Combined choruses reach the heights; Towering, precise pageant.

Byline: John Zeugner

COLUMN: MUSIC REVIEW

WORCESTER - Worcester Chorus' Music Director Andrew Clark keeps notching up his delineations of energy and excellence. For Music Worcester Inc.'s program at All Saints' Church yesterday afternoon, "British and American Choral Sacred Music," Clark decided to join with the choirs of All Saints' to reach an impressive total of 151 voices. One might have thought that would be quite enough sound to fill the church vaults, but matching the effort, decibel for decibel, was the lively, expressive organ playing of Peter Stoltzfus Berton. The result was a program of mostly 20th century versions of sacred music blending venerable texts with sumptuous aural articulation.

The concert opened with William Walton's 1972 piece, "Jubilate Deo," featuring an exquisite dialog from the sides of the sanctuary between the children's choir threesome Zach Eslami, Ned Brose, and Jackson Fulk-Logon on the right, and adult soloists Chris Kerins, alto, John Schnelle, tenor, and Chris Talbot, bass, on the left. Gradually they filed down to join the total chorus, but only after establishing a purity and clarity of tone that set the bar at the highest level. The treble threesome was particularly fine with Brose achieving an astonishingly ethereal moment.

The interplay between organ and chorus in the second piece, Elgar's "Ave Maria," achieved a delicacy and occasional reverberation that played nicely off the fading afternoon light through the stained glass windows. But the high point was the third offering, Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Five Mystical Songs," rendered with impressive precision and beauty by baritone soloist Philip Lima, whose voice and presence, as well as imposing stature, seemed almost to flow from the center of the earth. His command and clear articulation of Rev. George Herbert's wonderful poetry achieved emotional power and cogency. For most of the stanzas it was Lima alone with the organ, and the effect was magical. In the final "Antiphon" the chorus joined in with authoritative thunder.

After the intermission the program concluded with two very contemporary composers, Frank Ferko and Morten Lauridsen. Ferko's version of the "96th Psalm" was followed by his "Toccata for Organ" on the same themes -

each was probably a New England premiere. A stunning, gorgeous, cascading choral "O" opens Ferko's "96th Psalm," providing a kind of soft sonic capsule housing the direct lyrics - an audacious and entirely successful innovation. The "Toccata" by way of contrast provided reverberation and stridency in a showcase of Berton's world-class, dazzling technical gifts. In the awesome lower registers it seemed Berton's thunder could move the wooden slats of the church floor.

Lauridsen's better known, "Lux Aeterna," provided the full chorus with a perfect concluding showcase. Maestro Clark led them through fierce dynamics, and if in the inception of the interior movements there was some let down of energy, the finales of both the "Sanctus" and the "Agnus Dei" were explosively handled with heart-rending conviction and power. Once again Clark had opted for a program of enormous challenge and complexity and once again the chorus had come through.

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: Worcester Chorus performs yesterday with the boys and girls and adult choirs at All Saints' Church.

PHOTOG: T&G Staff/CHRISTINE PETERSON