Previous Press - Press Quotes 2003-2004 Season Mozart’s Requiem and Marjorie Merryman’s One Blood MASSACRE INSPIRES ORCHESTRAL MAJESTY “The Cantata Singers opened their [39th] season Friday night with a radiant performance of Mozart’s Requiem and the Boston premiere of Marjorie Merryman’s One Blood . . . Merryman is wonderfully responsive to the rhythms, sounds, and textures of words, as well as to their meanings, and everything she writes emerges from a flowing lyrical impulse. She is also an imaginative and varied orchestrator, and there were evocative solos . . . The composer could not have wished for a more sympathetic and stirring performance . . . Conductor David Hoose presented the Requiem . . . in a performance nicely balanced between fiery drama and indrawn meditation. It was beautifully sung and played by chorus and orchestra, and the well-balanced solo quartet was [Karyl] Ryczek, Gloria Raymond, Rockland Osgood, and Mark Andrew Cleveland.” James Primosch’s Matins and Bach Cantatas 76 and 187 PEARSON, COLLEAGUES SHOW SPIRIT In “Matins,” which received its first performance, Primosch unites poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins and Mary Oliver. . . . It’s a fine piece, beginning with a series of delicately ambiguous chords high in the strings, [Peggy] Pearson’s oboe twisting quizzically underneath. The work succeeds largely because of the variety of textures employed, from dense contrapuntal figures to a blaze of sound . . . the oboe lines lent the music a welcome and crucial depth. Primosch showed a particular gift for the choral writing: The a cappella parts were beautiful. . . . The chorus was its usual near-perfect self. How David Hoose and his singers continue to achieve this balance of warmth and precision is a happy mystery. Among the vocal soloists, alto Lynn Torgove stood out for the opulence of her voice, and soprano Karyl Ryczek, and basses Mark Andrew Cleveland and Douglas Williams gave ringing conviction to their parts. First violinist Danielle Maddon and trumpeter Fred Holmgren made crucial contributions. But the evening was in large measure a salute to [oboist Peggy] Pearson, who played superbly throughout. She is as gifted and eloquent a musician as any in our midst.” Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion PASSION “The regular performances of Bach’s “St. Matthew” Passion by the Cantata Singers & Ensemble over the last three decades have evolved into one of the defining graces of Boston’s musical life. Last Sunday afternoon’s sold-out performance . . . took a worthy place in the succession. It is hard to imagine the choral parts being sung more precisely or more feelingly, and the orchestral playing was first-rate . . . There was also a strong solo team . . . Lynn Torgove . . . sang with such musical effect and with such emotional involvement . . . William Hite sang the Evangelist with finesse and personal investment . . . David Kravitz was a stern and righteously angry Jesus. In a category all their own were baritone James Maddalena and soprano Janet Brown: Both operated at the very heart of the music and text. David Hoose balanced the devotional and the dramatic aspects of the music, mastered its structure, and exposed its heart.” Lloyd Schwartz, The Boston Phoenix “The Cantata Singers, under the intense and heartfelt direction of David Hoose, have virtually defined this work for the Boston community: the dramatic pacing, the powerful intersection of chorus and soloist, the final tenderness — always delivered by an astounding chorus and orchestra. Lynn Torgove [plumbed] the resonant depths of Bach’s profound alto solos . . . Her fellow soloists were the heavenly soprano Janet Brown, magnificent James Maddalena (heartbreaking in that last bass aria), Charles Blandy, Majie Zeller, Janna Baty, Mark Andrew Cleveland, and Douglas Williams as an especially good Pilate. This year’s Evangelist . . . tenor William Hite . . . made a powerful case for an Evangelist who responds with immediate pain to the events he’s narrating . . . And David Kravitz was more an earthy, angry, even ironic Jesus than an otherworldly one . . . as usual with these artists, there was nothing here that was not thought out or felt in the deepest way.” Bruckner, Hindemith,
Schütz “. . . David Hoose led performances that were close to perfection.
During these times of spiritual mayhem and unholy wars, it’s
a relief to be put back in touch with such direct, uncompromised spiritual
affirmations.” 2003 Year-end reviews Stravinsky’s The
Rake’s
Progress CLASSICAL YEAR IN REVIEW “The Cantata Singers, under music director David Hoose, and mezzo-soprano Lynn Torgove, wearing her new stage-director hat, underlined both the wit and the pathos of Stravinsky’s major opera, The Rake’s Progress. Tenor William Hite in the title role. . . . soprano Jennifer Foster . . . baritone David Kravitz . . . tenor Frank Kelley . . . mezzo-soprano Janice Felty . . . and the outstanding chorus and orchestra all delivered juicy, indelible performances.” BOSTON OPERA AND MUSIC THEATER HIT A RARE HIGH NOTE “Lynn Torgove’s searching ‘semi-staging’ of Stravinsky’s ‘The Rake’s Progress’ in a musically superior performance by David Hoose and the Cantata Singers . . . ” Home | About Us | Concerts | Tickets | News | Education | Recordings | Contact | Donate Now Last
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