University of Virginia Library

MUSIC

Innovative Delight

By TERI TOWE

In the nearly six years of its existence, The Oratorio Society
has become an established and beloved institution in this
community, a fact that is all the more remarkable when one
remembers how rarely Charlottesville puts its money where its
mouth is when culture is involved.

This year The Oratorio Society concert was held in Cabell Hall
Auditorium, a more convenient location than the high school
auditoriums used in past years. The chorus is comprised of 90
singers of high quality, all members of the community. The
accompanying orchestra is made up largely of musicians from the
Juilliard School with some members of the University and
Community Orchestra as well.

Director Donald Loach's choice of program this year was
imaginative and unusual. The combination of J.S. Bach's Cantata
No. 21, Ich hatte viel Bekummernis, and Samuel Barber's The
Prayers Of Kierkegaard seems inappropriate at first, but there is
a common ground in the texts and the treatments of them.

The forces used in the Bach Cantata were easily three times
the size of those which the composer had at his disposal when the
work received its first performance some two and a half centuries
ago, but Loach's understanding of and experience with choral
music made possible a performance that was intimate and clear,
though monumental in scope.

The performance of the Barber Prayers was equally successful.
I had not heard the work before, and I am highly impressed by
Barber's abilities as a choral composer. Like Ich hatte viel
Bekummernis, The Prayers of Kierkegaard is both intimate and
monumental, and The Oratorio Society's performance was a
model of clarity.

The soloists in both works were excellent, singing clearly,
accurately, and with nicely focused tone. The quality of the
orchestral accompaniment was also extremely high. All in all it
was a most rewarding evening. It's a pity that The Oratorio
Society only performs once a year.