Friday night's concert of the Dartmouth College Chamber Singers and Arcadia players at Rollins Chapel, presented a variety of musical styles with equally various successes.
At the heart of the problem were the French chansons (songs), performed a Capella. Pitch problems too often blurred the delicate polyphonic texture. The large size of the group prevented a more light, agile vocal line intended in such pieces as Claude Le Jeune's "Tu ne l'entens pas."
The intimacy of the form is essential in conveying the spirit of the composer. The songs, the vocal equivalent of the string quartet, lose much in having to stretch beyond their self-imposed framework.
Despite that, Le Jeune's "Je pleure" was a revelation. A truly moving utterance of sorrow and regret which uses very immediate means to achieve its emotional response. The fact that it was performed so thoughtfully was no doubt in part because of the composer's ability to transcend his period and create a piece that seems so remarkably timeless.
In the concert's second half, most of the problems of pitch, timing and conception which had plagued the first half, were satisfactorily resolved. The scale of Haydn's "Missa Brevis" was perfect and created a greater immediacy with the audience than had the chansons.
The Arcadia players played with an unerring sense of the style, even though the tone production of the first violin was scratchy throughout, and for the most part blended into the musical tapestry.
The solos, which were shaky all evening, did have one stand-out. The voice of Natalyn Nails '96 was as strong and beautiful as could be desired. What she lacked in comfort she made up by her musicality and powerful tone. Hearing her voice envelop the chapel was surely a religious effect that Haydn would have appreciated.
Melinda O'Neal, conductor of the ensemble, performed the Haydn mass admirably. While it would have been preferable to allow the Arcadia players to play more forcefully when Nails was singing, there can be little argument with her artistic conception of the work. Indeed, at times it seemed that the piece was tailor made for this ensemble.
