The Musica Divina choir, accompanied by orchestral strings and continuo, under the direction of esteemed Lembit Avesson held their fall season concert at St. Peter's Lutheran church on October 31st. The programme included excerpts from Vivaldi's Gloria; Mozart's Missa Brevis and the premiere of Avesson's own Psalms of Praise.

The choir had a full sound in the famous opening movement of the Vivaldi Gloria, making for an appropriate balance with the strings, which did not overpower the choir. The second excerpt began with the orchestra and a nice violin solo, which was played in a heartfelt, lyrical manner. The soprano soloist in this movement stayed nicely in tune, but used noticeably excessive vibrato and had trouble keeping time.

In the Domine Fili movement the choir sounded full and rich, partly because the alto selection was in thick and solid voice, making for excellent balance. The strings were vigorous, and in tune, matching the choir very nicely.

In the Kyrie of Mozart's Missa Brevis, the soprano soloist was often over-powered by the orchestra. There was a nice sense of ensemble in the choir, and very solid instrumental passages.

In the Gloria, there were nice solo vocal passages, although the tenor soloist could have been louder and much more solid. I thought that more attention to dynamics would have added to the overall effect. For example, the soprano soloist could have sung much louder. The orchestra played much louder than the soloist sang - although the strings adopted a healthy volume, which should have been matched by the soloist.

A very good decision by Mr. Avesson was to have the orchestra play something without the choir, as an interlude. The selection was Vivaldi's Concerto in Sol minore per 2 Violoncelli, featuring cello soloists Carina Reeves and Felix Deak. This virtuostic baroque work is very fast, energetic, and youthful - making its performance a nice contrast to the mature choir. The cellists both played very well, keeping to the brisk tempo established by Mr. Avesson.

The last number in the programme was the premiere of Avesson's Psalms of Praise. This piece is rooted in the neo-romantic style. The soprano soloist, again, used excessive vibrato, which distracted from the actual melody. But over all, the choir did a good job, holding their chords amidst dissonance from the strings.

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