Review: All-Night Vigil

Grant Gershon

Conductor, Grant Gershon

By Penny Orloff

Grant Gershon conducts Rachmaninoff’s a cappella masterpiece, All-Night Vigil, to open his 10th season as Music Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale on September 26 at Disney Hall.

The Chorale’s entire 2010-11 season celebrates Gershon’s remarkable decade at the helm of the renowned choir, and features some of the most compelling musical highlights of his tenure – a veritable “playlist” of his favorites that includes new interpretations of standard repertoire accented, in Gershon’s trademark tradition, by a mix of contemporary works that break down cultural and musical barriers.

“For my 10th Anniversary Season, I wanted to open with a piece that I dearly love, that showcases the singers,” Gershon says. “Rachmaninoff wrote this as a symphony for voices. It’s one of those legendary pieces in the choral world – talked about in hallowed tones. It’s a monumental undertaking, rarely performed.”

Composed on the eve of World War I and considered the crowning achievement of the “Golden Age” of Russian Orthodox sacred choral music, the 70-minute Rachmaninoff work is not exactly “standard repertoire.” Gershon first conducted it with the Chorale in November 2006. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for the singers to shine,” he says. “The work is so demanding. Every section of the choir sings at its very limits, in terms of range, intensity, dynamics, and sheer endurance. There is no other piece in the literature, for example, that takes the basses this low. Rachmaninoff wrote it for the extreme low range of the Russian basses.”

Based on medieval chants and Russian Orthodox liturgy, the text is in Church Slavonic, says Gershon, “which is another challenge for the choir. And it’s so lush – there are layers of dynamics and choral colors. Disney Hall is just perfect for the intricacies of this piece, because of the incredible acoustics.”

An L.A. area native and USC graduate, Gershon served as Assistant Conductor/Principal Pianist with the L.A. Opera from 1988 to 1994, making his successful L.A. Opera conducting debut in 2008 with eight performances of Verdi’s La Traviata. On September 23, Gershon leads the world premiere performances of Daniel Catán’s highly anticipated Il Postino, starring Plácido Domingo at the L.A. Opera

Gershon has also appeared as guest conductor with Los Angeles Philharmonic. “I grew up in L.A.,” Gershon says, “and I reflect back on all the wonderful music I heard as a youngster at the Music Center. It is a huge honor, and big responsibility, to be making music now with people I grew up listening to. I feel giddy with enthusiasm for all the things I get to do,” he laughs. “There is no place I’d rather be than right here, right now.”

For tickets and information about the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s 2010-11 season at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, please call (213) 972-7282, or log on to www.lamc.org

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