New Santa Rosa Symphony choral director tackles ambitious program

Most everyone is familiar with Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “The Bells,” which opens with a holiday scene: “Hear the sledges with the bells - Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells!”

However, Rachmaninoff’s setting of the intensely onomatopoetic work - a choral symphony written in 1913 for choir, vocal soloists and symphonic accompaniment - may be a new discovery for many attending the Santa Rosa Symphony’s concerts this weekend.

“It is not a piece that I have performed before, but I’ve heard it before,” said Jenny Bent, who was named this year as the new Santa Rosa Symphony choral director, taking over the reins from Robert Worth in February. “It’s vocally demanding, and it requires an advanced level of musicianship. These also make it musically satisfying.”

For the past five years, Bent has served as the full-time director of choral activities at Sonoma State University, a post she also inherited from Worth. For the 40-minute, four-movement work, she has been rehearsing with about 75 singers drawn from the SSU Symphony Chorus and the SSU Chamber Singers. Bent will also direct an additional 40 singers from the Santa Rosa Junior College Choir, who are rehearsing with their SRJC Choral Director Jody Beinecke.

“We have had some combined rehearsals,” she said. “I’ve been going to the SRJC rehearsals to make sure we are doing all the same phrasing and articulation.”

Although Rachmaninoff originally wrote “The Bells” from a Russian translation of the poem, the choirs and soloists will sing the words in English, which makes it easier to remember but carries its own diction challenges.

“Musically, you have to add voice to certain consonants like D,” Bent said. “You have to say duh. Especially in a hall that size, that can be challenging.”

The piece, like the poem, follows the circle of life, from birth and childhood to old age and death. Oddly enough, the sounds of sleigh bells, wedding bells, alarm bells and mournful iron bells are all made with horns, woodwinds, harp and strings, but not one percussive bell.

“Each movement conveys a different emotion,” Bent said. “They are totally different, with different colors, feelings and so many different ways that the choir and orchestra can musically express themselves.”

The first movement, “The Silver Sleigh Bells,” recreates the excitement and joy of childhood, while the second movement, “The Mellow Wedding Bells,” offers the guarded optimism of newlyweds.

“The first movement is very playful, with the sleigh bells,” Bent said. “Although the second movement about wedding bells evokes an overall sense of reserved joy and hope, I hear a hint of mourning.”

That mourning may be due to Rachmaninoff’s incorporation of the ancient melody, “Dies Irae,” traditionally used by composers to convey the doom of Judgment Day. It was one of his favorite compositions.

“The third movement (‘The Loud Alarm Bells’) is a little more bellicose and brash, and it’s by far the most difficult movement,” Bent said. “The fourth movement (‘The Mournful Iron Bells’) explores the many dark and terrifying emotions one can experience as death approaches. However, it closes in a manner that sounds … like a comforting lullaby.”

In the program, Ferrandis wove “The Bells” together with three other works to create quite a bit of literary resonance.

The concerts open with American composer Augusta Read Thomas’ “Prayer Bells,” written in 2001, and Elgar’s “Enigma Variations,” written in 1899 as character sketches of the composer, his wife and 12 of their friends.

“Enigma is also the title of one of the most famous poems by Poe,” Ferrandis said. “And Augusta Reed Thomas has written an entire opera, ‘Ligeia,’ from a Poe story. So she has a strong love for Edgar Allan Poe.”

The concert will close with Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise,” a song without words for soprano composed and published in 1915 as the last of his “Fourteen Songs.” It is sung using any vowel of the singer’s choosing.

“That’s a very well known piece,” Ferrandis said. “So that’s the bonbon at the end.”