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Composer Gwyneth Walker and Bella Voce director Dawn Willis at a
rehearsal for last weekend’s concerts. |
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Bella Voce |
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For more
information about the Bella Voce Women’s Chorus of
Vermont, go online to www.bellavocevt.org. For more
information about composer Gwyneth Walker, go online to
gwynethwalker.com. |
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ST. JOHNSBURY — Winning over a Vermont audience with an entire
concert of contemporary music, particularly by one composer, is
quite a feat, but that's exactly what happened Saturday at the North
Congregational Church.
A capacity crowd responded enthusiastically when Bella Voce Women's
Choir of Vermont premiered Gwyneth Walker's "Lessons from the Sea,"
which the Burlington ensemble had commissioned from the Braintree
composer. The first half of the program was made up of a potpourri
of Walker's choral and vocal works. (The concert was also performed
at Montpelier's Bethany Church on Friday and Shelburne's Methodist
United Church in Shelburne.)
The audience's response was no surprise as Walker, one of a few
composers who make their entire living writing music, has the
uncanny ability to combine an easily accessible surface with an
underlying musical sophistication. That and her underlying
theatrical bent have made her a popular composer throughout the
United States. Now 61, she has received commissions for more than
170 works to date.
"Lessons from the Sea" is a half-hour cantata based on Anne Morrow
Lindbergh's book of the same name, and readings from the book were
interspersed throughout. In the case of these three concerts, the
readings were done by Reeve Lindbergh, the author's daughter and a
St. Johnsbury resident.
The book is autobiographical, relating Lindbergh's life in
Connecticut managing her roles as mother, housewife and writer. It
is also somewhat dated in that she lived and worked at home. Most of
the stresses were internal, at least as far as the text for this
work went. Lindbergh used seashells as a metaphor for her life, and
this work is centered on those crustaceans.
Mellow would be the best way to describe Walker's interpretation of
these ideas, but that's not to say there was no drama. While much of
the work was sort of a choral storytelling, warm and rich in
subtlety, there were dramatic punctuations. One is where commuter
train sounds increase as Lindbergh is describing the multitude of
tasks she must accomplish before her husband's return home. Clapping
effects, and a danced segment also illustrated the text.
The work is largely consonant, with little darkness or emotional
challenge. The entire work has a sea-like swaying ethereal feeling.
Bella Voce, founded and directed by Dawn Willis, is a 40-voice
auditioned women's chorus that emanated from the Vermont Symphony
Orchestra Chorus, where Willis is assistant director. The collective
sound is warm and rich, while the music-making is disciplined and
vocally well-blended. Most importantly, the choir delivered the
spirit of the work, never overdoing, which would be easy, but
conveyed its power with their restraint. In short, it's one fine
chorus.
The first part of the program was devoted to a wide variety of
Walker's songs and one chorus, all settings of excellent poetry. The
chorus, "Crossing the Bar," was set to Alfred Lord Tennyson, while
the songs were interspersed among Mary Swenson, e.e. cummings,
Telaluddin Rumi and Lucille Clifton's "No Ordinary Woman!" The songs
were much in a contemporary Broadway style, but the accompaniments
used more sophisticated harmonic and rhythmic language.
The soloists, all members of the chorus, acquitted themselves well.
Pianists Shirley Smith and Xiudan Lin provided the able
accompaniment.
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