Cantata Singers a delight

Cantata Singers
National Gallery's Rideau Chapel

It's hard to imagine a nicer space for a Christmas choral concert than the National Gallery's Rideau Chapel, and hard to think of any group that could offer a more agreeable hour of holiday music than the Cantata Singers and their conductor Laurence Ewashko.

Their 6:30 p.m.concert this week was part of a series presented most Thursday's at that hour by Radio Canada. Although some of the early concerts this year were poorly attended, doubtless due to the unusual hour, this one attracted a capacity crowd.

The program was a typical and delightful array of short seasonal pieces, mostly carols, from various parts of Europe and, with The Huron Carol, North America as well.

It began, however, with Healey Willan's Hodie Christus natus est. The performance set the tone for the whole concert: expert, assured and thoroughly idiomatic singing of appealing repertoire.

A set of French carols or Noëls followed, including the familiar Il est né, le divin enfant and Les anges dans nos campagnes. Here the singing was notable, not only for the traditional Cantata Singers virtues of precision, balance and blend, but for some conspicuously lovely singing by the individual sections as well.

Conductor Ewashko led three Austrian items, two of them in his own beautiful arrangements. The third, Stille Nacht, is said to be the most popular of all Christmas carols. John Rutter's arrangement of this timeless treasure boasts many beauties, even if it gets just a little too clever in one or two spots. A program that crams 22 individual pieces into an hour's time almost always takes on a tinge of featureless monotony well before it's over. This one did not.

A set of Swedish songs followed, then there were four early French ones. Next were three supposedly contemporary works, though it's hard to see how The Huron Carol qualified, the familiar Ukrainian carol Scedryk and, finally, three universally popular English carols. If all Christmas concerts were as good as this, critics would not shudder as yuletide approaches.