World premiere of Missa Latina
The National Symphony Orchestra's 75th anniversary season celebration continued tonight with the world premiere of Missa Latina "Pro Pax" by Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra in the Concert Hall at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Sierra's work set the Latin translation of the Roman Catholic Mass to music for soprano and baritone soloists, full chorus, and full orchestra supplemented with marimba, maracas, Cuban timbales and other Caribbean instruments. The composer said he infused the work with a "Latino" character and "Caribbean gestures." His end result supplemented the usual five mass movements with an introit and an offertory in a work that is more an orchestral showcase than a functional mass which can be used in a liturgical setting.
The mass opened with a solo soprano singing a very soft "Da pacem, Domine" with minimal accompaniment. As the Introitus developed, a woodwind chorus came in, though it was ever so slightly out of tune and not together. As the orchestra and chorus got more involved, there were lush, sweeping moments which were often reminiscent of motion picture scores. The "Latino" feel and sound did not seem to be in this movement; in fact, there were moments of embellishment which often sounded more like 1001 Arabian Nights than anything Latino. The Kyrie following seemed loud and almost violent—much more like a Dies Irae than a plea for mercy. The baritone soloist began to sing in this movement, sometimes alone, sometimes in duet with the soprano.
The Gloria sounded very Bernsteinesque, an interesting flashback to Leonard Bernstein's Mass, which premiered in this very hall for the opening of the Kennedy Center in 1971. Much of the orchestration was busy, even frenetic, and often times the orchestra completely covered the two soloists, who appeared to be singing their hearts out. In a brief moment around the time of the "laudamus" section, there was a bit of Latin rhythm in the percussion section, yet it seemed inconsequential, and it could easily have been replaced with more standard rhythms to match the crisply contemporary orchestration.
More pianissimo solo work punctuated with loud percussion outbursts opened the extraordinarily lengthy Credo movement. Some of the best choral music of the evening was in the beginning portion of the Credo, with the choir sounding at times ethereal, at times mystical. As the development proceeded, the orchestration became loud with virtuosic swells. Unfortunately, the Credo pushed forward with constantly changing and evolving music that never seemed to present itself as a cohesive whole, and this was a common problem with the entire mass. It would be old fashioned to insist upon a modern composer putting movements in a traditional A-B-A format, but here it was more like the composer was writing A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J, and nothing tied this long, long movement together.
The Offertorium began with a loud, bombastic orchestral introduction, followed by some nice solo moments for the baritone. This was the first movement which had any substantial Latin rhythm or feel to the choral music, though that was short-lived.
After a fairly traditional opening to the Sanctus, a sudden, almost disconcerting switch at the "pleni sunt coeli" section thrust the musicians into a calypso-type dance. The Sanctus segued into a fairly quiet Agnus Dei. The composer supplemented the traditional words of the Agnus Dei with the phrase "My peace I leave you: my peace I give you, saith the Lord. Alleluia." The alleluia section broke into a calypso feel, and, rather than following in the tradition of modern American Catholic music with its soft, non-challenging, saccharine blandness, Sierra chose to close his work with a very Evangelical megachurch "big ending," including a theatrical jump up a fifth on the final alleluia.
The eighty minute performance was well-received by the audience, most of whom provided the composer with a standing ovation during the curtain calls.
On the whole Sierra's mass was an interesting work, but it did not seem religious or inspirational, and it probably will require a second hearing to truly appreciate it. The vast majority of the piece was stereotypically contemporary music with the occasional melodical Hollywood swell, and other than a couple of brief moments, the Latin American feel was lacking. The composer most assuredly was not kind to the soloists; while he has written choral works in the past, one would think this was his first experiment for voice, as he demanded high pianissimos and low fortissimos from his soloists, and that is just the opposite of the way the human voice works. The chorus was also relegated to the role of providing a vocal accompaniment to the soloists, with only limited passages allowing them to shine.
The orchestra had some interestingly challenging music to perform tonight, and for the most part, acquitted itself well. However, as has been typical with the NSO the past year, they seem not to play well for their musical director Leonard Slatkin, and there were several moments when the precise alignment between orchestra sections was just not there. And, once again, with the men of the orchestra nattily attired in white tie and tail coats, Maestro Slatkin appeared on the podium in a rumpled tuxedo with a black bow tie. Perhaps one of the NSO's many donors can contribute some proper clothing for the maestro.
Assisting the orchestra was the Choral Arts Society of Washington, a large group of about 170 singers. The women provided a particularly vivid backdrop with their royal blue, three-piece suits with long skirts. The chorus sang well, when they could be heard through the often-too loud orchestral accompaniment, and given the fact that this is an unusually large chorus, the audibility issue is the fault not of the chorus but of the conductor.
Soprano soloist Heidi Grant Murphy appeared in a hideous, faded looking, ice blue dress with a shawl neckline, fitted waist, and a long, ruffled skirt that looked ever so much like a bad prom dress. Perhaps the five big ruffle layers on the dress were an attempt to salute the costumes at Carnival in Rio de Janiero, but it just was not a success. Unfortunately, her singing did not distract the audience from her gown. She often could not be heard, even in moments of minimal accompaniment, and her voice tended to appear weak and as though she were swallowing her sound.
The tall, slender Nathaniel Webster served as baritone soloist. He is still a young man, and at times his singing tended to be a little too tight and strangled, especially in his upper register, but he had a full, rich sound in the middle and lower baritone ranges. He also managed to be heard over the soprano in duets, something which is usually not the case. Both of the soloists could stand to improve the crispness of their diction, as much of the text was unintelligible.
The National Symphony Orchestra performs this concert program again tomorrow and Saturday nights at the Kennedy Center.
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