SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Brahms, Schubert, Cornelius, Bruckner: Collegium Vocale Gent, Accademia Chigiana Siena, I Solisti del Vento, Philippe Herreweghe (conductor), Alice Tully Hall, New York City, 2.11.2010 (BH)

Brahms: Warum ist das Licht gegeben, Op. 74, No. 1 (1877)

Schubert (arr. Verhaert): Andante con moto, from String Quartet in D minor, D. 810 (“Death and the Maiden”) (1824)

Cornelius: Requiem: “Seele, veregiss sie nicht” (1863, rev. 1870-72)

Brahms: Begräbnisgesang, Op. 13 (1858)

Bruckner: Mass in E minor (1866, rev. 1882)

This exquisite evening, beautifully conceived by Philippe Herreweghe, showed the combined talents of the vocal groups Collegium Vocale Gent and Accademia Chigiana Siena, coupled with the wind ensemble I Solisti del Vento, as part of Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival at Alice Tully Hall. A gorgeously textured Brahms motet, Warum ist das Licht gegeben (Why is light given to him), immediately filled the hall with a purity and presence that only the finest choruses can command. The singers’ warmth and precision, guided by the sure hand of Maestro Herreweghe, made an arresting opening to the program.

 

In the time-honored tradition of arranging the brief slow movement from Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” string quartet, the Belgian trumpeter and conductor Steven Verhaert (b. 1969) created a version for wind ensemble, which I Solisti del Vento delivered with grave assurance. The choral groups returned for Requiem “Seele, vergiss sie nicht” (“Soul, do not forget them”) by Peter Cornelius, whose text describes finding the deceased in the afterlife, in a ravishingly Wagnerian setting. The first half closed with Brahms’s Begräbnisgesang (“Funeral Song”), based on a poem by Michael Weisse (c. 1488-1534). Here the combined chorus and wind ensembles made a lush, powerful impact, in a piece intended, as Brahms wrote, “to be sung by the graveside.”

 

The evening’s second half was devoted to Bruckner’s Mass in E minor, a half-hour setting showing the composer’s typical luminosity in writing for choir, with winds added to help the sound carry should the work be performed outdoors. Here the musicians reached some kind of reverent pinnacle. The first movement “Kyrie” climaxes with three trombones, followed by a rousing “Gloria.” Gentle horn pulses mark the “Credo,” with the choirs’ women used to ethereal effect, climaxing in blazing rapture. A short, dramatic “Sanctus” is followed by a “Benedictus” notable for the florid arpeggios in the clarinet and oboe, leading to a concluding “Agnus Dei” of burning, almost physical intensity. At the conclusion, the magical spell was abruptly broken by a premature “bravo” from somewhere in the back of the hall. At first Herreweghe appeared annoyed, then shrugged and dropped his hands in a gesture that clearly telegraphed, “Oh well, nothing to be done about it now,” as the rest of the audience, clearly wanting to savor the moment, gradually increased its applause to a roar.

 

Fortunately the conductor was not irritated enough to deny an encore: Bruckner’s Ave Maria, one of the composer’s most simply conceived and heartfelt creations. Watching Herreweghe and these superb singers gently summon up radiant, glowing peacefulness, I doubt anyone in the hall was left unmoved.

 

Bruce Hodges