Masterworks Chorale takes listeners on a journey

Most were conducted by Masterworks Artistic Director Bryan Baker; some were led by Assistant Conductor Erin Moore. Some had piano accompaniment, provided by Inara Morgenstern; some were unaccompanied. All had lyrics that reflected in some way on life’s landmarks and events, relying on the musical accompaniment to convey the inexpressible part of the feelings.

Some of the pieces were cheerful, like Carol Hall’s “Jenny Rebecca,” a celebration of a friend’s newborn child, accompanied on a screen with photos of children of chorus members. Others had the theme of keeping hope in hard times, such as “Please Stay” by Jake Runestad and “Prayer” by Morten Lauridsen. The COVID epidemic was an instance of those hard times, particularly for a chorus which could not meet in person. “Distance can’t keep us two apart” by Chen Yi, setting a Chinese proverb on friendship, seemed perfectly suited for that theme.

One piece was whimsical in its lyrics. The text of “Musical Risotto” by Jonathan Willcocks consists entirely of Italian technical terms for the speed, volume, force and other characteristics of musical performance, each word or phrase sung in the manner that it prescribes (Or as close to it as possible, as “pizzicato” means “pluck strings” and that can’t be done with voices. Staccato had to suffice). Cheeky melodic clips from Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” and Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” enliven the process.

Fortunately, Masterworks has clear enough diction that some, at least, of the words in all these compositions could be made out by the listener.

Masterworks is a strong and vigorous choir of more than 75 voices, whose sound carried well in this church. The singers had a fine ability to convey the formal, even ravishing beauty of works by established choral composers Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre and Stephen Paulus. Some of the other works — Runestad’s “Please Stay” among them — had a similar quality.

So did “Being Here” by Monica Chew, commissioned by Masterworks and premiered at this concert. As did the Chen Yi work, this celebrated the firm establishment of this chorus in the face of pandemic and other challenges. The music was lovely, particularly for a section where the main body of the chorus hummed while little spots of descant singing appeared above it.

A few works that were more dissonant or modernist gave the chorus more difficulty in staying in tune. But the entire ensemble was splendid in the final piece, Moses Hogan’s spiritual “Walk Together, Children.” The singing rang out boldly and the rhythm swung with ease as a spiritual should.

Besides the formal choral compositions, the concert also included a pair of audience singalong songs: “Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin and another song featuring blue skies, “Over the Rainbow” by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. The audience seemed more familiar with the latter song than the former.

This was the final concert of Masterworks’ 2023-24 season. The next season has yet to be announced.