Vocal group gives 'glorious' performance

While Duke and Carolina began their classic battle in Cameron, the classical vocal ensemble Chanticleer was thrilling a substantial crowd in Page Auditorium last Thursday night.

The dozen-member singing group visited the University for two evenings, performing an impeccable repertoire of 16th and 20th century music that ran the gamut from Palestrina to Irving Berlin. Performing without amplification, the group's sound was clear and full, but could not quite achieve complete resonance in Page's poor acoustics.

The highlight of the classical portion of the show was Chanticleer's superb rendition of Andrea Gabrieli's "Magnificat a 12." The group divided itself into three quartets that tossed the tune effortlessly among themselves before coming together in a glorious blend of chords and rhythms. Palestrina's "Gaude gloriosa" was elegant in its simplicity. In this variation on a sprightly plainchant, the highest tenors were as clear as boy sopranos as they soared above the other voices.

Although an all-male ensemble, Chanticleer was not limited to the traditional male range. The tenor sections sang easily in the alto and lower soprano ranges and filled out the complex arrangements. The part distribution followed an inverse pyramid, with four countertenors, four tenors, two baritones, a bass baritone and only one bass. Despite the seeming imbalance, Eric Alatorre's bass lines were for the most part rich and full, and during the rendition of the gospel "Straight Street," the bass was the only singer to approach an authentic sound. Occasionally Alatorre faltered on a low note or sequence, his absence immediately apparent, but for the most part his bass line was incredibly sonorous, holding very low notes for impossible periods of time.

The contemporary portion of the show varied widely in style and was generally excellent. One of the unquestionable highlights was a group of four Chinese folk songs arranged by Chen Yi, Chanticleer's composer-in-residence. Three of the folk songs were performed in Chinese, and the beautiful Eastern harmonies and soaring tenor lines were fresh and fulfilling.

Other contemporary music composed for the ensemble included Cary John Franklin's setting of Wendy Cope's poem, "The Uncertainty of a Poet," which describes an offbeat painting. The poem features many variations on the words "I am a poet, I am very fond of bananas." The melodic ingenuity carried silly word orders like "Fond of Am I bananas? Am I?--a very poet."

It was obvious that current a cappella trends are sneaking into the Chanticleer sound. Surprisingly good vocal percussion invigorated vocal classics, and harmonic twists reminiscent of the jazz sextet Take 6 invaded their vocal jazz, the first tenors valiantly performing the trademark high trills. Whereas these additions brought life to some of the traditional repertoire, not all the pieces in this portion of the show managed to be so impressive.

And while the arrangement of the familiar standard "When I Fall In Love" was well done, it and the ballad "Deep River" failed to really go anywhere; the spirituals also were stilted, as one might expect from a primarily classical ensemble. One tenor, however, did buck the trend, delivering a soulful solo at the end of "Steal Away." Although by no means lifeless, the show did not exactly overflow with energy, which hurt the group on some of its more popular selections.