Reviews

Stephen Coxe & Friends
Christ and St Luke's Church, December 9, 2018
Review by John Campbell

A performance in Christ and St Luke's “Sacred Music in a Sacred Space” series, this was an evening of wonderful live music. The acoustics were perfect in the Lady Chapel where we met—a space that houses two statues of the Virgin and one of Pocahontas. Opening the program, The Camerata Choristers, a professional group of some of Hampton Roads' finest singers, sang a set of five songs of the season. Michael Praetorius in 1609 set Es ist ein' Ros' entsprungen (A rose has sprung), a sweetly sung text about the Christ child's arrival, juxtaposed in mood to In der Welt habt ihr Angst (In the world ye shall have tribulation) by Hugo Distler (1908-1942) with dire energy in his song. Wonderfully performed, the Coventry Carol speaks of soothing the tiny child - “Luly lula”. The high sopranos offered a prominent opening of Videntes stellam (Seeing the star) set by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963). The song is wonderful and a bit atonal. Closing the set was Virga Jesse (The flower of Jesse) by Dr Coxe. His vocal writing was as marvelous as the performance by eight beautifully matched voices.

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) wrote Sonata in F Major TWV 41:F3 (1743) for trio. Our trio was: George Corbett, oboe; Jeff Phelps, cello; Steve Coxe, harpsichord. Four movements: Andante had a soothing tempo; Vivace was brilliant, dancing with a fun ending; Grave, with the oboe's mournful tone was slow and stately; Allegro featured a joyful oboe leading the parade. George Corbett's oboe added so much color to Telemann's usual sound. Thanks guys!

Before intermission the Governor's School for the Arts students performed J.S. Bach (1685-1750) Cantata 82 “Ich habe genung” (I have now enough), BWV 82 (1731) sung by Brooke Nicole Jones accompanied by Alyssa Reichard, flute and the twenty member GSA Chamber Orchestra conducted by Dr. Coxe from the harpsichord. Brooke is a senior at Hickory High School and Alyssa a junior at Tallwood High School. Bach composed this stunningly beautiful piece with the story of the presentation of the Christ child in the temple. The opening, exuberant aria gives the reaction of Simeon, an old man who sees the baby Jesus and exclaims “I have now enough … On him have I gazed … I would now, today yet, with gladness make hence my departure [from this life].” The entire seven minutes of repeated text is divided by lengthy orchestral interludes. The recitative that follows is one minute long where the singer identifies with Simeon's reaction. The longest aria (eleven minutes), in English “Slumber now, ye eyes so weary, all in soft and calm repose!” has the lilt of a lullaby both intimate and evocative—”Death has become my sleep.” The recitative of less than a minute continues: “When can I say farewell to this world?” into the final three and one-half minute aria “Rejoicing do I greet my death .. leaving this world of woe ...” Such a beautiful experience was this one with the flute wrapping its sound around the voice. Brooke's amazingly beautiful singing was vibrato-free with Baroque trills.

At intermission the program directed us to find available pews in the nave where the grand piano sat in the chancel near the scaffolding that was in place while the church undergoes renovation. With the piano lid fully raised we heard Aerial, in memoriam Flore Wend (1968) by David Hogan (1949-1996), one of Dr. Coxe's professors. “Each time I play it, it feels like a memorium to David who died in the TWA flight 800 crash. “He taught me so much about writing music for voice.” Hogan was a graduate of Peabody like Coxe but a generation earlier and a trained singer and chorus director. The music was stately and sad and of our modern era. Bold chords and a searching sound with a peaceful acceptance of the loss are there at the conclusion.

Dr. Laura Seay on viola joined Dr Coxe at the piano for Sonata No. 2 in E-flat Major for Viola and Piano, Op. 120, No. 2 (1895) by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). In 2010-2011 Dr Seay received a grant from the German government to explore Germanic traditions of chamber music while living and performing in Stuttgart and throughout Europe. By having the piano lid only slightly open the balance of the sound for both instruments was excellent for the luscious, lovely duet that opened the first movement. The full-bodied sound with dramatic sections continued into the second movement Allegro appassionato where the depth of dramatic engagement intensifies. It cools as the music unfolds and the piano plays a few measures alone. A dialogue develops until the piano becomes orchestral as it accompanies the viola—intensely only to join in a quiet ending. The third movement continiues at a slower pace, the sound unfolding and lyrical in the viola while the piano offers frisky, choppy notes. Dreamy piano and smooth viola are supplanted by intense engagement of the duo, only to become rhythmically choppy for a brilliant ending.

Stephen Coxe and Friends Offer an Evening of Music (None of it Christmas)
December 13, 2019, Christ and St. Luke's Church
Review by John Campbell

This holiday season found some of South Hampton Roads' finest musicians once again engaged in the continuing chamber series Stephen Coxe and Friends. Hosted by Christ and St. Luke's series Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, Music Director Kevin Kwan opened the program with Le Banquet Celeste (1926) by Olivier Messaien (1908-1992). The superb organist playing the newly restored organ began with long-held notes that gave an eerie ambience as the lights went to half illumination. The sound was serious, meditative and slow, and it became more propulsive as if it burst forth from its center. The stately pace that followed gave way to an enfolding gentleness. A low rumble developed taking us to the end.

