Master Chorale Of South Florida - Joshua Habermann.
Music By American Composers. Lauridsen/ Copland/ Bernstein (April-26-09)

By Lawrence Budmen

Joshua Habermann, a choral director of surpassing brilliance, concluded his
first season as Artistic Director of the Master Chorale of South Florida
with a program of American music that ranged from the homespun, folk based
melodies of Copland to the fervent spirituality of Morten Lauridsen and the
large scale theatricality of Bernstein on April 26, 2009 in the majestic
sanctuary of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Miami, Florida, USA. (Also
Director of Choral Studies at the University of Miami, Habermann led the
Frost Chorale the previous week in a fascinating cavalcade of four centuries
of a capella choral writing with a particular emphasis on Renaissance
polyphony and contemporary Scandinavian works. )

Habermann's masterful command of vocal textures , subtle choral modulations
and sweeping momentum that propels the long arc of diverse scores recalls
the work of the distinguished American Midwestern choral director Dale
Warland. After one season under Habermann's direction, the Master Chorale
displays greater flexibility, clarity of projection and strongly focused
ensemble.

Habermann 's leadership was particularly impressive in Morten Lauridsen's
glorious masterpiece Lux Aeterna. A work of profound beauty, Lauridsen's
score is texturally spare yet harmonically complex, reinventing the sacred
strophes of Bach, Faure and Stravinsky in a thoroughly contemporary idiom.
At once contemplative and stirring, Lux Aeterna is a deeply personal,
angelically beautiful work. Lauridsen, a prolific choral composer, has
penned a distinctive sacred piece for our time. Habermann drew stirring,
full bodied choral sound in the score's grandiose climaxes. His ability to
thin the choral textures down to a mellifluous whisper was awesome and a
tribute to his outstanding chorale. This beautifully nuanced performance did
full justice to a divine expression of musical and spiritual faith. Although
the Trinity Cathedral organ is not in the greatest working condition,
Matthew Steynor provided masterful support, drawing impressive sonority
from the instrument.

Under Craig Denison's enlivening direction, the Florida Singing Sons
Boychoir offered inventive arrangements of four of Aaron Copland's Old
American Songs. The youngsters brought charming lightness to these vintage
gems of Americana. The group could have used greater numbers; a seeming
imbalance of boy sopranos produced a somewhat thin sound. Nevertheless
Zion's Walls and At the River were sung with lovely articulation and
idiomatic style. Copland's synthesis of indigenous folklore and classicism
remains unique.

Denison also led his boy choir in a lovely version of A Simple Song from
Leonard Bernstein's Mass. These young voices perfectly captured the
simplicity and rapture of this songful vignette from an infinitely more
complex and disturbing work.

Habermann and the Master Chorale returned for Bernstein's Chichester Psalms.
One of Bernstein's most important scores, this 1965 series of Psalm settings
(sung in Hebrew) runs the gamut from questing exultation to beguiling
lyricism, mixing modal melodic and harmonic austerity, dissonance and
radiant consonance in one of the composer's most satisfying conceptions.

Habermann's dynamic performance lacked only one important element - the full
instrumental panoply, an important aspect of Bernstein's compositional
personality. This reduced version (with organ, harp and percussion
accompaniment) for intimate church performance is highly skillful but cannot
match the vivid instrumental coloration of Bernstein's full orchestral
score. Habermann led a surging performance that did full justice to the
tumultuous abandon of the opening movement. Soprano Kristin DiNonno, alto
Sophia Beharrie, tenor Mark Glickman and bass Scott Latta were the
vociferous soloists. Boy soprano Alejandro Pichardo offered a capable solo
(if somewhat uneven vocal production) in Bernstein's eloquent setting of
Psalm 23. Habermann produced a heavenly blend of voices in the ethereal,
other worldly beauty of the final movement. Here was Bernstein at his
inspired best, performed with conviction and wonderful articulation and
balance - a model of fine choral singing. Andrew Proctor offered resounding
percussion support with Deborah Fleisher (Leon Fleisher's daughter)
providing gorgeous harp textures.

For an encore Habermann combined the Master Chorale and the Florida Singing
Sons Boychoir for a stirring arrangement of Make Our Garden Grow from
Bernstein's Candide (with an eloquent tenor solo by Brandon Mowry). This
wonderful collaboration radiated joy and brotherhood - a triumphant
conclusion to a fine afternoon of choral music led by a master of the genre.

The Master Chorale of South Florida (Joshua Habermann, Artistic Director)
joins the New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas for Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony on October 24 and 25, 2009 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for
the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida. See www.nws.edu for information.

The Master Chorale presents Handel's Messiah with the Boca Raton Symphonia
conducted by James Judd on December 4 at the Broward Center for the
Performing Arts in Ft. Lauderdale, December 5 at Spanish River Church in
Boca Raton and December 6, 2009 at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Miami. For
information, see www.masterchoraleofsouthflorida.org
<http://www.masterchoraleofsouthflorida.org/>

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The Master Chorale of South Florida is South Florida’s premier classical choral ensemble. The talented singers volunteer their time for the satisfaction of performing the most challenging choral repertoire at the highest artistic level in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

The Master Chorale of South Florida was formed to ensure that world-class concerts of major choral-orchestral works remain a part of South Florida’s cultural fabric. Through innovative programming, artistic passion, and superb performances of the greatest music ever written, the Master Chorale of South Florida strives to foster feelings of joy and excitement in the hearts of audiences.

Contact: Nancy Gates-Lee, 954-770-2805