concert review
Jun. 1st, 2014 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimacB. and I meandered down to the Santa Clara Mission for a concert by the Symphony Silicon Valley Chorale (with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vgqn in it). This was just the chorale, not SSV itself, though the accompanying pick-up orchestra had a lot of SSV members in it; just don't hold the group to the same standards overall. The conductor was Barbara Day Turner, whose military precision is perhaps better suited to short choruses than longer, more elaborate pieces.
The theme of the concert was "From the Met to Broadway," which was slightly misleading. The first half did feature choruses from a selection of standard repertory operas, of which the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Verdi's Nabucco was the finest in letting the full-bodied sound of the choir, well-balanced between the sections, out above the orchestra. A choral reprise of the final lines of Puccini's "Nessun dorma" (solo by Christopher Bengochea, shorter-breathed than Pavarotti but adequately impassoned) was likewise fine, and made good punctuation to end the half.
Of the six vocal numbers performed in the "Broadway" half, only one actually premiered on Broadway - "To Life" from Fiddler on the Roof. One was from Les Miz (Paris by way of London), three were from movies, and one was from some home-grown musical about John Muir. This song, "Climb the Mountains", featured a surging melody that kept sounding as if it were about to turn into "Climb Ev'ry Mountain."
"To Life" came out energetic and fun, with a clever reappearance by Bengochea in the church's high pulpit as the Russian who interrupts the festivities, as did "It's a Grand Night for Singing" from State Fair, Rodgers and Hammerstein's movie musical, and you-can-guess-what from Les Miz was all right, though it could have used more oomph. The problem came with the two songs from Disney Renaissance movies, and the problem was with the orchestration, which was too strong and blaring. "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast was blown up to twice life size, which wasn't good for what should be a crackerjack fast-humor number, and if there was a song buried under the noise which marked "Circle of Life" from The Lion King, I couldn't make it out. It's not much of a song at the best of times.
B. always wants more singing, and this time I agree. I'd have liked to hear more of the chorus, since it's good when it's allowed to be heard. I wish the concert had been a bit longer, and with more singing and fewer instrumental pieces. The Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana was not the orchestra's finest moment, and the Grand March from Aida arranged for a church organ was just weird.
vgqn in it). This was just the chorale, not SSV itself, though the accompanying pick-up orchestra had a lot of SSV members in it; just don't hold the group to the same standards overall. The conductor was Barbara Day Turner, whose military precision is perhaps better suited to short choruses than longer, more elaborate pieces.The theme of the concert was "From the Met to Broadway," which was slightly misleading. The first half did feature choruses from a selection of standard repertory operas, of which the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Verdi's Nabucco was the finest in letting the full-bodied sound of the choir, well-balanced between the sections, out above the orchestra. A choral reprise of the final lines of Puccini's "Nessun dorma" (solo by Christopher Bengochea, shorter-breathed than Pavarotti but adequately impassoned) was likewise fine, and made good punctuation to end the half.
Of the six vocal numbers performed in the "Broadway" half, only one actually premiered on Broadway - "To Life" from Fiddler on the Roof. One was from Les Miz (Paris by way of London), three were from movies, and one was from some home-grown musical about John Muir. This song, "Climb the Mountains", featured a surging melody that kept sounding as if it were about to turn into "Climb Ev'ry Mountain."
"To Life" came out energetic and fun, with a clever reappearance by Bengochea in the church's high pulpit as the Russian who interrupts the festivities, as did "It's a Grand Night for Singing" from State Fair, Rodgers and Hammerstein's movie musical, and you-can-guess-what from Les Miz was all right, though it could have used more oomph. The problem came with the two songs from Disney Renaissance movies, and the problem was with the orchestration, which was too strong and blaring. "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast was blown up to twice life size, which wasn't good for what should be a crackerjack fast-humor number, and if there was a song buried under the noise which marked "Circle of Life" from The Lion King, I couldn't make it out. It's not much of a song at the best of times.
B. always wants more singing, and this time I agree. I'd have liked to hear more of the chorus, since it's good when it's allowed to be heard. I wish the concert had been a bit longer, and with more singing and fewer instrumental pieces. The Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana was not the orchestra's finest moment, and the Grand March from Aida arranged for a church organ was just weird.
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no subject
Date: 2014-06-05 04:20 pm (UTC)The drunken Russian in To Life totally cracked us up at the dress rehearsal.
Re Be Our Guest: It annoyed me that we rehearsed the former at a fairly moderate pace, then Barbara suddenly sped up to breakneck speed just at our dress rehearsal (which really took the poor teapot soloist aback!). The animation takes the piece at a moderate speed, but if you look at Youtube videos of show choirs performing it (not that I suggest you do, but I spent a while looking for some doing an arrangement like we were using), they all do it at breakneck speed. I guess it's become a thing to do it that way, but it ruins the comedy because there's no time for the audience to absorb it.
I gathered from comments during rehearsals that this concert repetoire was way outside of anything the chorale has done before. I was actually surprised at how narrow some chorale members' musical interests were -- just classical choral music, not opera, not operetta, not musical theater. Oratorios were about as much theater as many folks liked. But in the end, folks came around and enjoyed themselves, though Barbara didn't rehearse us with anything like the rigor that Lou did for Carmina Burana. (Which people did miss -- one person near me said, "I've put on my 'Don't care' pants for this concert.") It was fun, but not the disciplined, precision singing that we usually do.
Always interesting to hear your comments. Glad you enjoyed the concert.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-05 05:13 pm (UTC)It wasn't so much that "Be Our Guest" was too fast, though it was too fast and the words were hard to make out (though that was more the orchestration's fault) as that it was too heavy rather than perky. I'd have to check to see how much the original is actually choral as opposed to a succession of solos.