A FITTING OPENING FOR SCHROEDER HALL

by Terry McNeill

Saturday, August 23, 2014

A choral concert by the Sonoma Bach Choir was a fitting opening for the new Schroeder Hall at Sonoma State University on Aug. 23. After all, the idea for the Green Music Center came many years ago from Don Green, who at the time was singing in the Bach Choir, conducted then and now by Bob Worth.

The program offered an eclectic mixture of voice and organ music that was often preceded by Mr. Worth's erudite commentary and his reading of various poems. David Parsons was the versatile organist commanding the impressive Brombaugh tracker organ.

Beginning with the "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the organist and the 50-voice choir moved through a stimulating series of a full Bach cantata ("Der Herr denket an uns") and three Bach organ pieces, finishing with the Leipzig master's majestic "Gratias agimus tibi" from the B Minor Mass. Byrd and Monteverdi works were also part of the mix, including Monteverdi's wonderful Psalm 126, "Nisi Dominus."

Three soloists were featured in the cantata: soprano Dianna Richardson, tenor David Stohlmann and bass Tim Marson. Each of them could be distinctly heard, a vocal clarity that wasn't always present when the choir was at full throttle, as in the Beethoven. Perhaps the hall can be subsequently tuned with the red upper-wall curtains?

Mr. Worth's conducting was everywhere exact, and he drew from his choir an absorbing fusion of sonority that honored both the hall and the selected compositions.