New Jersey Symphony Orchestra – John J. Miller, conductor. May 11, 2012.

The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ, Preferred Seating ($25).

Program

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, “Choral” by Beethoven (1770-1827).

Artists

Archdiocesan Festival and Cathedral Choirs

Elizabeth Perryman, Soprano; Mary Clare McAlee, Mezzo-Soprano; Theodore Chletsos, Tenor; Gustavo Ahualli, Bass-Baritone

Recently we went to all three of the New York Philharmonic "Modern Beethoven" series and heard six of the symphonies.  We also found out about this concert while we were at NJ PAC, and we had known for a while about the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark.  Since the tickets cost $25 each to boot, it was a no brainer.  We got up at around 6:30 am this morning for a meeting (in Lancaster, PA), and didn’t get back home until around 5 pm, so we felt a little rushed.  Parking was not a problem – the church had a reasonably sized lot, and we got there early enough to get a space.

The cathedral is quite cavernous, high ceiling, traditional layout, and seats quite a few (they can crowd 4000 in, not sure how many seats.)  It may be a great place for holding worship services, but as a concert hall it certainly has it shortcomings.  First, even though we were seated in the choir section, the stage (apse and transept) is quite high and consequently we had a limited view of the performers beyond the first row violinists.  We couldn’t tell if the choir was already seated (turns out it was.)  The construction of the apse and the high ceiling make the hall a great echo chamber.  All the voices (instrument and vocal) sounded as if they had gone through a blender, and there was a reverb of two seconds or so when the music was done (I kind of counted after the last note was played.)  The good news for the artists is there is a charitable excuse for the muddled performance, and a muddled performance it was.

With the correct yardstick, the overall performance is not that bad.  But the yardstick would be one appropriate for an amateur organization, not a professional one: everyone mostly sang in tune, the orchestra – especially the strings - was reasonably precise (at least appeared to be), and the conductor kept good time, with a bit of dynamics thrown in every now and then.  The soloists all shouted, but were heard clearly (I think they were in front and their voices didn’t suffer as much processing.)  On the down side, the timpani sounded out of tune, the choir sopranos couldn’t quite get to the high notes, and the conductor did little more than keeping time.

Despite all my unease, I still found myself enjoying the concert.  I can also appreciate the effort put in by the organizers and performers to make this happen.  The audience certainly showed their appreciation by their long ovation.

This must be a big deal for the Diocese of Newark.  It is therefore quite inexplicable how they messed up the cover of the program: Beethoven (1740-1792).  Web search says these are the dates for Johann van Beethoven, Ludwig’s father.

It took us a good 20 minutes to get out of the parking lot afterwards.  We had more than enough time to listen to my iPod’s version of the last movement.  It sounded like a completely different piece of music, even allowing for the engineering that could happen with the recording.