Kym Amps, Angus Davidson, Robin Doveton & David van Asch
A capella, choral singing unaccompanied by instruments, is not exactly a stranger to the Monterey Peninsula. In the past ten years we have heard barber shop quartets, the Vienna Choir Boys and the Yale Whiffenpoofs (their great encore is that old 1920′s favorite, “My cutie’s due at two-to-two. She’s comin’ in on the big choo choo“). We even once heard Edlos, “The Bad Boys of A Capella,” whose program opened on a candle-lit stage with four robed monks intensely intoning a Gregorian chant. This all too fleeting moment of magic was rudely interrupted by the monks beginning to snap their fingers rhythmically, whipping off their robes and launching into a “Doo Wop” routine.
Well, compared to all of this, the Carmel Music Society’s presentation of “Voices of London,” was a pretty straight-laced and conservative presentation of predominantly Renaissance songs in French, Spanish and Italian on the first half of the program, with English songs on the second half. The four singers, countertenor Angus Davidson, soprano Kym Amps, tenor Robin Doveton and bass David van Asch, are superb musicians. They are also quite witty and entertaining, as revealed by their verbal program notes during the concert. These concert notes were especially necessary on the first half of the program, since all of the songs were in languages few in the audience could understand.
However, that this program was not for everybody was clear by the many empty seats at the beginning of the concert (even some subscribers stayed home). And even more revealing was the increased number of empty seats after intermission as some elected not to return for the remainder of the program.
Those who did not stay for the second half missed some of the finest and most entertaining music of the evening — a nice selection of Madrigals by Dowland, Bateson and Morley, plus lovely songs by Purcell, and a windup at the end with Glees, English partsongs and the traditional folksongs, Greensleeves, Scarborough Fair, and “Oh, no, John, no!” in very effective arrangements by Doveton.
The end of the program was enthusiastically applauded by some (and politely by many others), and we were given one encore, “When I am Sixty-four,” in a great arrangement (it sounded like a Whiffenpoof routine) that was enormously popular with the audience.
Something new was added to this program. At 7:00 pm, preceding the concert, David Gordon interviewed the singers on stage for a small audience of approximately 75 people. Usually in a concert there is an invisible curtain wall separating the performers form the audience, and often we hear no spoken comments from the stage. In these situations, we often wonder what the performers’ personalities are like, and how their spoken voices sound, etc. With the “Voices of London” each member of the ensemble had an opportunity to address the audience with witty comments about the songs they were about to sing, so even those who did not attend David Cordon’s pre-concert interview had an opportunity to observe and savor the charm of each performer.
However, David Gordon went much farther by addressing each singer individually to ask some interesting questions. He asked whether there was a defining moment that compelled them in the direction of becoming a professional musician. The answers were as interesting as the question, since we discovered that for some it was more or less an important single event that convinced them a career in music was possible and desirable. For others, it was a more gradual and cumulative journey toward a commitment to music.
From this interview we learned how cosmopolitan these musicians are, and how they live so widely separated in different countries that they have virtually no opportunities to “hang out,” since their time together is almost always while on tour. At one time “Voices of London” scheduled 180 concerts a year, one every other night, so to speak, which turned out to be a severe strain on their families. Presently the group schedules about 60 concerts a year.
Heard in the lobby during intermission were several comments about whether a small group of a capella singers is the type of program likely to appeal to our audience, and how during the first half of the program, all the songs began to sound alike by intermission. However, there is certainly nothing unattractive about a capella singing, per se, and the proof of this is Chanticleer’s extraordinary twelve singers who have consistently sold out the Carmel Mission (the group often appears on two consecutive evenings, so popular are their concerts). One reason suggested for the success of Chanticleer is their imaginative and creative programing of everything from Renaissance to jazz, and from gospel to venturesome new music.
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