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Charles Bruffy and the Kansas City Chorale staged a spring concert this weekend. The "Sing to Love" theme combined with timely references to the eagerly-awaited season nicely colored the lengthy program. The ensemble sounded in top shape, even coming off of the previous night's performance, and the group delivered a diverse yet thoughtfully unified collection of memorable pieces. 

Early One Morning offered luscious dynamic shifts; but in the quick pace some phrase endings were rushed. Paul Fetler's April, with its tart dissonances, was an effective contrast to Cain's arrangement of Early. The three Mulholland songs to follow were a treat; the epic If Love is What the Rose Is featured long, lyrical lines that contrasted the choppy syncopation of the Felter, with languorous cadences for the singers to revel in every ending consonant.

The Chorale's exceptional diction provides a model for every choral group in this city and beyond. Consider the phrase, "and I your love were death" which the Chorale sang as, "an-duh I your luh-vuh were death." Since text clarity is crucial to truly understanding both the literary and musical aspects of any vocal setting, this exaggeration was appreciated.  If Love was also an early indication that the basses were capable of holding their own against the strong women's sections, but the tenors seemed to force the high pitches of certain phrases, as if sensing competition with the sopranos.

Mulholland's Green Grows the Laurel was for the women only. The piano iterated quiet chords to gently support the folk-like vocalise that began and ended the piece. The soprano section was nearly perfect here, giving Bruffy pure, open vowels, and their willingness to control vibrato (or avoid it altogether) supported the text, musical line, and ensemble blend. O Whistle and I'll Come to Ye indeed featured some stellar whistling, but the typical uniform sound fragmented in this faster-paced song, so much so that a voice or two from the middle front row could easily be singled out.

Eric Whitacre's songs took shape as a study in contrasts: A Boy and a Girl suggested the sensuality of young love, while This Marriage (featuring a text by the Persian poet Rumi) implied commitment and longevity. The loving message of Marriage came across with this song's more consonant harmonies, but in Boy and a Girl, Whitacre's style stretched listeners' ears with uncommon pitch combinations and unresolved chords following moments of suspended silence. The tightly packed intervals evoked the closeness of the young couple, and this intimate imagery was further enhanced by the meticulous blend of men's and women's voices. Before this provocative piece, Bruffy advised the audience to stay engaged in the moment, even through the silent pauses, but listeners really had no choice; they were riveted by the anticipation of what would come next.

The Brahms set brought the first half of the concert to a satisfying culmination. Most of the fifteen Neue Liebeslieder Waltzer do not particularly sound like love songs; they are more rambunctious than sweet, with hearty cross rhythms to keep listeners (and the featured dancers from TC Dance Club) on their toes.

For this cycle, the Chorale moved back so that the dancers could have center stage. The relocation did not diminish the singers' volume, yet their crisp, focused attention faded a bit; without Bruffy up front (he took his post at the piano alongside Kelly Sanford, as the pieces call for piano four hands), some musical nuances were neglected. Fortunately, the Brahms' songs do not call for as much of the shimmering, translucent sound as do the Mulholland, and this more robust sound suited the nineteenth-century aesthetic.  

From the first song of the Brahms set, listeners knew the program had turned a corner: the rousing tempo of "Verzicht, o Herz, auf Rettung" allowed the singers to let loose, and this bit of abandon was intoxicating. "Flammenauge, dunkles Haar" was muddled by an overbearing accompaniment, but the Chorale was again at its blended best on the last piece of the cycle, "Zum Schluss," where Brahms' sensitive melodic treatment again allowed the singers to settle into each word.

Several soloists were featured throughout the Brahms cycle: notable was Sarah Tannehill's bright, agile voice in "An jeder Hand die Finger" and Lin Sanford's heavier, more dramatic mezzo on "Wahre, wahre deinen Sohn." One imagines Sanford's was just the voice-type Brahms imagined for this solo. It sounded as if David Adams was reaching for (instead of securely landing on) the highest notes in his "Ich kose..." (specifically on "ewig kehrt"), but Bryan Taylor admirably navigated the angular melodic lines of "Ihr schwarzen Augen." Paulette Resch wins the diction award for her German in "Nagen am Herzen..." and Rebecca Lloyd never misses: her "Alles, alles in den Wind" came across in an appropriately scolding tone to deliver a clear message. While Pamela Williamson displayed her usual perfect sense of pitch, a more forward tone placement might have aided text clarity in "Rosen steckt mir an die Mutter." Hearing such distinctive solo voices makes one wonder how every section of this chorale boasts such an exceptional blend; even the most strikingly original voice manages to merge beautifully into the choral texture.

The second half of the program opened with Shaw's arrangement of It Might as Well Be Spring. Here the group explored its "pop" chops, complete with some stylized pitch "scooping." This more relaxed treatment was fine for contrast, but the pitch alterations did affect overall blend. The basses then entered slightly under pitch, but one explosive "b" on the last "be spring" saved the song; that single consonant was delicious. The soprano section overpowered the tenors in parts of Shaw's jazzy My Romance, but the Sutherland/Naughtin duet was a charming end. At last the men were featured, however briefly, in Where is Love. Here the tenors shone, but Bruffy was too ambitious in sustaining certain phrase endings and exposed an out-of-breath singer here and there.

This weekend's concerts featured the premiere performances of Ryan Jesperson's Indeed This Very Love (Jesperson won the Kansas City Chorale's 2009 Composition Competition). The bold tone with which Jesperson set Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem was a surprise, and the song opened with unexpected attitude. An active ostinato served as the foundation for much of the piece, establishing a consistent momentum that persisted until a decelerando toward the end. The song matched the Chorale's strengths, especially precise diction, responsiveness, and rhythmic accuracy. Robert Nelson's Madrigals for a New Age were a fresh and entertaining finale, and the singers were surprisingly light on their feet at the end of this long concert.


REVIEW:
The Kansas City Chorale
Sing to Love
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Visitation Church
51^st and Main, Kansas City, MO
Sunday, March 7, 2010 (Reviewed)
Asbury United Methodist Church
75^th and Nall, Prairie Village, KS
www.kcchorale.org

By Sarah Tyrrell

Opera, Vocal and Classical Contributor

Since 2004, Dr. Sarah Tyrrell has been part of the Musicology faculty at the UMKC Conservatory of Music. In 2003, she completed doctoral work at the University of Kansas and also holds degrees in music history and voice performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and Kansas State University. At UMKC, Sarah teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in music history and world music, as well as graduate seminars on American and Latin American musics. Sarah has presented her research locally and nationally (her research specialty is the art music of Brazil) and actively guest lectures about town on Brazilian popular subjects such as samba and bossa nova. Her articles and reviews have appeared in Musical Quarterly, Latin American Research Review, and Latin American Perspectives.

Sarah is also active in the Kansas City choral music scene: she is the Artistic Director of the Metropolitan Chorale of Kansas City and also sings soprano with the group. This 60-voice ensemble presents four concerts each year and recently completed a performance tour of Brazil.