Review: The Bach Society Illuminates the Sounds of the Season

In real estate, we are told, location is everything. During the Bach Society’s annual Christmas Candlelight Concert at Powell Hall on December 23rd, it occurred to me that the same can often be true of a performing arts event. Some seats are better than others, especially when there’s a strong visual component to the performance.

The Bach Society at Powell Hall

That’s not usually a major issue for classical concerts, but the Bach Society’s annual event isn’t like most. That’s primarily because of the candlelight procession that opens the second half. The lights dim and the members of the Bach Society walk down the aisles singing, each with an electric candle. If you're lucky enough to be sitting downstairs in the orchestra section, you're soon surrounded by singers—some carrying the melody, some the harmony, enveloping you in a constantly changing kaleidoscope of sound. It’s unforgettable.

This year, though, I was late in requesting tickets, so we were in what is now called the Mid Balcony. From up there, the chorus and orchestra still sounded fine, but the surround-sound experience of the candlelight procession was mixed down to stereo, and the procession itself wasn’t visible. That meant that over half of the audience at this sold-out concert missed what has become the event’s trademark.

That said, this first Candlelight Concert in the new Powell Hall did not lack for fine musicianship and holiday cheer. Bach Society Music Director and Conductor A. Dennis Sparger led the society’s orchestra and chorus with his usual authority, making the evening of holiday sounds old and new a fitting tribute to mark the Bach Society’s 85^th birthday.

Usually dedicated to more serious/traditional classical works, the first half of this year’s event was taken up almost entirely with a brightly celebratory performance of the 1990 Magnificat by Sir John Rutter (b. 1945). A prolific composer of choral music—including popular Christmas tunes such as “The Shepherd’s Pipe Carol,” “Angels’ Carol,”  and “Donkey Carol”—Rutter is one of what was, until fairly recently, a small number of contemporary composers writing in an accessible, audience friendly style. As Sparger writes in his program notes, the composer’s “infectious melodies, along with colorful harmonies and brilliant orchestrations…have made Rutter a favorite in churches, schools and concert halls around the world.”

The text of the Magnificat, per the composer’s web site, is “based on the prayer ascribed by St Luke [Luke I:46-55] to the Virgin Mary on learning that she was to give birth to Christ, [and] is extended by the interpolation of Marian prayers and poems chosen by the composer to create a celebratory work reminiscent of outdoor processions in honour of the Virgin.” In notes for a Naxos recording of the work, Rutter added that “it is mainly in the sunny southern countries—Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico—that Mary is most celebrated and enjoyed. This led me to conceive the music as a bright Latin-flavoured fiesta.”

Scored for orchestra, chorus, and soprano solo, the Magnificat covers a wide range of moods, from the exuberant first movement (“Magnificat anima mea Dominum”) with its lively Latin-American percussion to the majestic and celebratory final movement (“Gloria Patri”), complete with a fervent Marian Antiphon in a translation by Ron Jeffers. The second movement, “Of a Rose, a Lovely Rose,” is a tranquil setting of an anonymous 15^th-century English poem comparing Mary to a rose. The fugal fifth movement, “Fecit potentiam in brachio suo” (“He has shown strength with His arm”), is a dramatic depiction of divine might reminiscent of Vaughan Williams—a sharp contrast with the rocking, near-lullaby “Esurientes implevit bonis” (“The hungry He has filled with good things”) that follows.

Under Sparger’s sympathetic direction, the Bach Society Orchestra and Chorus ensured that all those moods and colors came through with superb clarity.  The occasional cracked note in the horns and brasses notwithstanding, this was quite a solid reading and created the proper festive spirit.

Emily Birsan

Soprano Emily Birsan, who was the soloist the last time the Bach Society presented the Magnificat in 2016, brought a pure and precise tone and good stage presence to her performance. The part calls for a wide vocal range, dipping into the low end of the soprano tessitura in “Esurientes,” but Birsan sounded entirely comfortable with it.

Birsan returned in the second half of the concert for an impressively virtuosic “Laudamus Te” from Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor, K. 427. The composer wrote this and other soprano solos in the Mass with the coloratura voice of his future wife, Constanze Weber, in mind, so a large range and vocal flexibility are called for. Birsan is a lyric soprano rather than a coloratura per se, but she sounded very much on top of her game in the piece.

Other highlights of the evening included a pair of inventive arrangements by Texas-based composer/arranger Tyler Scott Davis of the classic carols “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”  and “Joy to the World.” The former wrapped the 15^th-century tune in a shimmering, modernist haze while the latter had an appropriately triumphal feel that placed the shining brass section in the foreground. The Latin-American sound of “Angels We Have Heard on High” (by Dr. Barlow Bradford of the University of Utah) was a pleasant surprise and kept percussionists Erin Elstner and Paul Brumleve busy with multiple instruments, including marimba, gourd, wood block, and bongos.

