As the second live-performance program since the lifting of pandemic restrictions, the annual Festival of Carols from the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir shared music of rejoicing, music that has highlighted Christmas celebrations for centuries, and modern contributions to the Christmas festival.
At the same time, the Choir honoured its more recent tradition of challenging us, demanding that we rethink these annual festivities, and look deeper into the meaning and significance of the traditional story of Christ's birth.
Within the restrictions of an 80-minute programme with no intermission, the Choir's Music Director, Jean-Sébastien Vallée, presented a diverse repertoire more than capable of achieving all of these ends. The only "casualty" was the necessary elimination of the traditional Christmas-carol singalong portion of the evening (but see below).
Right there is a good place to consider the significance of the event. Carol singing has spread to multiple regions of the world, and multiple languages, and the music of carols has grown into a rich blend, embracing the gamut from sophisticated art music to simple folk-song. Always, though, the tradition of mass song, of music in which all can join and raise their voices, has been at the heart of carols.
It is just this tradition of mass song and celebration which was one of the most-missed absentees during the Christmas season last year. The mere fact that this year's concert similarly has had to set it aside says much about the need, at Christmas, for us to renew our consideration for the needs and well-being of others, especially of those less fortunate than ourselves. This theme emerged out of several of the selections on the programme.
The greatest delight of the evening was a complete performance of the ravishingly beautiful Lauda per la Natività del Signore by Ottorino Respighi. Knowing Respighi's reputation as a master colourist of the orchestra, one might expect a majestic and powerful musical experience. But the Lauda is a polar opposite to the composer's massive tone poems, using only a piano and a sextet of wind instruments -- two flutes, oboe, English horn, and two bassoons -- to support the choir and three soloists. The result has a lyrical flow, delicacy, restraint, and lightness of touch that place it in a world all its own. And it definitely deserves much wider circulation!
The soloists drawn from the choir made a fine contribution, and I think were far better suited to the work than star soloists would have been. Right from the opening phrase, soprano Lesley Emma Bouza portrayed the angel with a voice that floated freely up and down through Respighi's dance-like 6/8 rhythmic patterns. Tenor Nicholas Nicolaidis as the shepherd brought a forthright strength to his contribution. The maternal warmth of Rebecca Claborn's mezzo-soprano voice proved ideal for the Virgin. Whether as shepherds, or as angels praising God, the choir captured the essential quality of power married with restraint, the voices soaring through the beautiful vocal lines.
The all-important wind parts, whose role is to set and sustain the pastoral quality of the piece, were handled with poise and charm by the gifted musicians of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (TSYO).
The Lauda was led with an ideal flexibility of tempo by conductor Simon Rivard, the Associate Conductor of the Choir and Conductor of the TSYO.
This jewel in the Christmas crown was set amidst a diverse assortment of other works, all conducted by the Choir's Music Director Jean-Sébastien Vallée. Some of these pieces were performed unaccompanied, some with organ, piano, and/or brass and percussion support. Some pieces were sung by the full choir, some by the 20-voice professional core group. Each one played a role in building on the picture of Christmas as it was, as we would like to remember it, and as it could be if we have the will to make our world a better, more humane place.
A few of my favourites among these numerous selections would certainly have to include Zoltán Kodály's tonally fluid setting of the ancient plainsong Veni Emmanuel. Also high in my list of favourites comes the lyrically beautiful but emotionally challenging Christus natus est by Rosephanye Powell, set to a poem by Countee Cullen which draws a comparison between the poverty of the stable and the poverty of the world in which we live, and Richard Causton's thorny but gripping The Flight. The poem here, by George Szirtes, draws the comparison even more pointedly and painfully. The choir's performance of this work, with its challenging cross-rhythms and interjections, was both acute and on target.
Among the other arrangements of more traditional Christmas song, I was entranced by the free flow of sound between the different sections of the choir in Andrew Balfour's lovely arrangement of I Wonder As I Wander, an old favourite which developed unexpected aptness when performed in close proximity to the works of Powell and Causton.
On the other hand, the jazzy cross-rhythms and percussion riffs in Paul Halley's arrangement of Il est né le divin enfant ended up muddying the music and concealing the traditional tune as often as supporting it. This piece might perhaps have been better served with a smaller group of singers in a much less resonant acoustic (Yorkminster Park Baptist Church is nothing if not resonant!). This piece, incidentally, comes across much more clearly in the livestream recording, thanks to the use of multiple microphones across the widespread space used by the musicians.
Also in a class of its own was Hyo-Won Woo's setting of the ancient Latin poem O Magnum Mysterium, a piece which married modern harmonies with austere lyricism to create an overall air of mystery entirely in accordance with the text.
Organist Matthew Larkin followed the Lauda per la Natività del Signore with an imaginative organ improvisation that led us from Respighi's sound world via a powerful climax to the well-loved O Come All Ye Faithful, the next work on the programme.
The concert wound up with a splendid Festival First Noel, arranged by Dan Forest. Here, the full choir, organ, brass, and percussion united in the grandest sound of the evening. And the audience were also invited to join in -- but since health regulations wouldn't permit of singing along, we were invited by Jean-Sébastien Vallée to hum along! Hum along we did, and I'm sure I'm not the only person whose eyes may have gotten a little wet at this proof of our refusal to let the pandemic grind us down!
This wonderful Christmas concert was also live-streamed. For those who may have missed it, the live stream recording (and the complete concert programme, with sung texts and notes) can still be accessed via the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir's website until December 26, and I would urge one and all to take full advantage!
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