Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@cincinnatifusionensemble was in outstanding form as it presented a fine program of old, new and classic choral and organ music in the splendid acoustics of Calvary Episcopal Church, Clifton as its fall Mary Slade Rust Martin and Louis Henry Martin program, joined by guest organist Isabelle Demers, the Winton Woods High School Varsity Ensemble and the combined choirs of ResoundingJoy Church and Calvary Episcopal, Clifton..
Standout highlights included a rare performance of the Three Choral Responses of Amy Beach and a vibrant reading of Joanna Forbes L’Estrange’s anthem The Mountains Shall Bring Peace, under the direction of associate conductor Gwen Colman. Both performances were dedicated to the memory of Gary Seydell, an outstanding tenor who passed away in crudely last month at the age of 58.
In a change to the original program, Demers offered as organ solos (on Calvary’s 1927 E.M. Skinner instrument) fine performances of a set of Three Improvisations by Nadia Boulanger first published in 1911 and the first of six organ sonatas (Op. 65) by Felix Mendelssohn. Demers’ outstanding work as an accompaniment shone brightest in Density of Light, a new work by Sarah Quartal, and Mack Wilberg’s ever-popular arrangement of the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.
Winton Woods offered up three distinctly unique pieces by Franz Schubert, Eric Whitacre and Jennifer Lucy Cook, the last being the most innovative as it incorporated tongue clicks in the choral texture to symbolize a ticking clock. The biggest selection of pieces tonight’s program were all by Fusion Ensemble’s founding artistic director Howard Helvey, including joyous and creative settings of the texts The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns and the Thomas A. Dorsey hymn Precious Lord, Take My Hand. Helvey is one of the few composers that I know whose music always takes such great care in understanding how to write for and conduct voices, including groups like Cincinnati Fusion Ensemble, Winton Woods High School Varsity Ensemble and Calvary Episcopal. What a joy it is to have such gifted musicians as these grace the City That Sings