Soprano Keaton Whitehurst,who grew up in Hampton Roads and holds a degree from Shenandoah Conservatory, is currently pursuing a masters degree in education at ODU while caring for her two-year-old son. With a voice that could fill an opera house she sang five songs. With precise, French articulation she first brought Debussy's Apparition to life: “This was the blessed day of your first kiss”… “white bouquet of perfumed stars.”

Two selections by English composer Herbert Howells (1892-1983) followed. King David opens with somber piano as Ms. Whitehurst sang the story of a sorrowful, troubled king who cannot find a way to relieve his melancholy until he hears the sorrowfulness of a nightingale's song to find his own sorrow assuaged. Come Sing and Dance was an appropriate celebration of King David's resolution. The jazzy piano and the gorgeous vocal display capture the spirit of joy. The charming Fancy by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), with its bell tone vocal end, was followed by Stephen Coxe's (b. 1966) setting of William Blake's poem The Lamb. The text, as innocent as the singer's two year old son, asks “Little lamb, who made you” and answered “he called himself a lamb.” Ms. Whitehurst's flute-like tone in “rejoice” was wonderful.

To cap the first half of the evening, Kathryn Kelly, soprano, looking like a princess in a floor-length velvet gown and tiara, sang Proses lyriques (Lyrical Prose) with text and music by Claude Debussy from 1893. In this period Debussy achieved full mastery of his musical techniques and style, setting texts with every accent, dynamic shading and tempo noted on the page. Ms. Kelly, with her elegant, lyrical sound gave a superb, sensual performance, painting vocal pictures of a moonlit scene under old trees in De Rêve (Of Dreams) but with an underlying sense of melancholy for times past when the world was young.

The second, De Grève (Of the Shore), compares nature to fabrics: dusk to white silk, waves to rustling, frilly dresses of green silk and skies to English watercolors. The moon comes up illuminating gentle waves like white silk. The last song, De Soir (Of Evening) is the summing up of a busy day. The piano tells of a journey by train carrying little girls and families who return to rest and dream. The look on the singer's face is ecstatic and the so lovely voice is now quiet as the piano plays softly to end. I have saved De Fleurs (Of Flowers) until last to tell the story of why it was composed. For a time, Debussy, like his poet friends, was greatly taken with Wagner's Bayreuth Festival. His text is a satire on Wagner's song Im Treibhaus (In the greenhouse) with text by Wagner's paramour Matilde Wiesendonck. A translation of Debussy's text is: “In the desolate green boredom of pain's hothouse, flowers surround my heart with their nasty stems...the tall purple irises cruelly violated your eyes by seeming to reflect them.” Has such pain ever been sung so beautifully?

After intermission the idea of love as ecstatic religious feeling is explored in Canticle I, “My Beloved is Mine and I am His” composed by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) and premiered in November, 1947 by his life-partner, tenor Peter Pears with Britten at the piano in London's historic Westminster Hall. Tenor Scott Crissman vocally created the spiritual exaltation expressed in terms of physical love. Each stanza ends with a paraphrase of the Biblical refrain from Song of Songs. The opening contrapuntal barcarole speaks of two little divided brooks that flow together in a vocal melisma: “So I my best-beloved am; so he is mine.” The piano offers a bouncing rhythm in the third verse as the singer offers a perfectly spun legato, followed by an enfolding slow pace enhanced by piano cluster chords. Mr. Crissman's diction was perfect with an English accent and was breathtakingly lovely in the light-as-air ending.

Next we heard an equally rare treat: Bianca Hall sang two virelais by Guillaume de Machaut (c.1300-1377), a French poet and composer who is regarded by many musicologists as the greatest and most important composer of the 14th century. Machaut helped develop the motet and secular song forms, including the virelais. Dr. Hall has been an early music lecturer at Old Dominion University since fall 2015 and has the perfect voice for this material—vibrato-free voice with a pure tone. In Plus dure que un dyamant (Harder than a diamond) she sang the story of a frustrated lover whose stone-hearted lady is unrelenting in her refusal to be involved with him. The sound was like a plainchant enriched by spare viola da gamba accents played by Dr. Coxe. The third verse became a duet when he joined her.

Ay mi! Dame de valour (Oh! Worthy lady) tells the story of a gentleman who both loves and desires a sweet creature. She is harsh with him and there is no joy in this love. To complete her set Dr. Hall sang John Cage's The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs (text by James Joyce). With its dirge-like Early music sound it was a perfect pairing with frame drum percussion by Coxe. The story from Finnegan's Wake describes the beauty of deep, natural life all around the wild woods where she lies in eternal sleep—all very beautiful and very somber.

To send us all home happy, Jeffrey Phelps on his six-stringed cello played a viola da gamba seven-string part with Stephen Coxe on harpsichord, gifting us with J.S. Bach's (1685-1750) Sonata No. 1 in G Major. It triggered the memory of an evening 60 years ago, relaxing upstairs in the log house where I was born, lights out, and hearing this music and following the lines, closely following each instrument's line as they interacted. It was a lovely, nostalgic time of recalling.