Concert review
The Troy Chromatics presented an afternoon of elegance and restraint with a concert by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra Sunday at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.
There were only two composers on the bill, J.S. Bach in the first half and Arvo Part after intermission.
Conductor Tonu Kaljuste’s interpretations highlighted the composers’ similarities, allowing their pieces to have a dialogue across 300 years of musical time.
Each composer was introduced with an orchestra piece. Three selections from Bach’s Art of the Fugue were played at a moderate tempo and dynamic. Though a feast of counterpoint, the effect was like watching a slow-moving sculpture.
Kaljuste’s manner added to the effect. He’s solid and reliable. His left hand had lots of quirky action, including big circular crescendos and oddly styled cues that taken together drew out polished and cohesive performances.
In Bach’s Cantata “Break Bread with the Hungry” BWV 39, the chorus had a glorious sound, full-bodied but never forced. It was one of those moments when you remember what a great hall we have. The Cantata included two recitatives and three short arias, each delivered with poise by soloists from the chorus. The texts, sung in German, were all Troy Chromatics presents Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra Tonu Kaljuste, conductor
When: 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: Troy Music Hall
Length: One hour, 45 minutes; one intermission
about Christian charity. If such admonitions were always served up so beautifully, we’d be living in a better world.
Estonian composer Arvo Part, now 83 years old, came to international attention about 30 years ago for his reverent take on minimalism. His “Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten” (1977) is a five-minute enveloping essay for strings. As in the Bach, there’s lots going on beneath the surface, but the effect was a shimmering mass.
His Salve Regina (2001) brought to mind early music, thanks to the performance in which the choir sang with minimal vibrato. The choir had no need to emote; the music provided the imploring sentiment. Religious ardor continued in “Adam’s Lament” (2009). Both of these sacred works were more varied and less repetitive than the minimalist genre suggests. The expressive bandwidth, though, remained constrained.
An electronic organ was part of the accompaniment in the Bach. In the Salve Regina, it played a part intended for celesta and in the Cantus it provided the opening bell tones. A delicate two-minute tease of an encore was an Estonian lullaby arranged by Part.