Patriotic pieces fuel BSO concert at MCA Four guest artists leave audience stifling yawns

The concert felt like a pair of shoes one-half size too small: not really painful, but not comfortable either. Part of the problem with Sunday afternoon’s concert by the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, the University of Maine Singers, the University of Maine Oratorio and a quartet of imported vocalists was the weather, which was so glorious that no one really wanted to be indoors at all. So the Hutchins Concert Hall at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono filled with reluctant music lovers hoping that the sacrifice of such a perfect sunny day would be worth it.

Some aspects of the concert were worth it, namely the chorus, which was at its very best. From the opening measures of Beethoven’s “Mass in C Major, op. 86” to the last resounding note of Randall Thompson’s “Testament of Freedom,” the overall sound of our local singers was excellent. The BSO itself was fine, with some lovely work from the woodwinds.

The performance of the four guest artists left much to be desired, however. Soprano Jane Ohmes, Mezzo-Soprano Judith Engel, Tenor Neal Harrelson and Baritone Zheng Zhou sang well individually. Engel’s rich mezzo voice was like crushed velvet, and Harrelson’s fine tenor was like a clarion over the background of the orchestra and chorus. Ohmes’ soprano was true, although her vibrato sounded eerily cicadalike at times, and Zhou had a remarkably deep tone for a man of his size, but he often let the last syllable of his passages drop off into irritating inaudibility.

It was together that the four singers really floundered. If they worked together before, it certainly did not sound as if they had. As each tried to accommodate to the blend of voices, it was the case of the tentative tenor, the bashful baritone, the self-doubting soprano and the mixed-up mezzo.

So even though every time the guest artists stood up to sing the audience seemed to stifle a yawn, the orchestra and chorus melded beautifully throughout the Mass. Especially nice were the little woodwind garnishes in the Gloria, the Benedictus and the Agnus Dei, serving as a musical palate cleanser between the heavily textured choral passages.

After the intermission, Director Xiao Lu-Li, the orchestra and the chorus returned to the stage to perform Randall Thompson’s “Testament of Freedom,” which Maestro Li described as “all about freedom, liberty and community.”

Thompson is one of those contemporary composers who, while making use of modern and sometimes dissonant chord structures, nonetheless always remains accessible.

Three things occurred to me while I listened to this performance. First, I realized I was enjoying the sound of our local musicians better by themselves without the distraction of supposedly special guest artists. Next, I marveled that such a moving text could be made from the political prose of Thomas Jefferson. It can be disconcerting to hear phrases such as “for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our forefathers and ourselves: against violence actually offered we have taken up arms” set to music. Last, it occurred to me that under the direction of Maestro Li, the BSO has chosen a series of highly patriotic and idealistic American pieces. And this is a good thing. Those of us born to the liberties of this country can so easily forget how special freedom, liberty and community truly are.

The next concert by the BSO, and the last of the 2004-2005 season, will feature winners of the annual Youth Concerto competition and will be held Sunday, May 16, at the Maine Center for the Arts.

Helen York can be reached for comment at heyork@hotmail.com