Wednesday, December 10, 2003

By Andrew Druckenbrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Christmas carols get 11 months off each year, which is the major reason we don't mind hearing the same ones every year. But is Santa's bag so small it can fit only about 50 tunes? With centuries of musical celebration of the season, there's surely more out there than what we hear at the mall or even at church.

On Monday evening, it was a pleasant shock to peer down the program of the Pittsburgh Camerata's holiday concert and see a wealth of carols and songs never, or rarely, heard. If you are in the least bit tired of jingling bells, decked halls or clever commercial re-writes of the "12 Days of Christmas," this is a program not to be missed.

Director Rebecca Rollett's specialty is her creative programming, which can be downright archaeological at times (although never boring). For this concert, at the Church of the Ascension in Oakland, she uncovered some absolute gems, old and new.

Arrangements of "This Endris Night," a 15th-century English carol and "Ding Dong! Merrily on High," from 16th-century France, were delightful. On the other end of the spectrum, 20th-century works such as "O nata lux" (Morton Lauridsen), "Tryste Noel" (Herbert Howells) and the epilogue from "Hodie" (Ralph Vaughan Williams) were inviting alternatives. To put the program in perspective, the best-known carol was the relatively obscure "Masters in This Hall."

The effectiveness of this collection would have been academic had the singers failed to bring the obscure music alive, but the performance was largely taut. The Pittsburgh Camerata clearly has improved under Rollett's leadership. Gone are the wobbly pitch and suspect ensemble; a pristine texture and a warm tone have taken their place. The overall artistic quality of the singing is gentle and easygoing.

Rollett's decision this season to reduce the size of the chamber choir and pay all of the singers has, well, paid off, with a sound that projects buoyantly from bass to soprano. In four-part harmony, and with many of the pieces employing pianist Mark Carver's refined and tasteful playing, the camerata sang with confidence and a lush timbre.

Only with the French pieces -- one by Poulenc and one traditional -- and two Renaissance polyphonic works did that assured demeanor fail. The choir generally sang more weakly when split into sections. But the fate of chamber choirs depends on their ability to blend as a whole, and the Pittsburgh Camerata is now capable of the pin-drop pianissimo and the organ-like forte that's expected of a professional choir.