The Hamptons Choral Society’s Spring Concert
aline reynolds :: The Hamptons’ Music Scene
The Hamptons Choral Society celebrated its 62nd anniversary in grand style on Sunday, March 9th with its spring concert at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church (at 120 Main Street), regaling a lively, appreciative audience with an eclectic program carefully chosen by guest conductor Walter Klauss.
The chorus, soloists, and instrumentalists performed George Handel’s “I Will Magnify Thee,” an early 18th-century baroque anthem; Charles Ives’s four early-20th-century choral songs (“Berceuse,” “Nature’s Way,” “There Is a Lane” and “The Side Show”); Johann Sebastian’s Bach’s early-18th-century cantata “Schlage doch, gewünschte Stunde”; Gustav Holst’s early-20th-century choral hymns (“Battle Hymn,” “To the Unknown God and Funeral Hymn”) from the Rig-Veda; and, closing the program, Claudio Monteverdi’s 17th-century choral work, Laetatus Sum. For the day, principal Hamptons Choral Society conductor Mark Mangini handed the baton over to guest conductor Walter Klauss, who chose alto singer Barbara Fusco and baritone singer Adam Alexander as the featured soloists of Sunday’s concert.
When asked about the non-chronological, assorted selection of pieces, Mr. Klauss described his objective of “bring[ing] music that is not heard that often to the public, and creating a diverse, flexible program that the [choral] group could achieve.” Audience member Shel Desatnick, a retired Manhattan card-game instructor and a local Hamptons resident for six years, commented positively on the concert’s repertoire and on the chorus’s delivery of it: “I thought this concert was slightly better than last spring’s, in that it was even more musical sounding,” adding that the chorus and instrumentalists “stretched in performing a challenging program, and came through [with flying colors].”
Though the performance as a whole seemed to meet the audience’s expectations, certain choral and instrumental sections of all four pieces were marginally out of sync or monotone-sounding. For example, the chorus sounded partially disjointed towards the second movement of Handel’s anthem (“O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness”) and during Holst’s second hymn, “To the Unknown God,” producing a fragmented sound that came off as jarring. The first Ives song performed named “Berceuse,” and Holst’s “Funeral Hymn” dragged a bit sonically. The bass singers, in particular, could have sung their passages with more energy and lyricism throughout this hymn. The organ and piano playing on the part of Thomas Bohlert, musical director of the church, was at times disappointing—in particular, during “Berceuse” and “Funeral Hymn,” in which Bohlert did not exhibit sufficient range of dynamics nor technical evenness during the arpeggios, respectively. Finally, in Ives’s fast-paced, jolly song, “The Side Show,” the chorus sang the melodies and harmonies in surprisingly somber fashion.
Nevertheless, the majority of Sunday afternoon’s performance was quite up to par. For the most part, Walter Klauss succeeded in fulfilling his aim of getting the choral members to produce a cohesive sound. In his words, “the principal aim [of a chorus] is always to form one instrument. I worked with these choral members on developing that proper [unified] sound [and on] shap[ing] lines and phrases,” adding that he took pleasure in witnessing “the making of music out of all those black dots on the paper, which are meaningless until you know what to do with them!”
Mr. Alexander and Ms. Fusco, in particular, sang their solo passages with acute lyricism and elegance, so that the phrases moved one and rang in one’s ears throughout the day. While Mr. Alexander’s baritone solo section in Handel’s “Righteousness and Equity” was brilliantly sung, Ms. Fusco’s final challenging alto solo in Monteverdi’s Laetatus Sum, which consisted in rapid vocal passagework, was especially poignant. The two soloists’ voices blended seamlessly during their duets in Handel’s “O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” and “My mouth shall speak the praise.” The only notable lapse in the soloists’ performances was towards the beginning of Ms. Fusco’s solo in Monteverdi’s Laetatus Sum, which sounded out of sync with the organ’s first few notes. In this case, both musicians could be held equally accountable for the faux pas.
The chorus as a whole was equally impressive throughout much of the concert. The “Amens” in the final movement of Handel’s anthem (“My mouth shall speak the praise”) were sung very lyrically, and the singers ended the anthem in such perfect unison that one couldn’t distinguish one voice from the other. The canonic passages of this anthem were equally well-performed, as they were sung gracefully, fluidly and on time. Maintaining an ideal balance of vibrato and non-vibrato, the instrumentalists consistently executed dazzling melodic and harmonic phrases that pertained to a high-quality sonic caliber. The Bach Cantata’s instrumental introduction was especially evocative and vibrant.
Alto vocalist Barbara Fusco fondly remembers making a life-altering choice as a child attending the junior choir over her sister’s preference of joining a Brownies group, thereby initiating a career in classical singing. Performing for only the second time with the Hamptons Choral Society as alto soloist, Ms. Fusco had only laudatory words for the East End group. “They have a lot of passion, and work very hard. It’s wonderful to be able to sing with people that feel that way about music.”
As for Mr. Alexander, the baritone singer is a master’s graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and currently a member of the New York Choral Artists, enabling him to participate in various Philharmonic performances at Avery Fisher Hall. Alexander described the rush of adrenaline while performing alongside renowned vocalists such as Barbara Bazell and Robert Shaw, calling them “incomparable” experiences. As a debut soloist at Sunday afternoon’s concert with the Hamptons Choral Society, Adam Alexander especially appreciated Mr. Klauss’s choice of repertoire, adding that “the chorus was able to evoke different sounds for each piece, which is the mark of a very good group.”
The soloists also commented on the intimate dynamic between the performers and audience members enhanced by the rural church setting. “You truly feel a lively audience’s energy,” said Fusco, “which is why it’s important to be able to communicate with them and tell your story [through music].” Despite the warm ambience, however, Mr. Alexander admitted to experiencing a bit of stage fright in such a small venue as the East Hampton Presbyterian Church. Unlike in Avery Fisher, he explained, where most of what is not on stage blends together in the darkness, “you can see the whites of the [audiences’] eyes in more intimate venues,” which can be daunting.
The Hamptons Choral Society’s upcoming 2008 performance, its summer concert, will take place on Sunday, July 13th. Under the lead of prominent guest conductor Gilbert Kaplan and chief conductor Mark Mangini, the chorus will be performing Gustav Mahler’s “Resurrection Chorale” from Symphony no. 2 in addition to J.S. Bach’s Cantata BWV 11 (“Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen”) and Johannes Brahms’s “Alto Rhapsody.”
For more information, visit the Hampton Choral Society’s website at www.choralhamptons.org. You can also hear Ms. Fusco and Mr. Alexander perform live on Sundays during All Souls Unitarian Church’s weekly Sunday morning services (located on 1157 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan) at 10 and 11:15 a.m.
Aline Reynolds is a magna cum laude 2007 graduate of Barnard College, with a double degree in comparative literature and music. Shortly after graduation, she began working as a freelance arts and culture writer for Long Island periodicals such as Dan’s Papers and Southampton Press. Since June 2007, she has been working in the international sales department at W.W. Norton publishing, where she is responsible for mediating between Norton’s overseas representatives and the Norton headquarters in New York and Pennsylvania. She also does freelance press release writing for Norton’s publicity department, and undertakes various other freelance projects in the college and trade editorial departments on a regular basis.
