Concert Details

No longer is the ability to sing the only prerequisite for joining a chorus.

These days one must be able to play castanets, dance to hit tunes and rock out to spirituals. It is as if new chorus members must now demonstrate their abilities to pat their heads and rub their stomachs at the same time.

The Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble's "Contemporary Sounds" concert at the Hult Center on Saturday demanded that and more from the elite group of 30 members, and the musicians did an impressive job of meeting these challenges.

Artistic director Diane Retallack scheduled an ambitious program that included contemporary compositions with rhythmic and harmonic challenges as well as modern favorites from the Swingle Singers and Manhattan Transfer.

The first half of the program was devoted to modern classical compositions and demanded a keen concentration from audience and chorus.

We were eased into the more difficult pieces by Samuel Barber's "The Coolin," an exquisitely lush, neo-romantic setting of an Irish-inflected poem. The chorus's silky sound and rhythmic rocking gave the song suitable depth.

In a different vein were Morten Lauridsen's "Madrigali," six modern versions of the madrigal form that offered different challenges. Using Italian poetry, this collection is a brilliant combination of the tools of the 16th and 17th century madrigalists and of modern music's rhythmic and harmonic language. The word painting, dissonance and counterpoint of the early madrigals are given a newly dissonant, modern flavor.

Lauridsen also chose poems that revolved around one central image: love as a flame that burns in the lover's heart. He set these lovely poems to music that burns in smoldering embers rather than in leaping flames.

Although its energy flagged at times, the chorus caught the soft intensity of these pieces. Reading the translation of each poem prior to the song was an excellent idea. A professional speaker might have been an asset in this task.

Following flames with "Fire," a difficult piece by R. Murray Schafer, the chorus members played "clackers" in differing rhythmic patterns while singing on vowels to constantly changing tempos. It was more of a stirring primitive cry than a lyrical song.

Eric Whitacre's "Cloudburst" and "hope, faith, life, love" were the most successful pieces of the first half of the concert.

"Cloudburst" grabbed the audience's attention with percussion instruments, snapping fingers and slapping thighs, all while the chorus sang some intriguing poetry by Octavio Paz. The mellow, vertical harmonies of the last work allowed the audience to go into the intermission on a calmer note.

"Java Jive" awakened us to the rocking tone of the second part of the program. There were lovely pieces such as "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," and several songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The range covered by these popular tunes was not monochromatic and demanded that the chorus explore a variety of emotions, which it did with verve.

The highlight of the evening and the image everyone in the audience went home with was Stacey Glemboski's Motown interpretation of "Operator," which received an enthusiastic response and kept the audience clapping. Finally, in a well-deserved encore, the chorus hammed it up in a spoof of bad songs of the 1950s.

Retallack did an excellent job of preparing the chorus for the varied demands of the evening: the counterpoint of the madrigals, the warm harmonies of Barber and "Berkeley Square," the rhythmic challenges of Whitacre and Schafer, and the energy needed for the second half of the program.

The choral sound was round and balanced, although more heft was needed from the otherwise fine soprano section. The group's diction was excellent. The jazz combo of Vicki Brabham, Nathan Waddell, Richard Pecora and Jason Palmer ably accompanied the chorus after the intermission.

Overall, this was a splendid concert from a very versatile group of musicians.

Marilyn Farwell is a professor emerita of English at the University of Oregon.