Variant 6 presents RE/IMAGINE

The concert exploring this often-taken-for-granted combination was the first time the ensemble has collaborated with an organist, and it opened with one of the evening’s highlights, A Prayer for Peace. This beautiful short 2014 work by British composer Gabriel Jackson (b. 1962) is set for treble voices (here Beebe and Myers), beginning with mystical-sounding organ chords as the sopranos seemingly hover in the ether. Jackson set an ancient French text by Charles, Duc d’Orleans (1394-1465) filled with longing and lament, and the often-unison singing was so seamlessly meshed that it seemed like one plaintive voice.

Harmonics by Howells

Next was another of the concert’s most affecting works, the well-loved Like as the hart desireth the waterbrooks by British composer Herbert Howells (1892-1983). In 1941, Howells set these first three verses of Psalm 42 as a moving plea, writing while London was under the near-continual air assault of the World War II blitz. The work vibrates with heartbreaking desire for serenity and communion, graced with a rich organ score perfectly shaped to the vocals, and the ensemble presented it with beauty and sensitivity.

The program also featured Thee will I love, my God and King, a less familiar Howells work that sets a heartfelt 24-line, three-stanza poem by Robert Bridges (1844-1930), Britain’s early 20th-century Poet Laureate. Matching Bridges’s dense writing—blank verse studded with interior and slant rhyme—Howells wrote dramatically for voices and organ, the music soaring to the end, then diminishing to a prayer. A major anthem written in 1970, near the end of Howells’s long career, it is contemporary in feel but carries his unmistakable harmonic vocabulary.

A Boyle premiere

Two contemporary works by Benjamin C.S. Boyle (b.1979) matched Howells in scope and excellence. For Down with the Rosemary, he set a madrigal-like text of 16th-century poet Robert Herrick that chronicles the year from its holiday greens to the fresh greens of summer, and Boyle’s lush and changing harmonics perfectly mirrored this charming text. Splendor and Honor, written in 2004, had never been performed, and this was a world premiere. The work had a shining opening that was splendid indeed, with Beebe intoning the title word in a high register at full volume, its biblical text lauding the glories of God’s creation suffused with rich harmonies and graced with a satisfying resolution. Boyle, present at the concert, received a well-deserved ovation.

The concert’s first half closed with the stirring anthem Worthy is the Lamb by British composer Joanna March (b.1970). This text from the Book of Revelation is best-known from Handel’s oratorio Messiah, and March also leaned into its drama with chewy writing for the organ.

Poulenc and Rolland

There was a brief intermission not indicated in the printed program, somewhat confusing the audience, and the second half of the evening began with Litanies à la Vierge Noire (Litany to the Black Virgin), written in 1936 by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) using text he heard while on a pilgrimage. It was Poulenc’s very first piece of sacred music, written for a three-part choir of women or children and here beautifully performed by the two sopranos, alto Dubenion-Smith, and tenor Dan Taylor. The modal work echoed Catholic chants, and the unique organ part often consisted of single notes or only pedals, concluding with a beautifully sculpted Agnus Dei.

Next came three contemporary French works. Caligaverunt oculi mei (My eyes are darkened) by Grégoire Rolland (b.1989) was sung by a male quartet in this, its US premiere. The mystical piece prominently features the organ, with snatches of chant peering through solid, dense harmonics. Felix namque es (Thou art happy) for sopranos and tenor and Sancta et immaculata (Holy and immaculate) for sopranos and alto both by Thomas Lacôte (b.1982) both had texts honoring the Virgin Mary, musically stacked with intertwining, extended chords for the organ that sometimes sounded almost like an electronic instrument. These three works are perhaps more interesting to sing than to hear.

A worthy concert

The concert closed with a major anthem by French composer Lili Boulanger (1893-1918), a setting of Psalm 24, La terre appartient (The earth is the Lord’s). Boulanger’s promising career was cut short by her tragic early death and works like this—opening with muscular writing, huge chords, and martial-like passages for the men and concluding with eloquent writing for both voice and organ—underscore what she might have accomplished in a longer life.

This worthy concert was beautifully sung, and Walthausen played the church’s somewhat colorless organ with his usual sensitivity and virtuosity. But several shortcomings hampered the evening’s overall impact. Singers moved at random, seemingly by choice rather than of necessity. In a concert of unfamiliar works like this, some contextual program notes would have been helpful. And these carefully chosen selections were not programmed with a sense of continuity, build, or forward motion. Still, it was illuminating to be introduced to many works new to us hearers, and the musicians were in top form for their appreciative, substantial audience.