SANTA FE, N.M. — The Santa Fe Desert Chorale celebrated its 44th year with compelling performances at its annual summer festival. Consisting of 24 professional singers led by artistic director Joshua Habermann, the ensemble has established itself as one of the premier choirs in the nation and is one of the few that excels in a variety of styles, extending from the Renaissance period up through the present day.
Augmented by eight singers, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale created a sonic paradise at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi on July 30 with a stellar account of Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil. The ensemble’s superbly tailored dynamics and diction produced an emotional triumph that connected extremely well with the packed church, which seats 800.
Rachmaninoff’s choral masterpiece takes a little over an hour to sing, but the Desert Chorale’s exceptional delivery seemed to make time fly by. The artistic and emotional level was heavenly. The ensemble blend allowed one to hear all sections, and tenor John Ramseyer handled the solos superbly with a clarion voice that could cut through the choir.
Overall, the sound of the ensemble was creamy smooth and warm but had plenty of verve. The crescendos were magnificent and expansive. It seemed that there would be a lot of reverberation in the large nave of the Basilica, but there was none. Also delicious to the ear were enticing decrescendos that drew concertgoers into contemplative moments.
Especially impressive was how all of the voices in the choir would cut out and expose one section that would hold a tone — sustaining it like a bridge over a valley — until the other sections rejoined. This happened three times in the ninth movement (“Blessed art Thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes”), with the tenors and altos doing the honors. The same stylistic device was successfully executed by the sopranos in the 10th movement (“Having beheld the resurrection of Christ”) and the tenors again in the 12th (“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace”).
Another memorable moment occurred when the basses sailed into the 11th movement (“My soul magnifies the Lord”) with the words that are usually sung by women because they are attributed to the Virgin Mary. The men elicited the joy of Mary to the fullest.
Habermann used a variety of gestures to sculpt the sound, and some of his subtlest gestures were absolutely stunning. It didn’t take much to get the singers soaring into a glorious triple-forte. The conductor also got everyone to stop on a dime. I have sung with many choirs, and this kind of thing is what we dream about and aim for. After the final “Amen” decayed into the stained-glass windows, the audience responded with an immediate and prolonged standing ovation.
Two nights later, on Aug. 1, the Desert Chorale returned to the Basilica with a completely different program. For this concert, entitled Renaissance Splendor, the choir sang works that showed the influence of Italy and Spain on the early Baroque period. Attentive diction in Latin, Hebrew, German, and Spanish conveyed each piece. Some were a cappella while others were accompanied by the Incantare ensemble of violins and sackbuts with Richard Savino on theorbo and baroque guitar and Maxine Thévenot on an electronic organ imitating the sound of a portative.
Highlighting the concert, the ensemble made a stellar turn through Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere mei, Deus (Have Mercy upon Me, O God). With part of the choir in front of the audience, part in back, and Habermann in the middle of the nave, the piece, which features five high Cs, achieved an ethereal quality. The soprano soloist delivered those notes fearlessly and improvised the last one up to an E-flat, which sounded eerie and beautiful simultaneously. In his introductory remarks, Habermann said improvisation was allowed in such works and both Mozart and Mendelssohn at very young ages were thought to have notated the closely guarded piece after hearing it once or twice in the Sistine Chapel. Whether or not that was the stuff of legend, Habermann, with tongue in cheek, noted that we shouldn’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.
The Desert Chorale opened the program with a rousing “Plaudite” (Applaud) by Giovanni Gabrieli that transported listeners to Venice’s St. Mark’s Basilica. Claudio Monteverdi’s “Beatus vir” (Blessed is the Man) also lifted spirits, painting the religious text with rich vocal and instrumental sonorities. The a cappella motet Versa est in luctum (It turned into Mourning), written by the Spanish composer Alonso Lobo upon the death of Phillip II, draped the church in solemnity.
The choir masterfully evoked the festive joy of Heinrich Schütz’s Psalm 100, SWV 36 (Jauchzet dem Herren alle Welt), and Thomás Luis de Victoria’s motet Vidi speciosam (I Saw the Beautiful One) received a polished interpretation that emphasized the lyricism of the text. Delving into Jewish liturgical music, the singers forcefully expressed “Shir Hamma’alot” (Song of Ascents), creating a harmonious and stately effect.
A pause in the vocal fireworks put the spotlight on Incantare, which played Bastian Chilese’s Canzon Vigesimaseconda, Rossi’s Bergamasca and Suite of Dances, and Francisco Guerrero’s En tanto que de rosa y azucena. Amid the collection’s prevailing verve and sonic variety, the Guerrero came across as mild and uninteresting.
After returning to join the instrumentalists, the singers aptly conveyed the fervid lament of “Una Sañosa Porfía” (A Cruel Fate) by Juan del Encina and the frustration of the love-sick in Encina’s “Amor con Fortuna” (Love and Fortune).
The concert concluded with the high-spirited and lighthearted “Un Sarao de la Chacona” (A Dance Party) by Juan Arañés. The infectious tune embraced a lively rhythm, evoking a wedding celebration that got out of hand with dancing shepherdesses, a blind man and his cane, brawling guests, and a braying donkey.
The festival’s final concert, on Aug. 2, also took place at the Basilica, this time featuring new pieces exploring the theme of home. These included the world premieres of works by Shavon Lloyd, Shawn Kirchner, and Moira Smiley and recent pieces by Alex Berko and Ukrainian composer Taja Astar.
The program began with Berko’s Sacred Place, which the composer describes as an ecological service with texts from Wendell Berry, John Muir, William Stafford, Rabindranath Tagore, and a traditional Jewish prayer. Augmented by piano, cello, and violin, the ensemble delivered intoxicating, multilayered harmonies that built a strong appeal to take care of our planet. The choir created echoing bell-like tones and a feeling of longing in Cranes Coming Home, which Astar wrote in Sweden, her adoptive country.
The singers amplified the warm and generous spirit of Shavon Lloyd’s The Guest House, which uses poetry by the Persian mystic Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī. Commissioned by the Santa Fe Desert Chorale Commissioning Club, this piece began and ended with whispered text as if invoking a prayer. Drawing on the biblical story of the Prodigal Son, Kirchner’s The Great Refuge refashioned three hymns in a mesmerizing way that reached a powerful climax when the ensemble sang “Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for thy courts above.”
Moira Smiley’s Home brought the concert to a close on a deeply moving note with text inspired by Maya Angelou and James Baldwin to give future generations “a sweet home and dignity for all.” Placed in the middle of the ensemble, Smiley sang solo lines that floated smoothly above the choir’s folk-like harmonic textures.
