I went to Roy Thomson Hall last night to hear an all Vaughan Williams program conducted by Peter Oundjian.  It’s not really my thing but there was a fine quartet of soloists lined up for the Serenade to Music.

Things got going with the Fantasia on “Greensleeves” which was perfectly OK if a bit hackneyed.  There was a decent account of the Concerto for Oboe and Strings with Sarah Jeffrey as the soloist.  Then there was the Serenade.  For some reason the soloists were lined up with the choir (the Elmer Iseler singers) behind the orchestra.  The result was sonic mush and textual porridge.  I caught exactly one word of the text; “stratagems” for what it’s worth.  The rest was not recognisable as English, let alone understandable.  And, of course, it was too dark to read the supplied text.  This despite soloists; Carla Huhtanen, Emily D’Angelo, Lawrence Wiliford and Tyler Duncan, who are consistently excellent with text. This is becoming very annoying.  As often as not when I go to see the TSO do vocal works the soloists are either inaudible or incomprehensible.  I know the hall is difficult but the performance of the Ryan Requiem last week showed that it is possible to showcase singers.  I think it’s really unfair to audiences and singers alike.  Anyway, I was so fed up that I left at the interval.

Photo credit: Jag Gundu