Early publicity for Friday’s (Sept. 16) performance of Mozart’s “Requiem” by the Bach Collegium San Diego touted the musical event as a memorial concert for the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Given the short attention span of the American public, however, by the time last Sunday’s media, civic and religious observances were completed, that topic was exhausted and had evaporated from the collective consciousness.

At this “Requiem” performance at St. James Episcopal Church in La Jolla, nothing was said about dedicating the music to anyone’s memory, although on the printed program, the words “In Memoriam” were discreetly placed below the title of the work. In truth, it is unlikely that anyone attended the concert for such pious or patriotic reasons.

Music Director Ruben Valenzuela has made an enviable reputation giving fresh, invigorating interpretations to the classics of Baroque choral—and even operatic—repertory, and no doubt most of his audience was as curious as I was to see what he would do with the always thrilling but problematic valedictory opus of W.A. Mozart.

Valenzuela did not disappoint. By using period instruments and Robert D. Levin’s revised, slimmed-down orchestration (because Mozart died before completing the “Requiem,” three of his students composed most of the orchestration), he minimized the orchestra’s role and focused on the dramatic and rhetorical power of the chorus. With a mere 21 voices he evoked the might and sweep of a massive festival chorus: his heaven-storming “Kyrie,” for example, became an impassioned demand for mercy rather than a plea, and his “Dies Irae”—that choral fresco of the Last Judgement—unleashed a fury that could frighten even those who have no credence in an afterlife.

The lithe Bach Collegium unleashed a spirited vigor in Mozart’s fugues that larger (and consequently less nimble) choirs cannot match, and Valenzuela knows how to accent the strong syllables of a fugue subject to create a vibrant texture that suggests the intricacy of a Gaudi tower. The choir’s articulation of “Quam olim Abrahae promisisti,” a fugue that appears twice in the “Offertorium,” made Mozart’s underlying harmonies even more poignant and delicious.

We were treated to an additional fugue, a setting of the “Amen” at the conclusion of the “Lacrimosa,” that neither Mozart nor his students got around to writing. It sounded sufficiently congruent to the style of the rest of the “Requiem”—perhaps a few too many pedal points—although the program notes did not clarify whether Levin’s “Amen” was based on a Mozart sketch for this movement found in 1960 by the German musicologist Wolfgang Plath or was entirely conceived by Levin.

Valenzuela’s vocal quartet proved splendid, always energetic and sonically rich, like a charged ensemble from one of Mozart’s great operas. Three of the soloists (all but the alto Angela Young Smucker) had sung together as soloists the Bach Collegium San Diego performance of Bach’s “St. John Passion” in April, which only strengthened their ensemble blend.

I particularly admired bass Mischa Bouvier’s rich, solemn timbre and the ease with which he negotiated his lines. Equally supple was soprano Claire Fedoruk, and the strength of her upper range with its glorious shimmer ennobled the “Recordare” section of the “Sequence.” Smucker’s dark alto was appropriate for the “Requiem,” but it did not carry as well as the other voices in the dry acoustic of St. James Church. I did not find Pablo Corá’s reedy tenor quality persuasive in his solo work, but it functioned well in the quartet. Like his vocal colleagues, his articulation and phrasing were never less than stylish and confident.

The absence of Associate Director Pierre Joubert in his usual place as concertmaster took a toll on the both the secure ensemble and authority of the violin section. His work with the strings has always elevated the instrumental performances of the Bach Collegium, and I trust he will return for the remainder of the new season. Fortunately, the continuo players (organ, cellos, bassoons and violone) provided their customary unswerving foundational security, and the brass (natural trumpets and sackbuts) shone with muscular precision and vivacity. The midrange woodwinds chose to be the weak link with questionable intonation.

The “Requiem” made for a rather short evening, although Valenzuela included the familiar Mozart motet “Ave Verum Corpus,” another late sacred work, as a delicate coda to the fervor of the “Requiem.” As the gentleman behind me said when the hour-long performance ended, “It is better to leave wanting more than to spend the concert glancing at your watch wondering when it will be over.”

This program repeats Satruday, September 17, at 7:30 p.m in Crill Hall at Point Loma Nazarene University.

Press Here for Program and Bios