Season-enders find performers in fine form
By Tim Smith
The Baltimore Sun, April 29, 2003
On Saturday night at the Gordon Center for Performing Arts in Owings Mills, the Concert Artists of Baltimore wrapped up its season by giving an exceptionally effective presentation of Rossini's Petite Messe Solenelle -- the "Little Solemn Mass" that served as a kind of swan song for the composer
It is an amazing score. The style takes as many backward as forward glances, the mood shifts frequently between sacred and operatic. There isn't another Mass remotely like it. Even the instrumentation is unusual -- two pianos and a harmonium.
Concert Artists director Edward Polochick opted to use only one piano, which he played with expressive fire. Here and there, I missed the thicker sonority of dual keyboards, but, with James Houston providing dynamic support at the harmonium, there was still plenty of support for the vocalists.
The chorus produced a warm, firmly balanced sound and articulated smoothly, even in the very fast-paced fugues. There was especially beautiful, sensitive singing in the Kyrie section. Members of the ensemble handled the many solos in the piece. Those by soprano Ah Matejicka, tenor David Smith, baritone James Dobson and bass Jason Ryan registered most deeply.
Polochick's imaginative guidance tapped the complementary elements of sincerity, devotion and just plain fun in this extraordinary Mass.
Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun
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