Dr. MacKenzie, Mastersingers by the Sea and NBSO Chamber Players Give 'Superb Performance'

The following review was written by Susan Pennington,  music director at St. Anthony's Church and teacher of art appreciation at the Cape Cod Conservatory, and appeared in the March 9th Falmouth Enterprise.

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David MacKenzie, the Mastersingers by the Sea, and the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra (which he also conducts) Chamber Players continue to amaze its large following with unique, mostly contemporary pieces:  Intimate Music for Intimate Spaces, as the program describes, focusing on “Mysteries of Love”.

            “The Golden Harp” by Vermont composer Gwyneth Walker, for singers and string quartet (no harp) was truly gorgeous writing.  The poetry of Rabindranath Tagore is set to music that weaves the words into patterns of beautiful phrases that were effortlessly sung by the singers; this must have happened only after much diligent practice, as the harmonies are very modern and sometimes verging on lovely near-dissonances. 

There are floating and soaring images:  Then thy words will take wing in songs from every one of my birds’ nests, and thy melodies will break forth in flowers in all my forest groves. The lines were embellished by rippling cascades in the string quartet.  “Mother, I shall weave a chain of pearls” was hauntingly evocative, with “Mine will hang upon thy breast, Mother,” with “Mother” murmured in trailing repetitive phrases, quietly, ending with an awed silence from the audience.  Brian Gilman, Baritone, and Margaret Ruta, Soprano, had lovely solos in the work.  The performance was characterized by warmth, engagement, charm, passion, and life.  Poems were read between the movements, but these were not totally audible. 

            “Sleep” by Eric Whitacre was written to Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” but the Frost Estate had decided to deny access to any use of the poem (It will become public domain in 2038).  A friend and poet, Charles Anthony Silvestri, wrote different words to the same meter.  It opens:  The evening hangs beneath the moon, (Whose woods these are I think I know).  The music held surprising sonorities--the excitement in the singers’ faces was evident, and most had total command of the words and music.

            Claudio Monteverdi’s “Magnificat” was written for 2 (small) choirs, so the singers divided and stood behind the sections of the orchestra.  “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,” Mary’s words after the Annunciation

(Luke 1: 46-55) conveyed the awesome feeling of the pronouncement.  “Fecit potentiam in brachio suo (The arm of the Lord is strong)” was deployed contrapuntally from one choir to the other and ended with a lyrical: God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich empty away.  Here the singers looked transcendent and moved by the  majestic words they conveyed.

The Chamber Players’ “Fuga Criolla” by Juan Bautista Plaza, a Venezuelan composer, is based on the national dance, the Joropo—a swirling, waltz-like dance melody that makes use of cross-rhythms between 3/4 and 6/8 meters (according to Dr. MacKenzie’s program notes and talk before the concert—he had each side of the audience clap one of the rhythms to show the interaction).  The performance was energetic, precise and evoked the fervor of folk dancing.

Ivan Hrusovsky’s “Rytmus” ended the program with a Slovakian flourish:  Hail Eve, Source of Love, You are the queen of Loveliness.  There were very few extraneous notes besides these syllables—a rapid, rhythmic dispersal of the text.

The program opened with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, “String Sonata No. 6”.  A contemporary of Franz Josef Haydn, he taught Beethoven counterpoint and wrote a treatise on composition, 1790.  The Sonata had strong fugal passages but was not played with the usual clarity we have come to expect from the NBSOCP though this was rectified in the following pieces.

It is so fortunate that we are able to hear this music, fresh to our ears, and St. Barnabas Church is a perfect acoustical and embracing setting; I attended Saturday evening; the program was repeated Sunday afternoon.  An Aspect of Love, which increases when working together on a worthy project, was evident in the respect that flowed back and forth between the singers, players and Dr. MacKenzie, and this was reflected in the superb performance.

The next concerts are Saturday, May 1, 8 PM, and Sunday, May 2, 3 PM: O Sing Unto The Lord! Both are at St. Barnabas—music of Libby Larsen, Carlyle Sharp, J.S. Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, and George Frideric Handel.