The program included a recurring favorite, A Musicological Journey through the 12 Days of Christmas by contemporary American composer Craig Courtney. In this witty arrangement of the popular Christmas memory challenge, each verse is orchestrated in the style of a different composer and/or musical era. As a bonus, most of the arrangements also include a nod to the lyrics.

So, for example, the “seven swans a-swimming” uses the “Swan” theme from Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals, the “eleven pipers piping” is set to the “Dance of the Mirlitons” (toy flutes) from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, the “eight maids a-milking” become the eight Valkyries from Wagner’s Die Walküre, and the “twelve drummers drumming” are setting the beat for Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever. The program lists only the century and country of inspiration for each verse (e.g., “19th-century France” for Saint-Saëns), leaving it to listeners to fill in the blanks. Judging from the laughter, the audience had no difficulty doing so. I’m not sure the visual jokes (mostly chorus members dancing in period costumes) added anything, but neither did they detract.

Now that they are back in Powell Hall, my hope is that the Bach Society can make better use of the space in the future. Use of the hall’s projected text capabilities, for example, would have been helpful during the Magnificat, as would an awareness of the fact that placing soloists too far down stage center makes them invisible to some of the balcony seats.

The Bach Society’s 2026 season continues with Parts II and III of Handel’s Messiah in March, Bach’s Magnificat in May, and the 2026 Bach Festival at multiple locations this spring. More information is available at the Bach Society web site.

Symphony Review: A light in the darkness

It might seem counter-intuitive for a concert billed as “A Baroque Christmas” to feature only 20 minutes or so of actual Christmas music, but as far as I’m concerned, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra concert last Saturday (December 7^th) fully lived up to the spirit of the season.

[Find out more about the music with my symphony preview.]

Patrick Dupre Quigley
Photo courtesy of the SLSO

Christmas is, after all, only one of many festivals that owes its existence to the winter solstice. In the northern hemisphere, at least, late December is when we experience the shortest days and the longest nights. Back when nocturnal darkness was absolute and cold could easily kill you, that was reason enough to gather together and celebrate light, warmth, and a sense of community.

Which is exactly what “A Baroque Christmas” brought to the Lee Auditorium at Washington University’s 560 Music Center. Guest conductor Patrick Dupre Quigley led the SLSO in a celebratory night music of Bach, Telemann, Corelli, and Vivaldi guaranteed, in the words of the old carol, “to drive the cold winter away.”

The opening work, the Sinfonia from the second of the six cantatas that make up J.S. Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio,” got off to a slightly ragged start but quickly came together. Both here and in the next piece—the Sonata from Bach’s appropriately titled Cantata “Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret” (Heaven laughs! Earth exults)—the double reeds (English horns and oboes d’amore) sounded especially clear and bright. Slightly larger and darker in tone than the standard oboe, the oboe d’amore is rarely heard these days, so it was a pleasure to hear it played so well by Xiomara Mass and Principal Oboe Jelena Dirks.

Alejandro Valdepeñas
Photo courtesy of the SLSO

Next was the Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6 No. 8 by Arcangelo Corelli (1653 – 1713). It’s known as the “Christmas Concerto” because the first page of the score bears the inscription “Fatto per la notte di Natale” (“made for the night of Christmas”). In pre-performance remarks, Quigley went to some effort to tie some of the six short movements back to the Nativity story, although to my ears the only real connection is the final movement, marked Pastorale (Largo). It’s a gently rocking 12/8 “cradle song” that could easily be a lullaby for “le devin enfant.”

The entire concerto, though, was a wonderful showpiece for the SLSO strings, along with continuo players Andrew Cuneo (Principal Bassoon) and guest keyboardist Mark Shuldiner on harpsichord and portative organ. The organ was an especially welcome addition in the final movement. My only complaint is that the physical setup at the Lee Auditorium made it difficult to hear the give and take between the ripeno (ensemble) strings and the concertino (solo) group of Second Associate Concertmaster Celeste Andrews, Principal Second Violin Alison Harney, and Principal Cello Daniel Lee. Which is a shame since it was all done with superb precision and joy.

There was plenty of precision and joy in the next two works as well—the Viola Concerto in G Major by Georg Phillip Telemann (1681 – 1767) and the Piccolo Concerto in C Major, Op. 44 No. 11, by Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741). You rarely encounter concertos for the former and almost never for the latter.

Ann Choomack
Photo courtesy of the SLSO

Indeed, the Vivaldi concerto specifies the solo instrument as a flautino which, back in his day, probably meant a sopranino recorder. In any case, Ann Choomack (the SLSOs primary piccolo player for over a decade) gave us a performance Saturday night of jaw-dropping virtuosity—and without a score, no less. I’m still amazed that she found time to breathe during the aural acrobatics in the score.

