Parahyangan choir presents classy love songs<\/p>\n
By Y. Bintang Prakarsa<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Once again Avip Priatna renewed his longtime
\nassociation with the Parahyangan Catholic University Choir to
\npresent a concert at the Dharmawangsa Hotel on Feb. 12 with smart
\nprogramming.<\/p>\n
Under the theme \"English Love Songs\", they performed an
\ninterestingly varied repertory of 16th and 17th century
\nmadrigals, 17th century solo songs, part-songs from the 19th and
\n20th century, and 20th century folksong and pop song
\narrangements.<\/p>\n
It might be convenient to see it as a survey of English part-
\nsong (vocal music for many voices, or lines, as opposed to music
\nfor solo singer) tradition with a solo song interlude.<\/p>\n
Before instant-and-canned music became our daily bread, one
\nmade music to be heard. Vocal music was naturally a most
\nconvenient choice and part-singing had long been a pastime for
\nthe rich and noble in England.<\/p>\n
First, they imported madrigals (settings of poetry usually for
\nfive voices: two sopranos, alto, tenor, and bass), from Italy.
\nInspired by Italian examples, English composers began to create
\ntheir own vernacular versions. As with their Italian
\ncounterparts, a large proportion of madrigal texts deal with
\nlove, but different from their Italian predecessors, English
\nmadrigals are more restrained, although as evident in the seven
\npieces performed at the concert, they do not abandon tone-
\npainting altogether.<\/p>\n
In the popular piece Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting by John
\nFarmer, the phrase \"Up and down\" is set to short descending
\nmotifs and sung repeatedly by the voices in close succession to
\nsuggest how Phyllis' lover wandered through the hills and valleys
\non the mountain side.<\/p>\n
The sorrow of Too Much I Once Lamented by Thomas Tomkins
\n(1572-1656), is represented by the minor mode and the use of
\ndownward half-tone steps, as well as a rich tapestry of
\nsuspensions (a suspension happens when a member of a previous
\nchord is kept for some time while other members have moved to a
\nnew chord; the note then clashes with its new environment and
\ncreates harmonic tension).<\/p>\n
Expensive madrigal books were affordable only for a limited
\nnumber of people. With the availability of mass printing, part-
\nsinging became a vehicle of artistic expression for the middle
\nclasses.<\/p>\n
Gradually part-songs were more likely to be performed by
\nchoirs instead of soloists. Since the end of the 18th century,
\namateur choirs -- choral societies -- began to flourish in
\nEngland, increasing the demand for unaccompanied choral music,
\nurging many composers to write in this genre, some masterful
\npieces of which were sampled by the Parahyangan Choir: Lay a
\nGarland by Robert Pearsall (1795-1856), My Love Dwelt in a
\nNorthern Land by Edward Elgar (1857-1934), and Three Shakespeare
\nSongs by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958). All of them share
\nthe sumptuous voicing of an eight part choir (except the seven
\nvoiced Full fathom five from Three Shakespeare Songs) that
\nrequires two groups of sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses.<\/p>\n
An exquisite jewel is Pearsall's Lay a Garland, a serene
\neulogy that barely hides its poignancy. Pearsall's long,
\nsustained tones are enriched with suspensions that make it glow
\nsoftly, perhaps like Mendelssohn's choral music (this piece
\nreminds me of Mendelssohn's motet Warum tobe die Heiden, also in
\neight voices).<\/p>\n
While Elgar's piece is couched in late Romantic sensuous
\nharmony (Wagner had a significant influence on him), Vaughan
\nWilliams' songs are more varied in mood, corresponding to the
\ntext taken from Shakespeare's plays.<\/p>\n
The impressionistic tone clusters in Full fathom five recall
\nthe sea and its deep mysteries; the rambling harmonic progression
\nin The Cloud-capp'd Towers, points, no doubt, to the dreams and
\nsleep referenced in the text, while the whimsical Over Hill, Over
\nDale is given a folksong-ish, pentatonic melody -- a reminder of
\nWilliams' renown as a recycler of English folk tunes.<\/p>\n
Between the madrigals and the choral songs, there was a
\nwelcome diversion of four solo songs extracted from the dramatic
\nworks of Henry Purcell (1659-1695), which gave relief to the
\nsurrounding ensemble music.<\/p>\n
The most difficult of the four is Sweeter than roses from
\nPausanias, which opens with a rhapsodic arioso that grows into a
\nlively, melismatic song in triple meter.<\/p>\n
Lastly, after the intermission, came the lighter songs,
\nunabashedly intended to entertain. They were folksong and pop
\nsong arrangements -- enhanced with a trio of drums, piano, and
\nbass by three Parahyangan university alumni -- that seemed not
\nhaving anything to do with Weelkes and Vaughan Williams & Co.,
\nbut again, we can see them as an indication that in Britain,
\ncomposers still supply music of any style for choirs and that
\npart-singing is still a living tradition.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, the audience responded readily to
\narrangements of popular tunes like the traditional Bobby Shaftoe
\n(by Gordon Langford) the Beatles' Michelle (by Grayston Ives) and
\nYesterday (by Bob Chilcott), and Richard Rodgers' Blue Moon (by
\nDavid Blackwell). They applauded after each piece.<\/p>\n
But how about the singing? Did the choir manage all the styles
\nsuccessfully? Some of the madrigals were really gorgeous
\n(Tomkins' especially), but others were too heavy and
\nundisciplined, with faulty intonations here and there.<\/p>\n
The Purcell pieces were sung wonderfully with a surprising
\nawareness toward Baroque vocal technique by the tenor Christopher
\nAbimanyu. But the piano! I think Avip knew very well that the
\nblunt sound of the piano was no match to Abimanyu's light and
\ncrisp voice, and that in the West, people would laugh at the idea
\nof accompanying a Baroque song with piano in a serious
\nperformance.<\/p>\n
However, starting from Pearsall, the remainder of the show was
\npresented very well. They were most expressive in pacing and
\nphrasing the large gestures of Pearsall, Elgar, and Vaughan
\nWilliams pieces, and their ensemble was stunningly beautiful,
\nespecially in the Pearsall song.<\/p>\n
The pop pieces were delivered with idiomatic aplomb, the choir
\nnot missing any inflections and the soloists, especially the
\nlight tenors, ornamenting their melodies very admirably (I wish
\nthey transferred these to the madrigals!) Thus ended the concert
\ncheerfully for people on both sides of the stage.<\/p>",
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