CONSIDERED OPINION OF THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONCERT OF 4/10/08

Leonard Bernstein: Chichester Psalms. Ralph Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony (Symphony No. 1). (Paul Flight, countertenor; Measha Brueggergosman, soprano; Brian Mulligan, baritone; Cleveland Orchestra Chorus; Robert Porco, cond.)

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest choir of all time numbered 60,000 and sang at the conclusion of a 1937 choral competition. I mention this bit of trivia because your feelings on such a gathering are likely to mirror your reaction to this weekend's Cleveland Orchestra program, which features the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus singing some really big music. If you like the sound of lots of voices making what the psalmist called "a joyful noise," then this could be the concert for you.

Of course, a slight imbalance of the humors can make a joyful noise seem an unholy racket. And you've got to be in the right mood, as well, to enjoy Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony—a gargantuan setting of poetry by Walt Whitman. This is music of an earnestness which runs against the grain of our ironic age. "Behold the sea itself!" the chorus commands at the opening. And if under ideal conditions you might find yourself appropriately awestruck, at other times you'll almost expect a member of the Monty Python troupe to intone: "Oh Sea, oooh you are so big. Gosh, we're all really impressed here I can tell you."

Conductor Robert Porco's version of the Sea Symphony doesn't offer a great deal of subtlety, but on Thursday evening the music did pretty well without it. Porco had some ongoing balance problems, more than once allowing the instrumentalists to overwhelm the chorus. But the magnificently robust voice of soprano Measha Brueggergosman had no problem standing up to the orchestra's blustering. Brian Mulligan brought a nicely solid baritone voice to his part, but there were times when he didn't quite capture the tone of the writing: the barnacle-backed swing, for example, of the first-movement line "And out of these a chant for the sailors of all nations."

Porco's version of Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms was, by contrast, as shapeless a rendition of this choral classic as I ever hope to hear. Thursday's concert used a countertenor in place of the much more frequently heard boy treble. And though soloist Paul Flight gave a clean and tasteful performance in the work's second movement, it wasn't enough to compensate for Porco's tepid interpretation. In that same movement the chorus' sudden double-forte cry of "Lamah" sounded oddly timid: not at all a fitting beginning for Bernstein's setting of the text "Why do the nations so furiously rage together?" The ensuing section's lack of intensity, of rhythmic crispness, and of dynamic contrast made those raging nations seem as threatening as the participants in a family game of Risk.

In leading the Chichester Psalms, Porco might have profitably emulated Sea Symphony poet Walt Whitman, who mustered sufficient vigor—so he wrote in "Song of Myself"—to "sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world."

Jerome Crossley for WCLV 104/9.

Considered Opinions is WCLV's program that reviews performances by Cleveland-area music ensembles. Commentator Jerome Crossley offers an informed and witty perspective on performances by groups that include the Cleveland Orchestra, Opera Cleveland, and Red {an orchestra}. Considered Opinions typically airs at 9.45 a.m., 12.20 p.m., and 5.20 p.m. the Friday following a Cleveland Orchestra concert, and it repeats at 9.45 a.m. on Saturday. Other air-times depend on the schedule of the ensembles reviewed.

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