CONCERT REVIEW - THE OTTAWA CITIZEN

Friday, November 5 2004

by Richard Todd

One of the most fascinating choral concerts in recent memory took place Wednesday evening at Christ Church Cathedral with a performance by a Ukranian and Canadian chorus.

The Kyiv Chamber Choir is on its first Canadian tour with its first stop in Ottawa. The Elmer Iseler Singers, often referred to as Canada's flagship chorus, hasn't been to Ottawa for some time.

The two groups opened the program jointly with Healey Willan's Gloria Deo and the Brahms motet Schaffe in mir, Gott. The sound was impressive, though there was enough difference in choral techniques that some imperfections were apparent. The ensemble was good but not razor-sharp, and now and then there was noisiness in the blend resulting from subtle differences in tuning.

The choirs also joined forces later in the program with three works by Slavic composers. The results were more impressive, possibly because the Ukranian group was on more familiar ground. Filaret Kolessa's Oi u poli krynychenka was particularly thrilling.

The Kyivs were on by themselves with two church works by Ukranian composers. Victor Stepurko's setting of Psalm 136 was the more stirring of the two, but both were compromised a little by less than ideal intonation.

The Kyiv Choir is a very good one, but when the Iselers took the stage by themselves, the difference between a very good choral ensemble and a great one was obvious. The Canadian ensemble's extreme precision, its glorious tuning, the transparency of its textures and the subtlety of its dynamics were only a few of the things that distinguished it from the Ukrainian and, indeed, most of the choral ensembles we hear regularly.

The Iseler Singers presented four Canadian works including chestnuts by Harry Somers and Healey Willan. The best two were Imant Raminsh's Ave Verum and Roman Hurko's Svite tychiy, Blahoslovy dushe moya. There is an exceptional depth of beauty to these works made all the more glorious by Wednesday's exquisite performances.

The second half of the program was given entirely to the Kyivs, who presented a collection of folk-inspired arrangements animated by some elaborate staging. They were impressive and enjoyable, but there were no translations or explanations of any kind provided. It was hard not to feel a little cheated since one could only guess at what was going on, and it looked like it was often pretty special.