As a devilish wind whipped outside Green Valley’s Valley Presbyterian Church on Friday afternoon, True Concord Voices & Orchestra was delivering a dose of heavenly calm inside.
Towering palm trees swayed in the distance and twin chandeliers hanging just outside the wall of windows framing the sanctuary stage swayed back, then forth, as True Concord Music Director Eric Holtan led the 46-piece orchestra in the wonderfully exuberant fanfare opening of Francis Poulenc’s “Gloria.”
Holtan and the orchestra brought Poulenc’s gorgeously theatrical and spirited music to life, with crisp, brassy blasts and soaring woodwinds and strings that seemed to mock Mother Nature’s whiplash.
When the choir of 33 sang the uplifting “Gloria in excelsis Deo,” their sublime voices overflowed the loosely-filled sanctuary. For a hot minute, it seemed like the wind outside was slowing down to listen.
Friday was the first of three performances of “Gloria & Bernstein” to close out True Concord’s 20th anniversary season. It also is one the final events of the 2024 Tucson Desert Song Festival.
On Friday afternoon, Cabell ocassionally nodded along as the choir sang, waiting for her cue.
When the woodwinds and strings softened and tempered the fanfare, she stood up.
The audience had been waiting to hear Cabell’s lush, expressive soprano sing the serenity of the “Domine Deus, Rex celestis” as the choir and orchestra followed her lead with amazing beauty.
Cabell’s voice was built for the Poulenc, which she says is one of her all-time favorites. The contrasting harmonies seem to come effortlessly as she masterfully soared to that high end of her range in the “Domine Deus, Agnus Dei,” then settled into a shimmering warmth during the solemnity of the finale “In gloria Dei Patris.”
When she sang that final acapella “amen” and bowed her head, the audience burst into a thunderous applause.
One of the reasons “Gloria” so popular is because Poulenc took a sacred text, the ordinary Mass, and turned it into a rhythmic celebration. There’s no gnashing of teeth or deep sorrowful moans. Off-beat strings and contrasting harmonies that went from all-out orchestral romp to solemn quiet, then back to theatrical exuberance, reminded us of a parking lot tent revival of old.
Holtan paired the “Gloria” with a trio of works by Bernstein, including the Overture from “Candide” and his sacred “Chichester Psalms,” which featured the professional debut of Holtan’s 12-year-old son, Kristian, singing the boy soprano role.
Kristian, who sang for several years with the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus, had the confidence of a seasoned vocalist and a fairly controlled range as he sang the second movement of Psalm 23 (“The Lord is my shepherd”) in Hebrew.
When he was finished, he rushed off stage to the applause from the audience.
In what felt like an encore, Cabell rejoined the ensemble and the wonderfully voiced tenor Derek Chester at the end of the concert for Bernstein’s lush “Make Our Garden Grow” from “Candide.”
The concert repeats at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 6, and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 7, at Catalina Foothills High School, 4300 E. Sunrise Drive. Cabell also will perform a recital at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, at Holsclaw Hall, 1017 N. Olive Road at the University of Arizona School of Music. For tickets to that concert, which will be the finale to the Song Festival, visit trueconcord.org.
