Tuning up a glass of water
For anyone who likes the idea of 24 men and women using their voices to go beyond song, a Saturday-evening concert by the Latvian Radio Choir would have been a special treat.
Hosted by adventurous Toronto concert presenter Soundstreams at a packed Metropolitan United Church, the Baltic singers showed off remarkable technique, polish and balance under their longtime conductor, Sigvards Klava. They also sang music we would more readily recognize as song.
It was a substantial and challenging program that reflected the choir’s penchant for new music.
They actively commission new works wherever they go, so we heard new creations by Canadian composers Omar Daniel and Gabriel Dharmoo.
And in a nod to the contribution of Latvian expats in Canada, the choir performed an Alle- luia by Talivaldis Kenins, who died in Toronto in 2008.
It was a nice way to mark the centennial of Latvia’s independence from Russia.
The group gave a nod to the historical link between the two countries in eight movements from Sergei Rachmaninov’s towering monument to Russian Orthodox liturgical music: The All Night Vigil, from 1915.
The choir was especially compelling in quiet passages.
The balance between the voices was nearly perfect. But the loud music lacked punch. Perhaps because of the acoustics in the cavernous church.
Music from modern-day Latvia was represented by three composers: Eriks Esenvalds, Santa Ratniece (both of whom happen to be 41 years old), and Peteris Vasks, who is a generation older.
The star piece of the evening, was the opening Stars, by Esenvalds. Many of the choristers came out carrying glasses of water.
Instead of being used to hydrate all those thirsty throats, the refreshments became instruments as the musicians traced their fingers around the rims of the glasses.
Esenvalds used these ringing drones as the basis for an harmonically enchanting setting of a poem by early 20th-century American Sara Teasdale.
All three of the Baltic countries — Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — are known for their excellent choral music. If Saturday’s program was a representative sample, there is a lot of interest in non-verbal singing.
I felt a bit sorry for some of the singers, especially the sopranos, for the sustained stratospheric notes they had to produce.
And there was no end of inventive sound-making from all sections in three pieces on the program.
But no matter how ably executed, these pieces were studies in technique. That did not necessarily make for great listening.
Technique can be used to impress but, ultimately, it helps if you can leave a concert humming a little melody. Classical music writer John Terauds is a freelance contributor for the Star, based in Toronto. He is supported by the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. Follow him on Twitter @JohnTerauds