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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

William Baker’s speaking voice is a mellifluous bass-baritone filled with honeyed tones, pristine diction, and a natural ease-inducing lilt.  His Kansas City branch of the William Baker Festival Singers exhibited many of those fine qualities in Friday night’s performance at Grace and Holy Trinity.

The program stuck to WBFS’s core repertory: short-form sacred a cappella works and spirituals from all eras. Fortunately, that encompasses vast amounts of literature.

Opening with Johann Pachelbel’s Singet dem Herrn—a motet for double choir—the ensemble’s joyous, light tone was readily evident.  The basses displayed great fundamental pitch without any ponderousness; it was a pleasure to hear that timbre.

Associate Music Director Melissa Ann Shalberg conducted the women on Knut Nystedt’s Seek Ye the Lord.  Though her pattern was big and more suited to orchestral fireworks, she commanded the ensemble through Nystedt’s thorny textures.  The ladies performed commendably on the disjunct unison line in the middle of the selection and Seek Ye the Lord was one of those rare pieces that contained a worthwhile clapping part.

My favorite of the program was Juan de Lienas’ Credidi.  de Lienas, a Spaniard who lived in Mexico City during the 1600’s (the program’s listed dates were 100 years too early), was one of the Renaissance period's American composers.  It was remarkable to hear the fine offering from this oft-neglected slice of musical history.  Though Baker caught some of the ensemble off-guard with the quick start, they quickly recovered, handling the metric shifts with ease.  More dynamic contrasts could have been used as well.

Of the Three American Hymns arranged by Alice Parker from the Sacred Harp, A Charge to Keep was the most memorable as the interweaving voices and cross-section line exchanges created a lush texture.  A wider, more forward vowel sound and less forced high notes would have made the entire set stellar.

Two of my favorite choral works anchored the second half but the ensemble seemed less energized after their return from intermission.  The dramatic impact of John Tavener’s Song for Athene was lacking as the men did not highlight the major/minor tonality shifts in the “Alleluia” refrains. The final line’s orchestration, which is akin to an organ with all the stops pulled, never quite achieved the level of brilliance and fortissimo it could, and should, have.

“Bogoroditse Devo” and “Vzbrannoy voyevode” from Rachmaninoff’s Vespers were lush as could be, but again, dynamic contrast was lacking and the overall shape of each movement felt flat.

The spiritual set that ended the concert was fine if predictable.  The second of the set, “Soon one Morning” was the most successful and Jim Schrock sold his solos.  “You must have that True  Religion” seemed too long to be an effective closer, but the ensemble’s standard encore of Amazing Grace cleared the palette without being overly romanticized.

REVIEW:
William Baker Festival Singers
Thirteenth Annual Home Concert
Friday, May 6, 2011
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
13th St and Broadway Blvd, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 913-403-9223 or visit www.festivalsingers.org.

Top Photo:  William Baker Festival Singers of Kansas City

By Lee Hartman

Editor-in-Chief; Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.

In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition. In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances. He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator. His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker. He currently teaches music theory at the University of Central Missouri and general music classes at Park University having previously taught at UD (2007–08) and UMKC (2006–07).

His compositions can be found at http://www.leehartmanmusic.com