By Lyn Bronson
“Singing people are happy people.” Thus spake Marshall Bartholomew, the legendary conductor of the Yale University Glee Club who, during his forty-year career, built this ensemble into a world-class men’s chorus presenting annual concerts at Carnegie Hall and enjoying international summer tours that took them to every corner of the world.
Observing the winter concert of the Camerata Singers on a rainy Saturday evening on March 4th at the Church of Religious Science in Monterey we would have to agree with Mr. Bartholomew. Music Director John Koza and the ensemble presented a lovely program, and one of its most striking features was that the singers were obviously very much enjoying being a part of this musical event. There were lots of happy campers up there on the risers singing there hearts out, and this enthusiasm was more than slightly contagious for those of us in the audience.
As is fashionable now for concerts, fashion shows and art exhibits, events today often have a “theme.” The flavor of the week this time around was “Reflections.” In Mr. Koza’s words: “At some point in life everyone reflects on their past. Reflections of childhood, loves lost, loves found, interpreting art, understanding life, death, the Creator, all give us pause. This program is not only about beautiful music, it is also about significant emotions we all experience, and some wonderful poetry that portrays them. Each composition has been carefully chosen to lead us into our own personal reflections.”
Actually, this theme did serve to give a sense of perspective to the varied and interesting program the Camerata presented on this occasion, for it certainly did cover the gamut from alpha to omega, from childhood to death, at times with humor and at other times more seriously. Some of the wittiest moments were represented by musical settings by John Rutter of “The Owl and the Pussycat” and Neil Ginsberg of e.e. cummings poem, “porky & porkie.”
One of the most moving songs heard during the evening was “The Last Leviathan” based on a poem by Andy Barnes. Sung with great feeling by alto Laura Matter, the work was a poignant expression of a whale facing its extinction and its disappearance as a species (and implying the question, who’s next?).
There were some other excellent soloists along the way. Soprano Arlala Sheppard shone in a lovely setting, again by John Rutter, of “Matthew, Mark, Luke, John” as did soprano Janette Ford in a Vaughan Williams setting of “Falstaff and the Fairies.”
Among the contemporary settings there were some classics. Schubert’s An die Musik was heard in an arrangement by Doreen Rao, and there was a knockout version of Sehnsucht by Brahms. The moment the Brahms began, there was unmistakably that rich, thick texture so characteristic of his complex writing, and its powerful style dominated that part of the evening’s program.
The absolute hit of the evening was soprano Julia Turner’s powerfully moving rendition of Poelintz’s arrangement of the spiritual, “City Called Heaven.” There was an intensity in Ms. Turner’s singing that was totally riveting. Every fiber of her body and soul went into this performance, and you never wanted it to end. An interesting feature of the chorus role during this song, was that the incessant rocking back and forth often observed in gospel singing was restricted here by Director Koza to only part of the song, and it was carefully choreographed down into a slow rhythmic shifting of position every third beat. This song was beautifully effective—-so effective, in fact, that it was reprised as an encore at the end of the program.
Pianist Pauline Thomas Troia played an important part during this concert and her contributions in Schubert’s An die Musik, Brahms Sehnsucht, and the gospel song “City of Heaven” were substantial.
An interesting aspect of the evening’s printed program was the inclusion of a paragraph of bio information about every member of the chorus. We therefore had an opportunity to read about these ordinary people with interesting lives, and often with day jobs and families that are their principle preoccupation. Yet they periodically come together, most of them initially as strangers and ultimately end up as musical colleagues in a very significant music venture.
Once again, hats off to Mr. Koza and the Camerata Singers!
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