A program of Brahms, by MetroWest Choral Artists, Saturday, October 20, 2012
We went on Saturday night. A church in Wellesley -- Saint Andrew's Episcopal church. At first, when thinking about it, we thought, oh no, a concert of all-Brahms. Guttural German consonants. Overblown romantic poetry. Sopranos belting out about lost youth and loves. Basses gloomily rumbling about death.
But we were wrong. This was really interesting and satisfying, with a wide range of songs and styles. Great solos. Especially liked the pieces from "Four Serious Songs" sung by the baritone Ron Williams. One song, "For that which befalleth the sons of men" is taken from Ecclesiastes 3:19-22:
"Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: as one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals...Everything is meaningless, all go to the same place...So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot...."
Williams sang powerfully, with the right kind of rueful, awe-struck tone. It's interesting that Brahms chose these lines. Ecclesiastes frequently addresses or mentions God, but not in these lines.
And of course it was nice to hear a fellow singer from Masterworks Chorale, Rebecca Clark Lightcap, sing her solo, from Zigeunerlieder. It all made for a wonderful concert, and the director, Leonardo Ciampa, deserves a lot of credit for assembling this group.
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