“Of a rose is all my song // A fairer rose to mine liking / in all this world ne know I none” — 15th-century English poem
The first rose of the Bay Area holiday season is the San Francisco Choral Society’s concerts Nov. 9–10 at Trinity and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, marking the conclusion of the ensemble’s 35th-anniversary year. The 130-voice group is set to explore the theme of the Virgin Mary as the divine feminine in a program that mixes conventional and contemporary compositions.
The SF Choral Society is known for performing major works with orchestra, but in these concerts, the group highlights small-ensemble pieces on the first half, with a large composition on the second.
Giuseppe Verdi’s Laudi alla Vergine Maria (Praises to the Virgin Mary) from 1886 and Finnish composer Pekka Kostiainen’s Regina Angelorum (Queen of angels) from 1992 are an interesting pairing of smaller pieces. Artistic Director Robert Geary explains his interest in Verdi’s work: “It absolutely astonishes me what this man did with counterpoint and harmony. There is a mind-boggling fluency to it that takes you on the most expressive journey.”
Kostiainen’s piece invokes neoclassicism and tonal harmonies, which complement the natural environment of Finland itself. This work is personal for Geary, as the composer is a friend. “I have programmed his piece once before but with young people’s voices. [The score] is more classical in the sense that it is austere and not driven by 19th-century passionate expression. It is for double choir and creates a kind of atmospheric sound world that’s quite beautiful and somehow made secure by the clarity of its structure.”
Also on the program’s first half is the popular Ave Maria by the German composer Franz Biebl, which explores the richness and fervor that can be expressed by a low-voice choir “It was maybe an outgrowth of him being held as a World War II prisoner of war in Michigan before being returned to Austria,” Geary suggests. Biebl’s work is balanced by the great Renaissance composer Heinrich Isaac’s “Tota pulchra es” (You are all fair).
The broad and brassy Magnificat by John Rutter, written in 1990, is the big piece on the second half. By his own admission, Rutter’s rendition bears several similarities to Bach’s setting of Mary’s prayer. In particular, the English composer was influenced by Bach’s repetition of material in the first and last movements, his use of plainchant, and the presence of a soprano soloist in the more reflective sections. Geary’s relationship with the work is decades-long. “This is the moment in which Mary realizes she is pregnant, and Rutter captures the great, joyful content in his extremely cheerful English style.”
Geary himself is in his 30th year with the SF Choral Society and is happy to have welcomed many new members into the choir post-pandemic, continuing the group’s honored tradition of staging uniquely ambitious concerts.
