MUSIC REVIEW : Chorale Sings Brahms Requiem at Orange Coast

Major works--with a capital M--have occupied most of the choral programs at Orange Coast College, where Richard Raub has taught for nearly 18 years.

One of those works favored by Raub is “Ein Deutsches Requiem” by Brahams, which the Orange Coast Chorale and Singers performed Saturday at the Robert Moore Theatre. This performance, which must have been satisfying for the singers to give, was gratifying to hear, because Raub brought the same scholarship to his conducting as he brought into his concise program notes.

Judicious tempos, well-planned dynamic contrasts and above all a clear understanding of the text made this, for the most part, a highly cogent reading. Sung in German, the words emerged with clarity, and crisp releases evidenced an alert ensemble.

Yet all was not well. The sopranos, who tended to use more vibrato than the other sections, encountered frequent pitch problems and demonstrated a noticeable lack of breath support. Soft passages proved most troublesome, and the entire ensemble seemed to find it impossible to sing with real intensity at lower dynamic levels.

LeRoy Villanueva brought urgency and telling drama to the baritone solos, singing with a full, resonant voice and apparently effortless control. Soprano Mary Rawcliffe produced a delightful sound and rendered musical lines expressively, but gave a garbled delivery of the text.

Some painful brass intonation notwithstanding, the orchestra (a professional pick-up group) played with sensitivity and precision, although Raub allowed the trombones to overpower in the “Herr, du bist wurdig” section of the sixth movement.

The orchestra opened the program with a finely honed reading of Brahms’ “Haydn” Variations, in which a larger string section would have been most helpful.