Music Reviews : Festival Closes With ‘Alexander’s Feast’

The 15th annual Long Beach Bach Festival closed with a feast. “Alexander’s Feast,” that is, Handel’s infrequently heard setting of Dryden’s “Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day,” heard Sunday at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church.

Conductor David Wilson presided over a rhythmically charged, exuberant reading marked by telling contrasts and a fine sense of line. The 46 singers produced a full, vibrant tone, bright in color, though not blended into a fully unified sound. Sopranos tended to dominate (not surprisingly, since their numbers equaled the combined tenor and bass total), but balances were on the whole quite acceptable.

Wilson is one of a handful of conductors who places the baton in his left hand, though it hardly appeared that anyone was thrown off by that. Indeed, the orchestra played with tautness and mettle, and--but for a moment or two--considerable accuracy.

The most effective of the three vocal soloists was tenor Donald Brinegar, whose vocal purity, superb control and clarity of enunciation made his lines especially communicative. Hector Vasquez’s bass proved memorably dramatic, and he sang with a full, resonant voice and with great conviction and authority. Soprano Brenda Reinebach displayed a ringing, pretty voice but little clarity, and her intonation not infrequently went slightly askew.

Replicating Handel’s own 1736 performances, Wilson elected to insert Handel’s Harp Concerto, Opus 4, No. 6, into Sunday’s reading. It proved a delightful interlude, as stylishly and sensitively delivered by harpist Marcia Dickstein.