Singers overpowered

Cantata Singers
Opera, National Arts Centre, Ottawa

On paper it looked pretty good: a baroque concert featuring an attractive Te Deum by Charpentier, Pergolesi's popular Stabat Mater and, as a curtain-raiser, the symphony-like Grand Overture in E, Op. 18, no. 5 by Johann Christian Bach.

Indeed, the Bach was a real treat. This work is for two orchestras, each with its own string section, the first augmented with double reeds and horns, the second with flutes. Bach exploited the subtle contrast between the two, and conductor Franz-Paul Decker led the two-orchestra deployment of National Arts Centre Orchestra musicians Wednesday night in a masterful, joyful realization of the score.

Perhaps one of the orchestras should have been sent home afterward. The Cantata Singers, who joined the orchestra for the two big works on the program, were just under 40 strong. There were about the same number of instrumentalists on stage for the Charpentier.

You might think that would represent a satisfactory balance but, as a rule of thumb, the number of singers in a choir should be 50 per cent or more larger than the orchestra accompanying it. Of course Decker is a good musician who knows that rules are made to be broken, but he was ill-advised to break this one in this case. Although the chorus always managed to be heard, the effort it took was all too apparent. Worse, perhaps, the vocal sound always seemed diminutive. Thus, in the Te Deum, the choral sound never had the force to sound joyful, and one had the impression that the orchestra was holding back. That also contributed to an unfortunately staid effect.

The situation was not improved by the fact that, except for some brief internal solos, everything was sung by the full chorus. This undoubtedly saved the NAC some money, but it placed a weight on the shoulders of the Cantata Singers that they could not comfortably bear. Even the first vocal number, sung in unison by the basses, sounded less than solid.

The effect should have been even worse in the Stabat Mater, scored for sopranos, altos and strings only. The chorus for this numbered only 19, while there were 30-some strings playing. Happily, the singing did not sound forced; neither were things seriously out of balance.

On the other hand, it was a very sleepy account of this dramatic and moving work. Dynamics were constricted and the one- and two-part choral sound, though not bad in itself, became monotonous for want of the variety some soloists would have provided.