Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir @ Troy Music Hall<\/p>\n
TROY \u2014 The Troy Chromatics presented an afternoon of elegance and restraint with the concert by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra on Sunday at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.\u00a0 There were only two composers on the bill, J.S. Bach in the first half and Arvo Part after intermission.\u00a0 Conductor Tonu Kaljuste\u2019s interpretations highlighted their similarities, allowing their pieces to have a dialogue across some 300 years of musical time.<\/p>\n
Each composer was first introduced with an orchestra piece.\u00a0 Three selections from Bach\u2019s Art of the Fugue were played at a moderate tempo and dynamic.\u00a0 Though a feast of counterpoint, the effect was something like watching a slow moving sculpture.<\/p>\n
Kaljuste\u2019s manner added to the effect.\u00a0 He\u2019s not a busy conductor but he\u2019s a solid and reliable one.\u00a0 His left hand had lots of quirky action, including big circular crescendos and oddly styled cues that taken together drew out polished and cohesive performances.<\/p>\n
In Bach\u2019s Cantata \u201cBreak Bread with the Hungry\u201d BWV 39, the chorus had a glorious sound, full bodied but never forced.\u00a0 It was one of those moments when you remember what a great hall we have.\u00a0 The Cantata included two recitatives and three short arias, each delivered with poise by soloists drawn from the chorus.\u00a0 The texts, sung in German, were all about Christian charity.\u00a0 If such admonitions were always served up so beautifully, we\u2019d be living in a better world.<\/p>\n
Estonian composer Arvo Part, now 83 years old, came to international attention about 30 years ago for his reverent take on minimalism.\u00a0 His \u201cCantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten\u201d (1977) is a five-minute enveloping essay for strings.\u00a0 As in the Bach that began the afternoon, there\u2019s lots going on beneath the surface, but the effect was a shimmering mass.<\/p>\n
His Salve Regina (2001) brought to mind early music, thanks to the performance in which the choir sang with minimal vibrato.\u00a0 The choir had no need to emote.\u00a0 The music itself provided the imploring sentiment.\u00a0 Religious ardor continued in \u201cAdam\u2019s Lament\u201d (2009).\u00a0 Both of these sacred works were more varied and less repetitive than the minimalist genre suggests.\u00a0 The expressive bandwidth, though, remained constrained.<\/p>\n
An electronic organ was part of the accompaniment in the Bach.\u00a0 In the Salve Regina, it played a part intended for celesta and in the Cantus it provided the opening bell tones.\u00a0 A delicate two-minute tease of an encore was an Estonian lullaby arranged by Part.<\/p>\n
One more happy note:\u00a0 the crowd was noticeably larger than usual with the Music Hall more than half full.<\/p>\n