By JAMES D. WATTS JR. Scene Writer on Oct 27, 2009, at 3:53 PM Updated on 10/27 at 3:53 PM
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Other than the fact that it wasn't Omaha, the 12-member vocal ensemble Chanticleer put on a show Monday that was close to perfection.
In welcoming the audience to the group's performance – at the Walter Arts Center of Holland Hall School and presented by Choregus Productions – baritone Gabriel Lewis-O'Connor mentioned how proud Chanticleer was to be in Omaha.
When some of his colleagues pointed out that he was actually about 350 miles south of that Nebraska city, Lewis-O'Connor said, "That's what happens when you get cocky."
The odd thing is, Chanticleer isn't scheduled to perform in Omaha until May 2010.
But once everyone arranged themselves into a semi-circle, opened their notebooks and began to sing, there was little one could fault about what one heard.
The program was titled "In Time Of…" and included music that dealt "life's most joyous and most difficult moments."
That was perhaps a bit too heavy a description for much of what was heard. Even the songs that dealt with war had to them an oddly cheery, even whimsical, air to them, such as Janequin's "Le Guerre," with its vocal sound effects of arrows whizzing past.
And three pieces in the center of the first half – two by Gyorgy Ligeti, "Night" and "Morning," the other, "Spring Dreams" by Chen Yi – were more like sound sculptures, that could be appreciated mostly for their technical demands (the imitation of birdsong and wind in the leaves in Yi's work, for example). I know there are people who love Ligeti's music passionately, but to me everything of his I have heard only reinforces the fact that Stanley Kubrick was right when he used some of Ligeti's compositions for the alien voices in "2001: A Space Odyssey."
But give Chanticleer some real music, something with real emotional heft, and the results were extraordinary. The medley that took a simple plainchant melody from its original setting to the innovations of Palestrina up to a gorgeous modern-day piece by Jean Yves Daniel-Lesur was exquisitely done. The performance of the piece which gave the concert its title, Steven Sametz's "In Time Of," based on e.e. cummings' poem, was profoundly moving, with the singers slowly weaving in and out of small groups on stage, as if to illustrate the passing of time, the way connections are made and broken.
Even Mason Bates' unique mix of choral singing and contemporary dance music effects in a trio of selections from his work "Sirens" was fascinating in the complexity of its harmonies and the simplicity of its rhythmic drive.
These pieces also demonstrated the uniqueness of the Chanticleer sound – how 12 very different and distinct voices can blend so perfectly that even someone watching closely might have trouble picking out which person is making what sound. At its best, it is a sound that is uniquely human and beautifully unreal.
Still, when individual singers are giving a chance to solo, the effect is still amazing, such as Cortez Mitchell's solo on "Summertime" or Gregory Peeples lead on "Shenandoah," the show's encore.
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