LA Master Chorale below their own high standards in program of Bach and Vivaldi
December 29, 2012 Leave a comment
The Los Angeles Master Chorale’s December dance card was a bit more full than usual: two concerts of holiday carols, a straight-up performance of Handel’s Messiah, providing soloists for a Messiah sing-along, and an evening of Vivaldi and Bach that was titled, “Rejoice!”
I only had the opportunity to attend the Vivaldi/Bach concert, and judging from that single performance, I’d say that perhaps they were spread too thin.
It wasn’t an outright bad performance, and if you weren’t familiar with how well this world-class ensemble can usually sing, you may even have been inclined to have been impressed.
For me, however, it lacked polish and felt under-rehearsed. The Master Chorale’s trademark purity of tone and impeccable vocal blend was largely missing from the evening. Attacks and cut-offs could be rough. There was even a point in the evening when one of the choristers who did double duty as a soloist got up and began to walk to the front of the stage — except it wasn’t his turn to sing yet.
Overall, it was far from their best effort.
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