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University Concert Choir Closes Season Presenting All "The Seasons" of Haydn

Nancy Plum

Granted, there is a lot of music at Princeton University, and audience members cannot get to everything. However, those who missed Saturday night's performance by the Princeton University Concert choir at Richardson Auditorium missed a cohesive, albeit a bit long, presentation of one of the great oratorios of the late Classical period. Conductor Richard Tang Yuk combined his 60-voice chorus with three excellent soloists and a precise chamber orchestra for Franz Joseph Haydn's Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons), a work that seemed to be a perfect match for all those involved.

Haydn composed Die Jahreszeiten in 1801, after an extended stay in London where he was no doubt influenced by the remnants of Handel's legacy in oratorio. This work also draws inspiration from Vivaldi's The Seasons and Bach's Christmas Oratorio, which are a series of concerti or cantatas combined to create a larger piece. Haydn's compilation of four extended cantatas, correlating to the four seasons, can make the total product a bit long, but Mr. Tang Yuk kept the tempi brisk and the pacing in a relatively even flow.

Mr. Tang Yuk takes the opportunity each year in this spring concert to pay tribute to long-time Princeton University Glee Club conductor Walter Nollner by presenting a major choral/orchestral work with professional instrumentalists and soloists. The orchestra, led by concertmaster Gloria Justen, was impressive in its instinctive ability to find the right style of play for a particular moment. The horns have a tough role in Die Jahreszeiten, especially in the hunting scene in "Autumn," but Lyndsie Wilson and Kathy Mehrtens were up to the task with few glitches. Wind solos were continually solid, especially when accompanying arias, and most notably from oboist Geoffrey Deemer and bassoonist Seth Baer. Some very fine trumpet appeared at the tail end of the movement from Frank Ferraro and Tom Cook. The strings also provided clean articulation, and the ensemble overall was able to convey the pictorial nature of the piece.

As fitting the historical period, Mr. Tang Yuk conducted from the harpsichord, and proved himself to be at home with the keyboard. His continuo playing was subtle and unobtrusive, joined by the stable accompaniment work of cellist Jodi Beder.

Die Jahreszeiten borrows its recitative and aria style from 18th century opera, and the three vocal soloists were all well versed in the style. Baritone Todd Thomas is always on top of the music, with clean articulation and precise coloratura. Tenor Michael Colvin was more impressive in the dramatic sections of the music, faltering only when required to produce a "straight" tone in the dry heat of "Summer." Soprano Christina Pier added a lovely sound to top off the ferocity of the men's dramatic singing and the three soloists worked well together in the trio ensembles. The lightness of both the soprano and tenor soloist well matched the string playing in the "Spring" texts.

Mr. Tang Yuk's Concert Choir, set onstage in mixed formation, was meticulously prepared with an even and well-blended sound, and an especially nice lilt to the opening chorus. In this formation, the choral sound was uniformly spread over the stage, making the diction that much more impeccable. With very little oversinging, the choral sound remained strong throughout the performance.

Although Mr. Tang Yuk moved well from continuo player to conductor during the course of the work, there may have been just a little too much space at times between movements. Oratorios are like novels-and Die Jahreszeiten is a musical "page-turner." The "pages," or movements, should flow seamlessly, but conductors often get caught in the logistics of getting choruses and soloists up and down, thereby stopping the action. However, the speed of the performance picked up a bit toward the end.

This was the last concert of the year for the Concert Choir, and presenting a work of this magnitude in such a professional manner will hopefully instill a life-long interest in choral music for these students.