Boston Classical Review

Michael Barrett led Boston Cecilia in an program of works by Asian composers Saturday night in Brookline.

It is no small feat to present a concert comprised largely of unfamiliar repertoire. Under the direction of music director Michael Barrett, Boston Cecilia’s season finale on Saturday night at All Saints Parish in Brookline embraced this challenge with conviction, offering a timely and thoughtful tribute to Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. 

The program featured composers of East, South, Southeast, and West Asian descent, and while much of the harmonic language remained rooted in Western traditions, the cultural authenticity and expressive integrity of each work came through compellingly. Ranging from folk songs to meditations on war and remembrance, the program reflected a richly woven tapestry of human experience.

The evening opened with Çamdan Sakız Akıyor, a short Turkish folk tune arranged by İsmail Sezen. Beginning in the lower voices, the melody launched in a near-canon before developing beneath layered textures. Though some lines were softened by the harmonies, the ensemble’s tuning and momentum gave the piece clear direction. The piece’s sudden ending left its conclusion ambiguous, whether by interpretation or the arrangement itself.

A showstopper followed with Sakura, a Japanese folk song arranged by the eminent Toru Takemitsu. One of the most celebrated Japanese composers of the 20th century, Takemitsu was renowned for his ability to blend Western techniques with Japanese sensibilities, and his fingerprints are unmistakable here. After a pristine unison statement of the melody, his harmonically saturated writing takes flight. Stepwise intervals and wider leaps alike were finely tuned in this performance, and diction was notably crisp, especially in the ensemble’s tight rendering of the Japanese “u” vowel. The vocalise passages evoked sprays of color—clusters reminiscent of Messiaen—fluttering outward like blossoms caught in spring’s soft gusts.

Less effective was Qing Zhu’s The Great River Eastward Flows. Despite its evocative text and varied writing, ensemble unity faltered in inconsistent diction, both in vowels and consonants. Kevin Heel offered committed support on the piano, though the late-Romantic harmonic language and texture felt somewhat incongruous. The high choral writing occasionally stretched the ensemble’s grasp.

Chen Yi’s “Fengyang Song,” drawn from the folk traditions of Anhui province, fared better in rhythmic vitality. Dynamic contour and spirited phrasing conjured percussive textures that sparkled with kinetic energy, conjuring bouncing water droplets in the sun.

Two movements from Hina Sakamoto’s Requiem for the Spirits of the Victims of the Pacific War offered the evening’s emotional apex. Preceded by readings in Japanese and English of Mizue Aoki’s poetry, powerful words by a survivor, the paired settings of “Dies Irae” and “In Paradisum” struck a potent contrast. 

The former summoned a dark sonic landscape: an organ tolling in a Morse-like drone, whispers escalating into shouting, foot-stomps punctuating waves of choral dissonance. In the latter, warmth prevailed—interwoven vocal lines shimmered like overlapping silks, suggesting a fragile but persistent hope.

A lighter interlude arrived with the brilliant Chopsalteok by Korean-American composer Texu Kim, who addressed the audience before the performance. Based on a street vendor’s cry hawking sticky rice cakes, the piece fused humor and nostalgia, deploying extended vocal effects such as wind-like whooshing, slurps, and munching. The performance embraced the whimsy, and the soloist passing out rice cakes on his walk down the aisles reinforced the music’s grounding in both a universal love of food and a more cultural memory.

Chorus member Gavan Dagnese took the podium for Nilo Alcala’s Tiptipa Kemmakem. The work is based on a children’s clapping-game chant from the Northern Philippines, and its musical textures came vividly to life. While vertical in phrasing and repetitive in writing, the music invited physical engagement, with the conductor stomping in time while the ensemble mimicked the percussive gestures through clapping and plosive consonants.

The program concluded with Reena Esmail’s The Tipping Point for mixed chorus and tabla. Esmail’s synthesis of Hindustani and Western idioms unfolded with elegance and intricacy, as tightly spaced intervals intertwined with hollower fifths balanced the taut and spacious. 

Soloists Benjamin Perry and Yuka Amako provided expressive range: Perry’s smooth bending (sliding between notes) grounded the ensemble and Amako’s shimmering soprano cut cleanly through. Tabla player Giri Subramaniam anchored the work with precision and grace, his dexterous playing lending rhythmic propulsion and coloristic depth. The performance unfolded like a mantra, exploring tension and resolution, shadow and light.

In its season finale, Boston Cecilia delivered a compelling and sensitively shaped performance that showcased the ensemble’s expressive range and rhythmic vitality, while providing a showcase for the diversity, color and contemplative beauty of music by composers of Asian origins.

Boston Cecilia opens its 2025-26 season with “Blessed Cecilia” in works by Daniel Pinkham and Britten on December 5 at Church of the Advent and December 7 at All Saints Parish. bostoncecilia.org

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