CHANTICLEER SINGS THE VERY NEW AND
THE VERY OLD
By D. Rane Danubian
artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music
and dance
Week of Sept. 25-Oct. 3, 2009
Vol. 12, No. 16
WALNUT CREEK---It’s hardly news that Chanticleer
ranks in
the world’s elite of expert professional choruses. But it goes beyond
the 12
men singing a cappella (three of them
sopranos!). It’s also the repertoire, constantly refreshed, constantly
delving
into unknown nooks of the archives, bringing forth the very new and the
very
old and the very difficult with equal conviction and intonation.
I keep hoping
for some miniscule imperfection---a bow tie
not tied straight. or a word in Greek or Hebrew mispronounced.
But no, they
keep right on going, taking perfection for
granted in assignments both secular and religious.
The fall
program heard here Sept. 22 for instance featured
lusty carols from both sides of French-English warfare, circa
1414-1528. Our
old friend anonymous produced the English Agincourt Carol, five stanzas
of
macaronic celebration which you could imagine the victorious troops
sounding out in
drinking songs, over their ration of mead.
And the French
novelty song “La guerre” by Janequin was both
a rally cry and a narration of the battle, complete with vocal sound
effects.
And then the
modern pieces, several written specifically for
Chanticleer: Chen Yi’s “Spring Dreams” in Chinese is a piece of many
moods,
styles and contrasts, juxtaposing the
highest with the lowest voices. And whistles to simulate bird calls.
One of the
most versatile of American composers, Mason Bates,
31, of Berkeley
produced “Sirens,” emphasizing the group’s broad sound-spectrum range,
their
rotund harmonies, and their linguistic versatility (Greek and Italian).
Bates
switches to a jazzier mode in a quechua (Peruvian) text,
“Sirinu”---three views
of the sirens of mythology, seen not as menaces but rather as sonic
wizards.
I did a double take with the ardent love song "Paradise
Sounded," in Spanish, "by the Dominican musician Manuel Sanchez
Acosta." Racy material indeed for a Dominican! It turns out he
was from the Dominican Republic, and not from the Dominican order of
priests. Whew.
The elaborate Chanticleer choreography in
mid-performance unfolded for Steven Sametz's "in time of." It's a
subtle piece, with music as nebulous as the fog of e.e.cummings' verse.
The most aphoristic of the modern pieces were two songs in
Hungarian---a difficult language that is unrelated to any of its
neighbors---by Gyorgy Ligeti, "Evening" and "Morning," the latter
featuring the only intelligible word for the American audience:
"kikeriki," to convey the cock's crowing.
The vocal
ensemble was distinguished at the top with the three (male)
sopranos---Gregory Peebles, Michael McNeil and Dylan Hostetter. Only a
half step down the scale is the alto Cortez Mitchell, who rendered a
sstylish Gershwin "Summertime" as an encore. As if to dispell the
impression that male sopranos are hot-house flowers, Hostetter is now
starting his sixth season, no less, with Chanticleer. Other voices come
and go; among the departees from the singers' roster is Dwight Oltman,
who nonetheless continues as the music director of this extraordinary
choral jewel.
Chanticleer in fall concerts, various Bay
Area venues through Sept. 22 at Walnut Creek, plus Sept. 27 in
Sacramento. For info: (800) 950-1177, or go online.
©D. Rane Danubian 2009
#
D. Rane Danubian has been
covering
the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with
relish
-- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never
weakly)
will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with
forays
into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local
artists as well.
#
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