and a familiar piece of rhetorical overkill Sunday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

The premiere was Libby Larsen’s “Seven Ghosts,” commissioned by the Chorale, Musica Sacra and Plymouth Music Minnesota. It was followed by Carl Nielsen’s “Hymnus Amoris” and Walton’s “Belshazzar’s Feast.”

Despite the title, there are only five sections in Larsen’s new work. But since two of the texts are addressed by one person to another--poet Phillis Wheatley to George Washington, and Swedish nightingale Jenny Lind to author Harriet Beecher Stowe--the numbers work out right.

The sections present defining moments in Americana. Wheatley, a freed slave, salutes Washington and Columbia the Gem of the Ocean. Lind foretells the impact “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” will have. Clyde William Tombaugh discovers the planet Pluto, Charles Lindbergh imagines flying, Louis Armstrong returns from a European tour to find jazz and swing sweeping America.

Larsen adjusts the style wittily to fit each text, incorporating period-type music or skillful word painting. Soprano Lesley Leighton sang Lind’s letter with lyric heft. James Drollinger narrated Armstrong’s letter with zest. Salamunovich oversaw the proceedings tellingly.

Nielsen’s “Hymnus Amoris” meandered through various aspects and concepts of love, from pastoral intimacy through personal disappointment to heavenly visions. The St. Charles Borromeo women’s choir, positioned in the first balcony, floated light flexible lines. The chorale sang with well-nourished tone.

Leighton gave dramatic urgency to her poignant solo. Tenor Greg Fedderly suavely sang his modest solo duties.

Salamunovich closed the program with a well-controlled account of “Belshazzar’s Feast,” lingering on the haunting chorus of the captive Jews and on their final triumphant chorus. Still, one would have liked more delirium and incisive rhythms in the bacchanal.

Drollinger made a strong but not commanding baritone soloist. The chorus sang with focus and richness. The Sinfonia Orchestra played with alert precision.

Texts for all three works were projected above the stage.