Music Reviews : Riga Chamber Choir at Latvian Song Festival

The close-knit Southland Latvian community turned out several thousand strong Sunday afternoon to hear the Ave Sol Chamber Choir from Riga perform at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach.

Their pride, exemplified in a Latvian-only printed program, was fully justified by an exceptional musical experience.

The 16 men and 20 women of the group produced none of the effulgent, too-often opaque choral sound so dear to Western ears. Their pure, bright, alternately sweet and sour timbre and easy, natural vocal production, founded on centuries of singing Lettish words, allowed possibilities of coloration unexplored in song based in Teutonic, Slavic and Romance language traditions.

At its most startling, the sound made by the men going full tilt at the top of their range might be described as well-disciplined braying. In context, this was not only not unattractive, it conveyed deceptive naivete in music that was frequently of great harmonic complexity.

Arrangements of Latvian folk music by modern Lett composers--Pauls Damblis, Emilis Melngailis, Jekabs Graubins--freely elaborated on an already striking ethnic tradition: multiple vocal lines (way beyond standard four-part harmony), close intervals, simultaneous, unrelated melodies and rhythms, passages of humming and chanting, magical antiphonal effects.

Performed in native costume, these songs were occasionally accompanied by folk instruments such as wood blocks and small chimes shaken like a baby’s rattle.

Following “Starpbridis” (intermission), the chorus, in evening dress, celebrated Latvia’s Lutheran heritage in a profoundly reverent, musically demanding cantata by L. Garuta.

The singers rewarded Imants Kokars’s masterful direction throughout with perfect a cappella pitch, virtuoso dynamic control and seemingly inborn musicianship.