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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

There was a plethora of choral music concerts in the metro this past week with at least five major performances. Among those offerings were the concerts by the Kansas City Chorale and the Metropolitan Chorale of Kansas City.

The award-winning Kansas City Chorale under Maestro Charles Bruffy once again showcased why they are indeed one of the premier chorales in the world.  Their program of shape-note repertoire, Amazing Grace settings, bluegrass tunes, and southern hymns was engaging and, something all too often neglected, fun. 

Opening with three shape-note tunes, the choir performed with the forward, wide-vowel sound that is required of the style.  I would have gladly welcome more of these selections as they are so refreshing to hear especially from this extremely polished ensemble. The Chorale would sound fantastic on William Duckworth's Southern Harmony cycle.  These spirited pieces were followed by two settings of Amazing Grace by Peter Schickele and Korean composer Hyo-won Woo.  Of the two, I found the Woo more adventuresome.  The KC Chorale elevated the piece beyond its surface nature sounds and Eastern harmonies.  Paula Brekken and Beth Munce served as soloists for the work.  Brekken's voice jolted me to attention.  She has a remarkably luminous timbre in her voice that avoids the generic mezzo sound. Munce's stratospheric pitches were impeccable.  The two settings of Precious Lord were well-sung with the women shining on Roy Ringwald's arrangement. Arnold Sevier's chromatic jazz harmonies suited the text in his version.

I was apprehensive that next set of pieces (My God is a Rock, Is There Anybody Here, I Wanna Be Ready, and Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel) would be vanity projects for the soloists.  My trepidation was unfounded as they were all convincingly sung by both ensemble and soloists.  Special praise goes to Paulette Votava Resch who demonstrated impressive dynamic control and just enough diva swagger in I Wanna Be Ready.

The bluegrass quartet Coupe de Grass joined the Chorale for the rousing second half.  While it was somewhat disconcerting to watch tuxedoed men and uniformed women singing good ol', down-home songs, they nevertheless pulled it off.  Of the second half's selections, the most successful were Down in the River to Pray (which was sung with the chorale surrounding the audience), Angel Band, and I Wonder What They're Doin' There Now.  New member and soloist Hugh Naughton, showcased a sensitive baritone in the latter.  These bluegrass and southern hymns were not performed perfectly as there were some unsteady entrances, but the spirit was there and these slight mistakes did not distract from the performance. Adding to the evening's enjoyment was Bruffy's 90-year old father from West Virginia and his proclamation of "Ya never know what these kids are gonna do next."  Truer words have never been spoken for this pioneering ensemble.

The Metropolitan Chorale of Kansas City presented the first concert of their 22^nd season at St. Mark’s Catholic Church. The choir of around fifty musicians from the Kansas City area and the Metropolitan Community College made their international debut in 2006 with a tour of Rio de Janeiro and has performed with the San Diego Symphony, in Washington D.C., and for the Missouri Music Educators Convention. Under the auspices of the Metropolitan Community College Blue River campus and the capable hands of Rebecca Johnson, this town-and-gown group enthusiastically performed the evening’s selections and showcased the group's motto, "We work hard... and love doing it."

After the standard Cloths of Heaven by Z. Randall Stroope, the ensemble really came to life on Ariel Ramírez's Misa Criolla.  The Argentinean composer incorporated many Latin American rhythms, dances, and melodies effectively into the Mass Ordinary structure of Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.  Each movement featured a soloist or small ensemble with choral accompaniment along with Latin American percussion specialist Doug Auwarter, guitarists Joe Carignan and Micah Chrisman, and pianist Joo Hye Kim.  Notable soloists include Sarah Tyrrell's confident, commanding soprano in the vidala-baguala-infused Kyrie, Gino Bueno's effortless tenor in the carnavalito sections of the Gloria, and Mary Stayton's pure, comforting soprano in the Agnus Dei in estilo pampeano.  It was the perfect length of about twenty minutes and was very suited to the ensemble. Knowing Auwarter's skill with Latin rhythms I wish the piece had allowed for some improvisation.  Slight balance issues in the Credo and Sanctus between the soloists and accompaniment did not detract from the piece.

Misa Criolla was followed by Joo Hye Kim performing Chopin's Ballade No. 3.  Ms. Kim is a stellar pianist with amazing technique and innate musicianship but this choice was perplexing. I would have much preferred something akin to a Ginastera piano piece to provide more continuity with the rest of the program. The bluesy spiritual Little David, Play! featured seven soloists.  I found it impressive that in a community choir so many singers are capable of being featured.  This is probably a testament to Dr. Johnson's commitment to the ensemble and encouraging air. 

The women were fiery in their performance of Stroope's Revelation.  It was exciting to hear women singing such a rhythmically aggressive, biting work instead of being relegated to a melodic, pedantic "pretty" piece.  The men got that honor instead with a canonic treatment of How Can I Keep From Singing.  Wrapping up with the ever-popular Elijah Rock, the ensemble showed some of their cracks.  There were intonation issues and the tempo was a bit too fast for the choir to handle.

All-in-all, this week provided fine performances by two talented ensembles.  Choral music is certainly alive and well in Kansas City.

REVIEWS:
Kansas City Chorale
Amazing Grace
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Asbury United Methodist, Prairie Village, KS
www.kcchorale.org

Metropolitan Chorale of Kansas City
Tapestries of Heaven
Saturday, October 24, 2009
St. Mark's Catholic Church, Independence, MO
http://mcckc.edu/blueriver/humanities/music/index.pub.htm

By Lee Hartman

Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.

In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition. In 2007-08 he was Visiting Instructor in music theory at the University of Delaware where he taught freshman music theory, honors music theory, graduate orchestration, and private composition. In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances.  He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator.  His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker.