Review: The World Beloved

The World Beloved – Mass Meets Grass

Halifax Camerata Singers, Jeff Joudrey, Artistic Director

Lynette Wahlstrom, Accompanist

April 2, 2016 First Baptist Church

With guests: Dominic Desautels, Clarinet; Tom Terrell, Guitar; Donald MacLennan, Violin; Ryan Eavis, Banjo; Dan MacCormack, Mandolin; Adam Fine, Bass

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Jeff Joudrey is a brave guy. Who else would program a contemporary Canadian composer’s setting of the traditional Catholic Mass, and mix it up on the second half of the concert with a bunch of bluegrass players? The concept for Halifax Camerata Singers latest concert was a bold move on Joudrey’s part. Would traditional choral music fans come out to hear new Canadian music (plus bluegrass)? Would the traditional bluegrass community come out to a choral concert? The answer is yes and yes.

Camerata has a loyal and ever growing fan base, increased this year by packed performances of the Bach Christmas Oratorio with Symphony Nova Scotia, their “flash mob” CD launch at Halifax Central Library and their growing reputation as one of Canada’s finest professional choirs (which has resulted in an invitation to the inaugural Edmonton Choral Music Festival next season).

The choir’s concert on Saturday night was kind of like square dancing. If you’ve never done it, you really don’t know if you’re going to like it. But dip (or tap) your toes in, and before you know it, you’re having a ball being swept away by the sheer joy of the experience.

New Canadian music really gets a bad rap sometimes (kind of like Canadian wine), but Tim Corlis’s gorgeous Missa Pax held a very attentive audience in the spacious acoustics of First Baptist Church and didn’t let them go until the final Amen. Of course it didn’t hurt to have a player like Dominic Desautels along for the ride on clarinet, adding the equivalent of a fifth voice over the elegant soprano, alto, tenor and bass sections of Camerata. (Full disclosure…I work part-time for the choir, and am a very big fan).

Desautels has the most beautiful pianissimos, making you wonder sometimes if he’s actually playing (or not) and forcing the ear to listen intently for his delicious sound. His clarinet sang as much as the choristers, who tossed intricate harmonies back and forth with him throughout. Pianist Lynette Wahlstrom alternated with dramatic and pulsing accompaniment in the louder movements of the Missa Pax, and was well matched to the choir and Desautels’ quieter, more reflective moments.

The Bluegrass Mass on the second half of the program was introduced by a short work (a nice bridge or palette cleanser) by Dr. Larry Nickel, In a Grain of Sand, featuring soprano Lisa Webb on a beautiful solo line. The main worked followed; The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass was written in 2007 by American composer Carol Barnett, with libretto by Marisha Chamberlain. Joudrey noted that this was possibly the Canadian premiere of a piece which has become very popular around the globe, with the original performers (Monroe Crossing) taking it to Korea for four shows in early April.

It opened and closed simply, with an a cappella solo by the sweet-voiced soprano, Paula Phillips, invoking both the feminine and masculine aspects of G-d.

The piece is more like a classical work with a bluegrass flavor, and the players took it all to heart, creating a tight ensemble with Joudrey and his singers. It has a folksy, old timey feel, but with modern sensibilities, syncopation, bending harmonics and major/minor flow that is probably a lot trickier to play and sing than it sounds. It’s not all sunny ways in this bluegrass world; there were tensions and dark skies interrupting all the feel good melodies (which are real earworms). The sinister thunder was evident in part VIII (“Where are you now, our Savior dear, When we are all undone?) with luscious dark tones of the Alto section, echoing in a Minor key, the sopranos Major key, “They say God loved the world so dear He cast aside His crown.” We could really feel the doubting-Thomas-eyebrow-raising of the Altos “so they say.”

The five-piece bluegrass band was put together by guitarist Tom Terrell, and included some of Nova Scotia’s finest: Adam Fine on stand up bass, Donald MacLennan on fiddle, Dan MacCormack on mandolin and Ryan Eavis on banjo. I don’t know if the instrumental movement number X (Art Thou Weary?) is an actual hymn, but it really sounded like a country waltz with the fiddle on lead, possibly the bluegrasssiest part of the piece.

The choir was really cooking in the Sanctus, by then relaxing into the groove of the piece. They had a gorgeous blend on the unaccompanied Agnus Dei, and the Gloria was very glorious. Other choristers who did fine jobs on solos were mezzos Andrea Lane and AmandaEve Slattery and tenor Tristan Cleveland-Thompson.

The audience loved it all, responding enthusiastically, and how great it was to see members of the Nova Scotia Mass Choir and Dartmouth Choral Society, members of Symphony Nova Scotia, bluegrass fans and traditional choral music lovers mingling after a really good concert. All we needed was some cold beer and fried chicken!

And so we all learned what Jeff Joudrey already knew, that the Catholic Mass (old or new) can work in a Baptist church, amidst an audience of believers and non-believers, and that great music is great music.

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