Published: May 09, 2006

Collaboration key to Brahms requiem

By ERIC SEAN WELD

AMHERST - Staging a performance of Johannes Brahms' expansive German Requiem requires successful collaboration among several groups and individuals on a range of levels.

The orchestra members must cooperatively sound their instruments in collective sync with the direction of their conductor. The vocal soloists have to meld their own parts with the breadth of the larger ensemble. Chorus members adjust to the styles of at least two conductors. And perhaps most importantly, the respective directors of the orchestra and chorus must combine their interpretations of the score as their groups join together in performance.

On Sunday, such a collaborative success - multiplied by the combination of two choral groups with the orchestra - was demonstrated in the performance of Brahms' Requiem by the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra (PVSO) and Chorus along with the Hampshire Choral Society at the University of Massachusetts Fine Arts Center.

More than 300 performers crowded on stage for the closing concert of the PVSO season on the date that marked the 173rd anniversary of the composer's birth. Their collaboration was not only on display in the accurate execution of the work's contrapuntal, multilayered score, but also on more subtle and essential levels.

Most notably, the sensitivity with which the orchestra, directed by Paul Phillips, and the massive combined chorus performed together was a necessary component for an effective delivery. The flexibility of the three ensembles was particularly impressive, especially considering their size.

The PVSO Chorus, directed by Alexandra Ludwig, and the Hampshire Choral Society, directed by Allan Taylor, exercised a wide dynamic range, even as the combined ensembles were often scored en masse.

From the first movement of the seven-part piece, ''Selig sind, die da Leid tragen (Blessed are they that mourn),'' the 250 vocalists showed their ability to react to the shape of the orchestra's sound with a sensitive opening that introduced the work's main themes.

In particular, during the movement's feathery middle section, as the flutes and clarinets weaved among the vocal voicings, the chorus hovered with deft balance. As the piece built and the full orchestra rose in volume, the chorus unleashed its breadth alongside, setting the tone for the remainder of the monumental work.

Brahms' Requiem, which was first performed in 1868, broke new ground in the European compositional world, moving away from the traditional requiem arrangement and focusing at times on individual passages. It also breaks new ground in its treatment of text, drawing from different sources than its predecessors. Brahms' Requiem solidified his stature among the most prominent composers of the era.

Still, as Brahms demonstrates in his symphonies, he was not shy in his use of the entire ensemble at his disposal, and his requiem frequently unleashes the collective force of all the musicians on stage. Those moments, such as in the first, fourth and sixth movements, were some of the most glorious on Sunday, managed with a sonorous balance of vocal and instrumental rhapsody.

Again, during the exquisite third movement, ''Herr, lehre doch mich, dass ein Ende (Lord, make me to know mine end),'' when soloist David Kravitz's baritone knifed through the hall, the accompanying ensembles provided a pliable pad of support. The fifth movement, ''Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit (And ye now therefore have sorrow),'' was a platform for soloist Elizabeth Keusch, whose pure soprano injected palpable emotion and genuineness into the piece.

Here, the work of the flutes and oboes mingled perfectly with Keusch's soprano, and the woodwinds sections' performance was particularly strong during the entire piece. The strength of its individual performances aside, the orchestra was most formidable in its accompaniment of the chorus, when it ably flowed and ebbed with the vocal fluctuations, a testimony to its discipline and management by Phillips.

The Pioneer Valley Symphony and Chorus closed out its 67th season, once again having raised its own bar of quality with the performance of Brahms. And though the three ensembles and the soloists on stage Sunday displayed their respective solidity, the star of the show was the successful collaboration.