CD & Event Reviews
Concert Review: Choir captures power of Vigil
RACHMANINOV'S ALL-NIGHT VIGIL
Conducted by Dianne Loomer, Rupert Lang and Morna Edmundson
Church of the Good Shepherd, South Surrey, April 23
Search the entire choral repertoire and you will find nothing quite like Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil. As Stephen Wright queries in his program notes, "How should an audience in British Columbia in 2006 approach an hour-long unaccompanied setting of an Orthodox service sung in a language (Church Slavonic) that is obscure even to Russian speakers?"
Length and language are only part of the problem: Rachmaninov's lush harmonic idiom is demanding for any choir. Add his fondness for distinctly Russian timbres -- very low basses are the most obvious example -- and the work becomes a daunting proposition. A composition of depth and extraordinary power, this is decidedly not a piece for choirs or conductors who want to play it safe.
Happily for local audiences, three of Vancouver's better choirs banded together this weekend to tackle the challenge of the Vigil. Elektra Women's Choir, Chor Leoni Men's Choir, and the Christ Church Cathedral Choir pooled resources and presented an object lesson in cooperation and artistic vision.
This visibly multicultural ensemble sang with genuine fervour and occasionally achieved something almost impossible for non-Slavic singers--that full-spectrum Russian Dolby blast that rattles both your fillings and your soul.
Conducting tasks were evenly divided between Diane Loomer, Rupert Lang and Morna Edmundson; the cycle of liturgical songs is divided into 15 distinct sections, giving them exactly five each. While the lasting impression is one of a sober intensity, Rachmaninov was too practical and practiced a composer not to employ contrast and variation within his self-imposed neo-Orthodox idiom.
Comparisons between the three remarkably selfless conductors are not the point. Each focussed on the score and brought out solid work from the choir and two soloists. Even so, it was interesting to note how Loomer excelled in the mystical fire of the opening "Come, let us worship;" Lang evoked exquisite bell sonorities in the "Verses before the Six Psalms," and reveled in the gripping drama of "Blessed art Thou O Lord;" Edmundson's forte was the delicate poetry emergent in the numbers before the joyous conclusion.
Sunday's Orthodox Easter performance in South Surrey could not be considered flawless, but it glowed from beginning to end with a sense of ambition and commitment – a difficult, enormously worthwhile task honestly achieved.
David Gordon Duke is a Vancouver writer and educator.
The Vancouver Sun 2006
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