Cathedral rings with masters' music

THE CHOIR AND CHORISTERS OF THE CATHEDRAL OF THE MADELEINE AND THE SONOLUMINA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, Cathedral of the Madeleine, Sunday.

The Cathedral of the Madeleine's 2006-07 season opened this past weekend with performances of two remarkable choral works — Benjamin Britten's "Cantata Misericordium" and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem.

Both works were performed wonderfully by the combined adult and children's choirs of the cathedral and the Sonolumina Chamber Orchestra. Under the baton of music director Gregory A. Glenn, the two pieces were interpreted with sensitivity and a compelling earnestness. Glenn showed a fine grasp of the music of these two works. His reading of the Britten in particular was insightful. And while the Mozart had a few problems with balance, it was still superbly played.

The concert opened with the "Cantata Misericordium." Britten wrote the work in 1963 to celebrate the centennial of the Red Cross. The piece is a setting of the Good Samaritan Parable, and its entreaty to accept everyone as one's neighbor held an obvious appeal to Britten's life long pacifist beliefs.

Even though Britten wasn't particularly religious, he wrote a number of works that have a sacred basis — the parable operas and the War Requiem come immediately to mind — all of which transcend the boundaries of a specific religious belief. This is eminently and immediately apparent in the cantata as well. It's quite an intense work and compelling in its impact. Effectively scored for strings, harp, piano and timpani, Britten shows his remarkable sense of orchestration here, getting the most out of his small forces with a sincerity and directness that validates the emotional urgency of the music.

Glenn captured the cantata's vibrancy and dynamic drive, and his account was intelligent and finely wrought. The orchestra played wonderfully, and the combined choirs sang with deep expression. The soloists — tenor Jason McAdams and baritone Tyler Oliphant, both members of the choir — sang expressively and with sincerity.

The version of the Requiem that was used for last weekend's concert was the well-known one completed by Mozart's pupil Franz Xaver Sussmayr after Mozart's death, rather than the new completion by musicologist Robert Levin.

Once again, McAdams and Oliphant were superb, singing with lyricism and expression. They were joined by soprano Kiera Duffy and alto Aubrey Adams-McMillan, who complemented the male soloists with their nuanced singing.

The combined choirs sang well, too, but, unlike the Britten, there was a nagging problem with balance throughout the work. The choirs were a bit too heavy with sopranos and that made itself felt in the Requiem. The soprano section frequently overpowered the rest of the chorus and also often drowned out the orchestra. Yet Glenn managed to capture the tension, drama and urgency of the Requiem quite well.

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