Christmas Concert

Having been deprived this year of the traditional services of Christmas music by the Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society in Memorial Church, the faithful trooped over to Sanders last Friday evening to hear the same forces, joined by the Bach Society Orchestra, offer season's greetings to the Cambridge community. Despite the changed locale and program, the atmosphere, which makes these concerts an annual success, was unchanged; and if the performances were not classically ideal, the large audience seemed, nevertheless, very well satisfied.

The resources of this chorus are such that even when their singing is not perfect, it is of such high quality that one feels ungrateful in pointing out such faults as intonation problems and a rough tone here and there. The performance in general is so polished that a missed entrance or an orchestral flub is quickly overshadowed by an unexpectedly outstanding passage, such as in Gevaert's "Le Sommeil de L'enfant Jesus" when the chorus' exquisite pianissimo was breathtaking.

It is also no detriment to any concert to have a soloist like O'Brien Nicholas, whose work over the past few years has been so consistently brilliant that the most one can say is that she sounds even better this year than before. Thomas Beveridge sang with his dependable musicality. And Sharon Price, breaking into the clique, provided the contrast of a more personal and emotional interpretation of her aria which followed an identical one by Miss Nicholas in the opening Bach Cantata.

The orchestra, led by John Harbison in the Bach and in Mozart's 18th Symphony in F major, has made an immense improvement over its first concert earlier this year. The tone, although still tentative-sounding, is more unified and much warmer, and the intonation is better. There is room for more variety in dynamics and a little more grace and awareness of details which would have especially added charm to the Mozart. Harbison's readings are entirely straightforward, concentrating on a good sound rather than interpretive depth; but the notes were, for the most part, well played.

Bach's Cantata No. 142, which opened the program, has probably never had the benefit of a larger chorus, but the performance was remarkably gentle. The chorus did not sound overwhelmingly loud, but the orchestra was simply inaudible when there was singing going on.

After intermission, Elliot Forbes, conductor of the Glee Club and Choral Society, conducted a group of Christmas pieces, including a large group of modern works, and ending with three carols by Peter Warlock, whose orchestration sounded like something out of Hollywood. But they were an effective finish to a very enjoyable concert, and sent the audience home cheerful and happy.