MUSIC REVIEW
Haydn teeters on edge of bizarre
By Richard Buell, Globe Correspondent, 11/20/2000
Along with many others, the Spectrum Singers suddenly found themselves dispossessed of a valuable concert venue by last week's fire at Emmanuel Church -- but only for a while. Only a few doors down on Newbury Street, the Church of the Covenant provided the necessary space for this concert, Cambridge's Longy School lent the organ that was essential to the Mozart and Haydn pieces ... and so on.
Musically at least, Boston is indeed a village. On Saturday night, therefore, John W. Ehrlich was able to preside over a bona fide musical event rather than a hasty improvisation.
One difference, though, was the extra layer or two of resonance that the Covenant's ''churchier'' acoustic added to the overall sound. This was fine when textures weren't too busy and the tempos were moderate to slow. When this wasn't the case, an outline-blurring atmospheric haze -- only the incense was missing -- wreathed itself around the proceedings. It is probably true that the chorus sang with a degree more refinement than on their previous outing. What they provided in the way of presence, tuning, and enthusiasm wasn't in doubt; these acoustics tell no lies. One of the nice touches in Mozart's ''Vesperae solennes de Dominica'' was that long, steady build-up of volume toward the end of the ''Beatus vir'' (Psalm 111). This, along with Janet Brown's radiant ''Laudate Dominum'' (Psalm 112) -- in practice a big, florid, operatic soprano aria -- would have carried anywhere.
The ''Vesperae'' are good Mozart, but like his religious music in general, they're hardly at the center of his output -- whereas Franz Joseph Haydn's late Masses triumphantly are. The change from Mozart's ''Vesperae'' to Haydn's ''Maria Theresa'' Mass came with a jolt. First, Mozart's unruffled, urbane, abstract treatment of texts. Then Haydn's excited, unpredictable, full-hearted one, teeming with narrative coups, procedural surprises, and the technical wisdom of a lifetime. The emphasized leading tones (practically a leer) and the sudden launch into dizzy triple time toward the end of the ''Credo'' -- all in praise of God -- teetered delightfully on the edge of the bizarre.
So Haydnesque! And whatever Brown, mezzo Pamela Dellal, tenor Gerald Thomas Gray, bass Mark Andrew Cleveland, organist Michael Beattie, and the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music had been before intermission, here they were more so.
This story ran on page F06 of the Boston Globe on 11/20/2000.
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