Thomas Wikman Reviews
Baroque Offers An Evening Of Mighty Music
Chicago Tribune Sunday, November 8, 1998
by Dan Tucker, Special to the Tribune
Fine performers make music sound better -
that's obvious enough -
but the reverse is true
too: Genuinely great
music, such as Bach's "Mass in
B Minor," makes its performers
outdo themselves. And when they
are as good to start with as the
singers and players of Music of
Baroque, the result is dazzling.
For the Performance Thursday
at Evanston's First United Methodist Church -
the first of four
- conductor Thomas Wikman put
together eight solo singers, a
chorus and an orchestra all able
to meet Bach's gigantic challenge.
They did not merely perform the
music, they combined with it, and
the result was an evening of
mighty music.
From the opening "Kyrie" - six
words of text which Bach built
into 15 minutes of musical wonder
- it was clear that this
performance would be out of the
ordinary.
Each section of the 36-member
choir entered with its own focus
and color. Sopranos, altos, tenors
and basses all had separate
personalities, distinguishable even
when singing. The full chorus was
not so much a blending of sounds
as a joining of forces for an
immensely powerful effect.
One test of a choir is how
clearly it can bring out the rapid
running passages typical of
baroque music. These singers
articulated the weaving lines as
clearly as a string quartet could.
