Bach Society Delights

Chorus, orchestra showcase Purcell

Excerpts from Dallasnews.com : Classical

Henry Purcell was one of music’s great originals. He drew together strands as diverse as English renaissance consort music and Italian opera in a magical marriage of song and dance. Three centuries after his death, at 36, his music remains astonishingly fresh and vivid – and delightfully unpredictable.

An all-Purcell program Saturday evening inspired some of the best performances heard anytime recently from the Dallas Bach Society. The compact opera Dido and Aeneas was preceded by three of the composer’s remarkable church anthems.

Dido’s final “When I am laid in earth,” is one of the English composer’s most famous numbers, a haunting chromatic lament strung out over a sighing chaconne. But the instrumental preludes and even accompaniments are full of delightful lilting rhythms and the chorus “To the hills and the vales” swings irresistibly. Startling syncopations certainly animate the duet-and-chorus “Fear no danger.” The chorus “In our deep vaulted cell” comes complete with gentle echo effects.

Everything about Saturday’s concert performance, led from the harpsichord by artistic director James Richman, betokened affection and careful preparation. Contributions of both chorus (16 singers) and string orchestra (10 players) were skilled and shapely.

The program’s most amazing piece may have been the eight-part anthem “Hear my prayer,” its chromatic lines woven – indeed, twisted – into harmonic progressions to send chills down the back. It was unusual to hear it with string accompaniment, but the modern custom of singing it a cappella is probably inauthentic.

By SCOTT CANTRELL / The Dallas Morning News
Sunday, October 22, 2006
E-mail scantrell@dallasnews.com