MUSIC REVIEW
Personalized sound of Spectrum Singers
By Richard Buell, Globe Correspondent, 11/22/99
In its 20 years of existence, the Spectrum Singers have carved out an identity - mostly on the Cambridge side of the Charles - noticeably different from other choruses in the area. This identity is more singerly than chorus-y in a certain sense, the vocal line often being shaped in a personal, individual way closer to that of a concert singer than to the regimented paramilitary organizations some choral directors, in their heart of hearts, really have in mind. And that is music director John W. Ehrlich's doing. It really shows.
As it happened, Saturday's program, which set out to duplicate Spectrum's very first concert with orchestra, didn't always play to these strengths. Even singers who find Bach's vocal writing a breeze, relatively speaking, will admit that the master seemed to compose as if humans had keyboards in their throats rather than larynxes and the rest. His music is devilishly hard to articulate, as this chorus (perhaps not altogether warmed up) demonstrated for us in those gargly melismas that kick off the Magnificat. It was enthusiastic, no doubt of that, 50 souls leaning into the business of magnifying the Lord and with a will.
The risks of all this got nicely hedged by the fact of this piece being, in essence, an unashamedly secular and enjoyable vocal tournament - for soloists. For this, specialists were called in. Soprano Janet Brown was in gleaming voice and beautifully inward in expression. Pamela Dellal, the mezzo, negotiated the most tortuous, where-do-I-breathe lines with minimum audible effort, meaning she also had the freedom to interpret. Tenor William Hite scaled the heights and plumbed the depths of the near-lethal ''Deposuit'' and lived to tell the tale. All these are, of course, Emmanuel Music regulars. Bass Robert Honeysucker was being his tireless, sensitive, redoubtable self - yet another positive presence.
In Handel's wonderful if slightly padded ''Ode to St. Cecilia's Day'' came yet more of this heady stuff, with Brown and Hite outdoing themselves, if possible, and the chorus gratefully taking the role of cheering section, but always with exemplary control.
This story ran on page E16 of the Boston Globe on 11/22/99.
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