Johannes Brahms: Liebeslieder Walzer, Drei Quartette; Martin Palmeri: Misatango; Aaron Manswell: Stick with Love, Poverty: The Love Affair: Waltz & Tango | Jean-Sébastien Vallée, conductor; Charlotte Siegel, soprano; Toronto Mendelssohn Choir; Toronto Mendelssohn Singers; Jonathan Goldman, bandoneonist; Instrumental Ensemble. Koerner Hall, November 3, 2024.
What can a mass choir of 160+ voices and 130 years of history create, for a reflective early November afternoon?
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir brought us something old, something new, and something borrowed, leaving plenty of thoughts to ponder on, as we ask: why do we love choral singing, and what drives us to excellence? How do we converse in love, ask for mercy and forgiveness, and question ourselves on things we’d rather hide, even from our own selves?
Starting in a gentle lilting triple meter, TMSingers opened the concert with Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltz, and Drei Quartette. As Liebeslieder was made to be flexible in ensemble format, ranging from the microscale (four singers, and one-piano-four-hands), to a full-sized mass choir, the decision for the ensemble choice is an aesthetic one — what kind of drama, with what sort of refinement, on how big of a canvas, is optimum?
For this afternoon, five voices per part, this 20-strong chamber choir provided plenty of excitement. The occasional use of solos, sung by Rebecca Claborn and Nicholas Nicolaidis, was a brilliant move, creating an extra dimension for drama and musical variety. The Brahmsian harmonic nuance and progression, often surprising in direction, were sung with accuracy and sensitivity, and the two pianists, Irene Gregorio and Talisa Blackman, provided a beautiful backdrop for the voices to merge and diverge; seeing these two pianists playing in sync, was a joy to watch and hear.
The group negotiated sudden changes, including riding out a lateral lyricism to a dramatic verticality, with relative ease and grace — the character transition into No. 11, Nein, es ist nicht auszukommen, was particularly impressive.
The benefit of having a chamber choir instead of a vocal quartet also brings its own challenges, as when such work is enlarged, it becomes necessary to create larger spacing in between things, especially in Koerner’s great acoustics where silence can speak so distinctively against the softest, most intimate pianissimo. Most of the transitions, paced quite closely together, did create a floating base for the intimacy of the texts; however, the absence of true silence often rushed the audience into the next event — daring to be at the edge of breakpoint would have elevated this performance to the next level.
Martín Palmeri’s Misa a Buenos Aires (Misatango)
The other contrast, Martín Palmeri’s Misa a Buenos Aires (Misatango), was an interesting take on borrowing.
Did the Latin Ordinary of the Mass borrow from tango, or did tango..? Set with unmistakable tango rhythm and graced by excellent bandoneón playing by Jonathan Goldman, the work had potential to be transformative. However, in promise of greatness, it demands a great stylistic fluency — far more grit and friction is required, as sound is sometimes crushed into a pitchless explosion, or compressed into a sinewy and nearly invisible spider silk with white-hot pianissimo in its extreme.
The string quintet packed a punch, especially from Travis Harrison on the bass, whose resonant and rhythmic playing formed a formidable foundation with Blackman back on the piano; but against the large size of TMC, the instrumental ensemble — set to be pitted against the choir — was often lost in the big sea of resonant voices. The choral singing, though beautiful, did not feel at ease at times, especially compared to TMC’s usual high standard — their recent performance of Mozart’s Requiem was unarguably excellent, especially in its flexibility and sense of freedom from technical demands. Lacking such fluency, even for a brief moment, is surprising to hear from this amazing choir.
Composer-in-Residence Aaron Manswell
The best part of this afternoon came with Aaron Manswell’s works: Poverty, and Stick With Love.
The TMC has sustained itself as a central point of Toronto’s choristers for the past 130 years, and their social significance is irreplaceable. Current Composer-In-Residence, Aaron Manswell, has brought his own voice into the scene, drawing heavily from R & B and gospel, and the recent mass trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Poverty he draws our attention to many different forms of poverty, especially social and mental poverty, along with pervasive loneliness. This is an act of provocation: arts need the grassroots to thrive, that life prospers with grassroots, and that without these little fragile roots, we are left to fight so hard, lost in the vast barren loneliness. For TMC to sing this work not only highlights the choir’s stylistic flexibility into R & B and gospel, but of its mission and the reason for its existence: community-built and community-sustained.
The soprano soloist Charlotte Siegel was at her best in Manswell’s work, where her voice had ample time and space to show its potential.
The concert brought on many things to ponder beyond music, and TMC gave us some beautiful ethereal moments, making us want more of such excellence. A choir can be many things — it’s an evolving being, and it will be interesting to see where flair and ambition, under Artistic Director Jean-Sébastien Vallée, will take this choir.
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