Music review: University Singers
Dale Warland: Visiting a legacy
By Peter Jacobi
October 25, 2007
As culmination of a two-week residency, the eminent choral conductor Dale Warland on Tuesday evening led the University Singers through a set of songs in Auer Hall that he and his Dale Warland Singers commissioned, premiered and/or championed over the years. He titled the package “An American Choral Legacy.” What it amounted to was a richly packed journey through substances and styles beautifully sung.
Shortly after the concert’s start, Warland — who disbanded his chorus in 2004 after 31 seasons and now devotes his time to guest appearances — mentioned program notes, urging the audience to refer to them for background and words. There weren’t any. As it happened, thanks to a snafu, they were locked up somewhere with no one able to get at the keys.
At intermission, someone kindly delivered a computer-generated copy to me. To be fair to others there, I did not refer to those notes until the music ended and I was home. They proved helpful and would have been to all, particularly in moments when words — those, for instance, in English when carried along by brisk song — became blurred. But the music and the singing were of such intrigue and quality that one gained plenty of satisfaction in just the listening.
From the raucous, perky “Circus Band,” based by Charles Ives on the childhood experience of hearing community bands in Connecticut, to a trio of embracing items Warland tied to this nation’s heritage, there was musical bounty. The latter included a jazzy, George Shearing-forged “Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind,” taken from a set of songs built on Shakespeare, a Shaker-inspired “Peace” by Kevin Siegfried, and Carol Barnett’s “McKay,” occasioned by music from Appalachia. All were first performed by the Dale Warland Singers.
Two “Voices from Indiana” were heard: Cary Boyce’s interpretation of “Ave Maria,” originally written for the IU Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, set warmly in rolling waves of intersecting lines, and John Muehleisen’s “Snow (The King’s Trumpeter),” featuring a mournful choral element melded with the triumphant trumpet of Alex Noppe ringing in from above the stage.
An old-in-new/new-in-old sounding “Prayer of the Middle Ages” by Howard Hanson entered well into the mix, which also made room for a thrillingly compressive eight-song cycle, “I Hate and I Love,” by Dominick Argento, based on poems of the Roman Catullus and written for Warland’s troupe in 1981. Its performance here was in honor of the composer, who celebrates his 80th birthday on Saturday. The Argento called for and received mood-chiseling support from percussionists John Astaire and Stacey DugGan.
Warland programmed three works from “New American Voices” and one from a contemporary European. A languorous, sensuous “Water Night,” set to poetry of Octavio Paz, was Eric Whitacre’s contribution. Frank Ferko’s glowing paean to 12th-century composer Hildegard von Bingen, “O Virtus Sapientiae,” and Stephen Paulus’ sweetly calming “Si lo dicen, digan” (“If they say it, let them”), prompted by lyrics from 16th-century Spain, were sung with admirable resonance. The European, Rudi Tas from Belgium, contributed a “Miserere,” in which ecclesiastic singing compellingly countered Sophie Webber’s aching, pungent solo cello.
The program’s scope, the University Singers’ artistry, and excellent preparation, first by assistant conductor A. Barron Breland, then by the visiting Warland, made for a splendid evening.
The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music would like
to thank the Herald Times for permission to republish this review.
