Blaring bluegrass in Boswell
Madrigal Singers, Panhandle Polecats perform
Gradin, Jonathan
Issue date: 5/11/09 Section: Entertainment
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The NIC Concert Choir, conducted by Max Mendez with Toni Helms accompanying on piano, began the concert with a lovely song by Johannes Brahms, "O Schone Nacht" (O Lovely Night), which featured many rich, lush harmonies.
Three excerpts from the Mozart Requiem Mass followed: "Dies Irae," "Lacrimosa" and "Hostias." These featured a high level of harmonic development and dynamic variations.
The choir musically changed gears, yet still kept the religious theme going, with a reverent, hymn-like rendition of "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." From the a cappella beginning to the meditative, prayer-like ending, their diction was amazingly clear.
The choir premiered music theory instructor Gerard Mathes' hauntingly beautiful setting of "Stabat Mater" (The [Sorrowful] Mother Stood), a Medieval Latin.
The NIC Madrigal Singers took the stage, singing a series of Middle Age/Renaissance-Era contrapuntal songs. In contrapuntal songs each vocal group--soprano, alto, tenor and bass--has its own melody line. This gave a sense of space and motion to the music, which I found very refreshing.
The Madrigal Singers ended the first half with the rousing spiritual, "Great Day." This song featured a steady rhythmic tempo that that livened up the concert.
After the intermission, the Madrigals took a lighthearted turn, singing Eric Whitacre's lovely composition, "Sleep," performing it gently and with emotion. This a cappella performance was not nearly as smooth as its rendition at the Dreams of Children concert, which featured Wind Symphony accompaniment.
A slow, somewhat jazzy rendition of "Scarborough Fair" proved interesting, harmonically. Some of the tenors and basses provided a vocal accompaniment that was in the style of the Mills Brothers and other jazz/doo-wop groups.
The next two numbers, "Prayer of the Children" and "Lonesome Road," were performed barbershop-style by five of the Madrigals, who jokingly called themselves the Testoscertones. Their harmonies on these two inspirational songs were perfect, showing that the barbershop singing tradition is still very much alive.
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