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Music Review: Camerata's ambitious holiday effort falls short
Monday, December 13, 1999 By Andrew Druckenbrod, Post-Gazette Music Writer
While most musical ensembles offer light or at least familiar fare for December programs, the Pittsburgh Camerata has put together a diverse and difficult Christmas concert. Saturday evening at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Highland Park, however, it was clear that the group and artistic director Rebecca Rollett had bitten off more than they could chew.
The Pittsburgh Camerata
Where: Smithfield United Church, Downtown, Fri. 8 p.m.; First Baptist Church, Oakland, Sat. 8 p.m.
Tickets: $6-$12; 412-421-5884.
The program, "A (Pittsburgh) Christmas Mosaic," had the chamber choir singing carols and Christmas music from different ethnic traditions and time periods. The idea, a commendable one, was to celebrate the wide variety of ethnic communities in the metro area. Rollett went to great effort -- more certainly than most directors do for holiday concerts -- to arrange three carols, from Croatia, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. She also created a wonderful twist on a classic, setting the text of "Away in the Manger" to different music, an Irish folk tune that fit quite snugly.
But the singers were just not up to the task. With nearly 20 pieces in an assortment of styles, the choir members struggled to sing accurately. Perhaps Rollett should have chopped a few works off the program, to make sure what remained was manageable. But the onus also falls on her directorial approach. In several of the period pieces, such as Marc-Antoine Charpentier's "Salve Puerule," the singers and soloists, especially, lacked a firm grasp of the vibrato practice of the time. Baroque vibrato style differs from its Romantic counterpart in that it is more ornamental. It's difficult to perform, but more importantly it isn't as intuitive for today's singers as modern vibrato. This means a conductor needs to provide considerable coaching on the subject.
In general, the Camerata disappointed in the areas in which you expect a chamber choir -- especially "the city's premier chamber choir," as it bills itself -- to excel. The group didn't blend when singing music in the Western polyphonic tradition, had problems overall with pitch and tone control, and didn't project much energy. The Camerata's lackluster performance of Hugo Distler's "A Little Advent Music," embodied this, though the instrumental accompaniment was pleasant here and throughout the concert.
It was in the Eastern European carols that the Camerata asserted itself. Though the diction was not always superb, there was focus and drive to the performance. Rollett's arrangements of "Kakva je to svetlost" and "Sel bych rad k Betlemu" were balanced and attractive. Also, the group gave an artful reading of Giovanni Gabrieli's "O magnum misterium."
Before the start of the second half, the Camerata presented awards of recognition to former artistic director Gayle Clark Kirkwood and to current president Susan Barclay, for their years of service with the organization.
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