Bach Society’s radiant sound welcomed.
From a choral setting of the Roman Catholic Mass to a musical response to the Pulse tragedy, the selections at the Bach Festival Society’s weekend concerts were suffused with beauty and hope.
On the well-constructed program were Puccini and Saint-Saëns, both performed admirably, but of particular interest to a Central Florida audience was a work by American Paul Moravec. The Pulitzer Prize winner composed a piece of music in response to the mass shooting at the Orlando nightclub in June.
Called “Light Shall Lift Us (for Orlando),” the six-minute piece features lyrics by Mark Campbell. Both in music and words, the work is stirring in its simplicity, full of clear imagery and comforting symbolism.
“Those of us with ailing hearts, those of us with broken souls, those of us without sight, shall all take flight,” the choir sang.
Melancholy cellos open the piece, but it grows in strength until every instrument, including ringing chimes, completes the transition from mourning to hope. The male voices reach ever upward, as their notes look to the sky. And with each repetition of “As sure as there’s a sun,” the
choir’s vocals grow stronger and stronger, like the very soul of the city. “As sure as there’s a sun, light shall lift us.”
The less personal works had an equally positive effect on a battered psyche. Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3, known as the “Organ Symphony,” was pulsing with anticipation, just waiting for organist Ken Cowan, whose mighty instrument smoothly joined the sonic landscape. The sense of expectation paid off with a majestic but not bombastic reading of the final movement.
Puccini’s contribution was his “Messa di Gloria,” an early work. The voices of soloists Robert Breault and Kevin Deas blended warmly on the “Agnus Dei,” a movement full of forgiveness, while the choir made a joyful noise on the bubbly “Gloria.” If the text didn’t always come through, the zeal and love were abundantly clear.
It was the society’s first choir and orchestra concert of the season, and in these troubled and angry times, the Winter Park organization’s radiant, uplifting sound is more welcome than ever.