San Francisco Classical Voice

CHORAL MUSIC REVIEW

Ranging Wide

June 1, 2003

Mark Winges

By Jules Langert

Robert Geary and the San Francisco Chamber Singers concluded their season on a high point, with stunning performances of three new works for chorus and percussion, at Berkeley's First Unitarian Church on Sunday night. Most remarkable of all was Chinese composer Kui Dong's Shiu Diao Ge Tou/Song, a setting of two poems, the first by eleventh-century Chinese poet Su Shi and the second by contemporary U.S. poet Denise Newman. Su Shi's poem is a lyrical fantasy expressing wonder and joyful serenity, as the poet contemplates the moon and his own place in the universe. Dong's setting is expansive and atmospheric, capturing the humor, spontaneity, and sense of mystery in the verse.

Newman's poem is a modern fantasy, built around the confusion, alienation, and corrosive materialism bedeviling its characters. Dong sets its stream-of-consciousness outpouring as a chant, softly intoned on a single note, and partly drowned out by the percussion. Its expression remains earthbound and subdued as the Chinese text rises above it, reflecting two distinct ways of being in the world, both treated sympathetically and with detachment by the composer, who somehow blends them into a larger synthesis. Dong's use of percussion is telling, especially her emphasis on the piano, which bathes the ensemble in an often sustained commentary of long held tones, wayward, sensuous arpeggios, and quick, edgy, repeated notes roaming at large over the keyboard. There are also some sharp, violent outbursts for the drums and a powerfully exciting percussion duel at a climactic point near the end. Dong, who studied in the U.S. and has lived here for fifteen years, now teaches at Dartmouth College. She views this piece as a kind of cultural amalgam of her life's experience.

Opening the program was Slovenian composer Lojze Lebic's From a stone in the water (sung in Serbo/Croatian). In it, the composer sets his adaptation of the poem “Spells” by Gregor Strinisa, “an assemblage of magical incantations invoking elements of nature and mythical beasts”. Lojze uses a whole range of unpitched choral effects, from shouts and whispers to unison chanting, with occasional solo voices emerging briefly to hold a long sustained note. The percussion is used to excellent effect, often enhancing the vocal texture, as when chorus and timpani combine in some visceral glissandi, or when temple blocks and bongos reinforce a jerky, staccato choral passage. This brief work was dynamic and intense, its strong, sudden contrasts imparting a flavor of East European post-expressionism to the program.

Lyrical invention

The final work, following the intermission, was Unbecoming: Songs for Dancing (2002) by Mark Winges, the San Francisco Chamber Singers' resident composer, who has written a number of pieces for the group. Winges' lyrical, imaginative vocal writing was complemented by his skillful use of vibraphone and marimba, often playing as a duo in this composition of nine connected movements. The piece begins quietly, as the singers gradually file onstage from the rear of the auditorium, and then it builds to a central point, a gently introspective movement for a-cappella chorus. From that point on, the music works its way palindromically back to the point where it began, and the singers return to their original places at the rear of the performing space.

This is a large scaled work of considerable beauty and musicality. For his text, Winges also uses the poetry of Denise Newman, having actively collaborated with her in its formation. The result is a series of attractive but unfocused verses with some rambling, alliterative wordplay, but notably lacking an inner core of meaning. This quality is reflected in the music as well, which, for all of its luster, is too often preoccupied with the mixture of sounds and textures for their own sake, creating an outer allure but providing too little real nourishment beneath the surface.

The San Francisco Chamber Singers under Robert Geary are an important and formidable local asset, immensely rewarding to hear in repertoire that no one else seems to be taking on. The brilliant virtuosi percussionists of the evening were Ward Spangler and Chris Froh. Keisuke Nagako played the piano with distinctive poetic flair, and the acoustics of Berkeley's First Unitarian Church were admirably supportive of this unique and ambitious program.