Associate Principal Viola Alejandro Valdepeñas played the Telemann concerto with just the right mix of virtuosity and emotional warmth. Both he and Choomack had a nice rapport with Quigley and a fine time was had by all, it seemed to me.

The evening concluded with Bach’s lively Orchestral Suite No. 3, composed around 1730. This ingratiating collection of an Air (often played by itself as the “Air on the G String”) and four dances preceded by a short "French overture" (the name referring to the form's origins in the ballets of Jean Baptiste Lully) was an appropriately cheerful way to end this celebration of light in the darkness. The bright trumpets and tympani the final Gigue sent us out into “the bleak midwinter” (yes, another Christmas carol reference) with a nice shot of holiday warmth.

Seasonal events by the SLSO continue for the rest of December, culminating in the annual New Year’s Eve concert at Stifel Theatre. Visit the SLSO web site for more information.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Review: Steven Jarvi puts his own stamp on a festive holiday concert with the St. Louis Symphony

This review originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

SLSO Resident Conductor
Steven Jarvi

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Although it's usually a heavily attended event, freezing drizzle and the resulting treacherous streets put a major dent in the turnout for the Mercy Holiday Celebration at the St. Louis Symphony Friday night (December 16, 2016). And that's a shame, since conductor Steven Jarvi really put his stamp on the evening, with an intelligent selection of music that included more than a few works I'd never heard before.

For a pops concert that usually sticks to the tried and true, that was a delightful and welcome surprise. Morton Gould's arrangement of "Jingle Bells'" for example, was ingenious and whimsical, with icy harmonics from the violins, a plaintive oboe, muted horns, and a quiet finale that gave the whole thing a kind of pointillist delicacy. The orchestration of "Carol to the King" by Mormon Tabernacle Choir music director Mack Wilberg featured lively "fife and drum" interchanges among the flutes, trumpets, and snare drums. And the "Refried Farandole" by composer/performer/producer Sam Hyken brought the concert to an appropriately rousing conclusion. This virtuoso expansion of the "Farandole" (from Bizet's incidental music for L'Arlesienne, which includes the traditional Provençal carol "The March of the three Kings") was completely new to me and it was tremendous fun, especially when performed with such precision.

Kevin McBeth

Perhaps the most beautiful selection of the evening, though, came from Kevin McBeth's Holiday Festival Chorus, composed of singers from area high schools. For an a cappella performance of the "Ave Maria" by twentieth-century German composer Franz Xaver Biebl, the choir was split in half, with singers and soloists both on stage and upstairs in the dress circle. Heard from our seats on the orchestra floor, this gave the music a wonderful antiphonal quality that called to mind the works of Gabrielli and the other Venetian Renaissance polychoral composers. Mr. Jarvi conducted with a look of real joy that was, I'm sure, shared by many of us in the audience.

The chorus also distinguished itself in more traditional selections like "The First Nowell" and, most notably, in the decidedly non-traditional "South African Gloria" by William Bradley Roberts, Professor of Church Music at Virginia Theological Seminary. With its syncopated percussion and lively foot stomping from the chorus, this was music guaranteed to bring a smile to the face and joy to the heart. It also sounded tricky to perform, so kudos to Mr. McBeth and his singers for doing so well by it.

That's not to say that the usual trappings of this annual holiday event weren't in place. The concert opened with a swinging, brassy arrangement of "Winter Wonderland." St. Nick (played with engaging jollity by Whit Reichert) showed up for his usual visit and arranged for a child from the audience to "conduct" the orchestra in Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride." And there was a guest appearance by a singer from the world of Broadway and TV: Nicole Parker.

Nicole Parker

Ms. Parker is probably best known for her work on MADtv, but she also has extensive musical theatre credits, including the plum role of Elphaba in the first North American tour of Wicked. She had some great moments, including a charming "White Christmas" with the orchestra and chorus and a funny "My Favorite Things" with impersonations of Ellen DeGeneres, Julie Andrews (eerily accurate), Diane Keaton, and Celine Dion (complete with an absurdly ornamented vocal line). Her "Defying Gravity" might not have had much to do with the holidays, but it certainly soared. So, icy streets not withstanding, it was an evening as festive as the holiday decorations in the Powell Hall lobby and as cozy as a red Christmas sweater.

Seasonal concerts continue at Powell Hall with the Bach Society Christmas Candlelight Concert on Thursday, December 22nd, and Disney in Concert on the 29th and 30th. The orchestra will round out the year with the annual New Year's Eve gala on the 31st. Visit the SLSO web site for details.