'Music From the British Isles' Hits Holiday Note

There is something truly magical about holiday choral music done well, and the Holden Choirs' concert last Saturday in Sanders was no exception. The Harvard Glee Club, Radcliffe Choral Society and Collegium Musicum joined forces to offer a beautiful and often brilliant, if surprisingly short, Christmas concert dedicated to music from the British Isles. The three groups performed separately first, followed by a joint Glee Club/RCS performance of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Mass in G Minor and concluding with all three groups singing Vaughan Williams' "God Bless the Master." Between each section, conductors Jameson Marvin and Constance DeFotis invited the audience to stand and sing Christmas carols with the choirs. It was difficult for those in the audience to refrain from applauding until the very end of the concert, despite the explicit instruction on the programs.

From the moment that pianist Suzanne MacAllister stepped on stage and began to play "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly," the Radcliffe Choral Society impressed with its delivery and precision. In Benjamin Britten's "Missa Brevis in D," the women, under the direction of Marvin, achieved a beautiful blend of harmonies and melodic progressions. It is a difficult piece, but the group pulled it off with wonderful mastery--particularly in the "Sanctus," with its unusual layering of voices progressing up a scale. Alto soloist Kate Kraft acquitted herself well in this movement.

The Harvard Glee Club followed, and as always, their energy and stage presence had an immediate, inspiring effect on the audience. In Harvard math professor Noam Elkie's arrangement of "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," the Glee Club delivered some fabulous consonants--a point that Marvin clearly, and successfully, labors on with his choirs. Continuing on a high note, the warm, resounding harmonies of "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming," thrilled the ear. Finally, in the Thomas Tallis "Sanctus" from the "Mass for Four Voices," the group sang with such conviction and enthusiasm that one could imagine Tallis wishing his Renaissance male choirs to sound just like this.

After the communal carol "O Come, All Ye Faithful," associate conductor Constance DeFotis led the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum in the "Hymn to St. Cecilia" by Benjamin Britten. This piece takes its lyrics from a W.H. Auden poem of the same title; and like the poem, the music contains surprises and irregularities, yet maintains a lyric quality. True to the refrain, "Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions/ To all musicians, appear and inspire:/ Translated Daughter, come down and startle/ Composing mortals with immortal fire," it seemed that St. Cecilia had indeed come down to bless this performance, for the Collegium Musicum performed the work brilliantly. They achieved an excellent blending of voice parts: the sopranos in particular soared beautifully over the rest, with soprano soloist Tonia D'Amelio '00 a particular standout. DeFotis drew an incredible dynamic range from the group, especially impressive in the piannissimo sections.

Following the Collegium's performance, the Radcliffe Choral Society and the Harvard Glee Club joined for the Vaughan Williams Mass. The "Kyrie" initially sounded thin and tentative, lacking in emotion or conviction. However, the combined choirs suddenly burst out in their full glory in the "Gloria," with the rich, warm sound that distinguishes the Holden choirs. Likewise, the "Agnus Dei" was developed beautifully both melodically and harmonically. It was particularly impressive that the two groups, which do not rehearse together on a regular basis, were able to blend so well. In the same vein, it is a tribute to the excellence of both groups that the male voices did not overshadow the women's as one might have feared, though the Glee Club out-numbers the Radcliffe Choral Society.

For the finale, all three Holden choirs joined to sing the traditional English carol "God Bless the Master", arranged by Vaughan Williams. This piece exudes a cheery, positively glowing holiday spirit as it successively blesses different members of the household, ending with: "The Lord increase you day by day, and send you more and more." Unfortunately, many of the singers had their noses buried in their music throughout the performance, which somewhat detracted from the message. Nonetheless, the warmth with which it was sung added to the general feeling of joy among the singers, reached out to the listeners. And at last, after a joint audience/choir rendition of the old favorite, "Silent Night," the audience gave the singers and conductors the ovation they deserved for a superb concert and a lovely way to begin the holiday season.