Angelorum Bach Artists Make a Focused, Spirited Debut

The Bach year--the 250th anniversary of his death--has generated some notable celebrations. The Chamber Music in Historic Sites concert Sunday afternoon at First Congregational Church of Long Beach may not have been among the first tier in terms of immediate accomplishment, but it offered the great promise of a spirited and focused new ensemble. The locally based Angelorum Bach Artists, directed by Edward Murray, made its debut with an intelligently conceived and deftly executed program.

This group is devoted to Joshua Rifkin’s proposition, now a generation old but still bracingly controversial, that Bach’s chorus and orchestra consisted basically of soloists, one performer to a part. As supporting evidence, Murray’s interpretation of the cantatas “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland,” “Das neugeborne Kindelein” and “Ich freue mich in dir” would have to be considered inconclusive.

Textures and balances of the opening choruses were hardly as pristine as the concept anticipates, the singers often swamped by the instrumentalists and blending into a vocal haze. But although polyphonically undistinctive, these performances had a nimble character and a real sense of momentum of sculptured time.

In the arias and recitatives, soprano Ellen Hargis sang with powerful purity and point, and launched the solo cantata “Susser Trost, mein Jesus kommt” with radiant joy. Countertenor Dana Marsh made graceful, remarkably mellow contributions; tenor Philip Cave sounded stylish but strained; and baritone James Weaver proved a bland but steady presence.

The 11-piece orchestra, led by Murray from a small organ and by ever-dazzling concertmaster Elizabeth Blumenstock, played with expressive energy. The contextually odd doubling of the bass line, quite capably by cellist William Skeen and violone player Denise Briese, was one of those self-induced inconsistencies of the operating theory here. Kim Peneda’s light and lovely flute obbligato in “Susser Trost” headed the impressive woodwind elements.

Murray interspersed among the cantatas seasonally appropriate solos on the church’s fine Moller organ. There were some curious hesitancies in the middle movements of the Pastorale, BWV 590, but two settings of “In dulci jubilo” sparkled gaily, and the Magnificat fugue, BWV 733, had stately, conservatively registered glory.