| Bach chorale a beauty Society's rendition cohesive, moving 04/09/2001 By Olin Chism / The Dallas Morning News Among the acknowledged masterpieces of music that receive short shrift around here are the large choral works of Bach. The shrift would be much shorter if it weren't for the Dallas Bach Society, the one performing organization that can be counted on to delve into this material with any regularity.
On Saturday evening, the society presented the lesser known of Bach's two great passions, the St. John Passion. The St. Matthew Passion is justifiably more popular, but one should not underestimate the St. John version, which has many beauties of its own. Bach seems to have written five passions in all, but the music for three of them is lost.
The St. John hasn't been performed professionally in Dallas for about five years, so another hearing was overdue.
The performance in the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation was a noble and often moving one, with James Richman leading from the harpsichord a chorus of fewer than 20 voices and a baroque orchestra of about the same number. The soloists mostly came from within the chorus, though there were a couple of exceptions.
The acoustics of the church are not notable for clarity, and some details were hard to hear, particularly in the orchestra during moments when all forces were engaged. Still, it seemed a cohesive performance, with the chorus sounding larger than it was.
Mr. Richman's pacing seemed proper throughout, and the wonderful chorales made one wish this kind of singing were the norm at all church services.
Among the soloists, the versatile Scot Cameron deserves special mention. Usually he is heard as a countertenor around here, but on Saturday night, he moved down to sing in tenor territory. His voice was as appealing there as in higher parts. In one tenor aria – "Look how his back" is the way its English translation begins – he passed a difficult test beautifully. The lengthy aria requires stamina and the ability to shape a long line.
The soprano soloist in the St. John Passion doesn't spend much time in the spotlight, but Lynn Eustis was impressive in those moments, singing with a lovely voice and taking care to project the mood of the words.
Filling other roles honorably were Kim Childs in the busy part of the evangelist, James LaFontaine, Clifton Massey singing the alto parts that Mr. Cameron usually takes, Jason Awbrey, Patrick Gnage, Peter Tigelaar and Audrey Keenan Brown.
The society supplied the audience with texts, including the original German and an English translation, and – unlike the Dallas Symphony – left the lights up so they could be read.
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