The Cavalier daily :: Friday, May 14, 1971 :: University of Virginia Library

There can be no doubt about it.
Donald Loach and the University
Singers compare most favorably
with the legendary Yale University
Collegium Musicum, which,
particularly during the period that
it was conducted by the great
German composer. Paul Hindemith,
has always been held to be one of
the best choral groups of its type in
the United States. The high quality
that the Yale Collegium Musicum
has attained was more than
equalled by the University Singers
in their concert of 16th, 17th, and
20th century choral works given in
Cabell Hall on Tuesday night.

The program opened with a
precise performance of Tu es
Petrus, a six part a capella motet by
Palestrina, perhaps the most famous
composer of Catholic religious
music before Monteverdi. The
remainder of the first half was
devoted to Giacomo Carissimi's
oratorio Jephte, a work, which
though recognized to be one of the
most important words in the form,
is infrequently performed.

The University Singers'
realization of the oratorio was
splendidly paced, and Mr. Loach's
interpretation was very well
thought out, emphasizing the
breadth and monumentality of Jephte.
The contemplative passages
were handled in just the right way,
never being allowed to drag or to
become mawkish. Of the soloists,
the most outstanding was Donald
Woodman, whose clear, rich voice
not only adequately filled the
auditorium but also was not the
least bit strained by the difficult
fioritura.

The second half of the concert
opened with a rather bizarre piece
for chorus and recorded tape by
Danile Pinkham. In the Beginning
of Creation is highly onomatopoetic
and, with its many spoken effects
and glissandi, must have been a
great strain on the singers, who
more than rose to the occasion.

The centerpiece of the second
part of the program was the Mass in
G Major by Francis Poulenc. I must
confess that I dislike this a capella
choral work, which is typical of its
composer - acerbic, a touch hollow
sounding, and plagued by
occasional fits of improper voice
leading; however, the University
Singers sang the Mass in G
superbly, with fine performances
by the three soloists, although they
did not project as well as they
might have.

The concert came to a stirring
close with Heinrich Schutz's double
chorus motet Singer dem Herrn ein
Neus Lied, from the 1619
collection, Psalmen David, Mr.
Loach added parts for a brass
quintet, parts that were so well
written and so idiomatic that, had I
not been told in advance, I would
never have suspected that they were
not by Schutz. The motet, which
was encored, was such with spirit
and precision and at a tempo that
was lively without being breathless.

All in all, a splendid evening of
choral music sung by a superbly
trained chorus under the direction
of a most sensitive conductor. I
look forward to more of these
evenings, and I can think of a whole
host of works that I should like to
hear the University Singers
perform, starting with the Bach
Motets and working through to the
Stravinsky Mass.