By Nancy Plum

Fresh off its win of a fourth Grammy award, the Philadelphia-based professional chamber vocal ensemble The Crossing performed in Richardson Auditorium last Tuesday night as part of McCarter Theatre Center’s classical music series. Choruses often specialize in the works of specific composers or time periods, and The Crossing, under the direction of Donald Nally, has built a stellar reputation as an ensemble dedicated to new repertoire. Each of the 16 voices in The Crossing is not only capable of solo performance but is also able to combine with the other Crossing singers to create a unified and impeccably-tuned choral palette.

The Crossing came to Richardson to present a single work — the 14-movement poor hymnal of New York composer David Lang. A collector of old hymnals, Lang has written a piece addressing the question of whether the community messages conveyed by hymns of the past are the same as today. Lang’s a capella choral work, commissioned by both The Crossing and a chorus from the Netherlands, fused texts inspired by the Bible and contemporary writings with choral writing well suited to The Crossing’s precise vocal style and technique.

Soprano Anika Kildegaard opened the work with a solo rendition of Lang’s reflective poem on “a poor man.” Members of The Crossing require solid vocal independence and confidence to successfully contribute to this level of choral performance, and Kildegaard commanded the stage well as a lone singer controlling the pace in delivering the text.

As a full chorus, the singers performed with little vibrato and solid collaboration from one another, and as soloists, had no trouble shining on their own. Kildegaard also closed poor hymnal with the same clear vocal tone, baritone Walter Aldrich lyrically conveyed another reflective poem of “what remains when I am gone” and tenor Steven Bradshaw provided an ethereal backdrop to text inspired by early 20th-century Congregationalist minister, author, and hymnwriter Howard Arnold Walter.

Similar to most hymns, Lang’s work was homophonic, containing little counterpoint or passages in which the performers were not all singing the same words at the same time. This was music of palettes, chord streams and colors, with conductor Nally effectively punctuating the texture with dramatic silences. Exact tuning was an understood demand, which The Crossing executed flawlessly. Cadences were uniformly tapered, providing a natural flow to the crisply-presented texts.

While most of the fourteen movements began with The Crossing members singing together, two central movements started with the tenors and basses, who created a rich underpinning to the pure soprano sound. Changes in dynamics and key shifts successfully varied the musical treatments of Lang’s texts. The movement “what is mine,” with texts inspired by Elizabeth Warren, Barack Obama and Saint Basil the Great, harkened back to early New England with the open-chord harmonies and stark sound of 18th-century hymnody. Lang set a simple prayer of kindness in a close harmony style, with four words repeated in the melody against a backdrop of cleanly sung syllables. Nally and The Crossing closed poor hymnal with texts inspired by Leo Tolstoy and the 8th-century antiphon “Ubi Caritas,” well utilizing dramatic pauses and allowing the chords to hang in the air.

Devoting an ensemble’s mission to contemporary music can be risky, but with four Grammy awards to its credit, The Crossing has more than proven that the chorus is on the right track in performing works that “explore and expand ways of writing for choir, singing in choir and listening to music for choir.” The Crossing’s high level of singing and commissioning of nearly 190 pieces over its 20-year history assure that 21st-century choral performance is alive and well.

The McCarter Theatre will present modern jazz visionary Chief Adjuah on Thursday, February 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Berlind Theatre, and Broadway legend Mandy Patinkin on Friday, February 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Matthews Theatre. Ticket information about these performances can be obtained by visiting  mccarter.org.