The Concertgoer HRO

THERE IS something magical about the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, the way it seems to rise, Phoenix-like, out of its own ashes. The first chairs may graduate, the woodwinds resign, the bloodless old men on the Faculty Council hold back academic credit, but the HRO goes on, always attempting more ambitious projects.

Yesterday's program would have staggered a major symphony, but the HRO and the University Choir took it on without flinching. The Haydn Paukenmesse, the Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms, and the lovely little Schutz choral piece, Lobe den Herren, Meine Seele are all challenging pieces. It is amazing, not that the players handled them so well, but that they could handle them at all.

The Paukenmesse, or Mass in Time of War, is usually compared unfavorably to Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass. I, for one, have always found the Paukenmesse a fuller work. It is the best of late Handy, a work of a genius adapting to a newer, richer style. The performance it received yesterday was only fitting for a work as important as this one is.

James Yannatos, who conducted the Mass, has an unusual approach to the piece. His interpretation was generally a novel one, filled with quick tempi and done with a bit too much fortissimo for my taste. But the piece hung together remarkably well under his direction, reaching its peaks in the Credo and the Agnus Dei. There were a few minor flaws, of course; the Kyrie went a bit too fast, the strings weakened during the Sanctus, and the horns were out of shape for the Gloria. The bass did not project as well as it could have, but this was the only real trouble with the performance.

John Ferris conducted the other two parts of the program, and did a spectacular job. He has a unique way of preparing a choir, and it was obvious that the University choir felt at home with him. His directing was clear and precise, easily comprehensible but not simplistic. The Symphony of Psalms was beautifully done, the choir well prepared. This symphony is unusually difficult for the woodwinds, but the flutes and oboes responded very well.

The Schutz Lobe den Herren is a marvelous piece, done by the chorus and continuo. The University Choir did a thorough job on it, obviously responding well to Ferris's direction.

It is unfortunate that this concert had to be performed in St. Paul's Church. The building itself is remarkably ugly, a huge, overblown quattricento monstrosity which does everything possible to offend the eye, but this would be excusable if it had good acoustics. However, the towering stone nave serves as a vast echo chamber to bounce and distort every sound the singers and instruments make. This concert was the first step in an attempt to break away from Sanders and experiment with other halls. With any luck, the other halls will be better than this.

Despite all that, the HRO and the University Choir have taken on a daring program and succeeded. It is refreshing that enough people are still dedicated to music to make up an orchestra, even though the Faculty seems determined to treat performing as the bastard child of the Music Department. While the Faculty Council keeps debating the issue of granting academic credit to the HRO, more and more players find that they cannot afford the time to perform with the Orchestra. If music dies at Harvard, it may be because the Faculty really didn't want it in the first place.