Capital Region Performance Gallery

by Dick Frantzreb

The River City Chorale is a chorus in motion. For one thing, they were quicker to recover from the pandemic than most choral organizations, having put on concerts last December and in February. Another evidence of the motion is their plan for a singing tour to England, Scotland and Wales in June. On this night they presented the first of two concerts of their tour repertoire before they go “across the pond.”

Waiting for the performance to begin, I studied the program. It was a thoughtfully planned concert, balancing music from England and the US.  At 7:30 the singers entered single-file, all dressed in black. The men wore tuxedos, and the women’s formal dress was accented by a string of pearls. They took their positions on the steps leading to the altar, which was unchanged for this concert, filling the back row first. The audience tried to acknowledge their entrance with sustained applause, but it was difficult to keep it going since the singers were moving at a normal pace which took probably a couple of minutes. When they were in position, Artistic Director David Vanderbout entered to renewed applause. He greeted the audience, and included in his brief remarks an outline of the Chorale’s forthcoming tour. Some 45 singers participated in this concert, down only about 10% from their pre-pandemic numbers, though most of the losses were in the men’s sections. I was surprised to see that 3 of the singers sang through masks.

(Click here to open the program in a new window.)

The first selection on the program was “Zion’s Walls” by Aaron Copland. As soon as the singing began, I realized that acoustics of the church made it an excellent venue for a choral concert. This piece will no doubt be in their tour performances because the Chorale performed it from memory. It may be a risky choice, though, because of its unfamiliarity ─ at least to tonight’s audience. The same can’t be said for “And the Glory of the Lord” that followed. This familiar chorus from Handel’s Messiah was delivered with a brisk tempo, much enthusiasm ─ and excellent high notes from the sopranos.

With the selection from Messiah having been performed while reading from music, the Chorale put their scores down to perform “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” from memory. It was also sung a cappella. And with that, I first perceived the beautiful sound of which this group is capable. Accompaniments bring their own interest and keep a chorus on pitch, but one can’t quite appreciate vocal harmonies until a chorus is singing without accompaniment. There was another special quality in the performance of this piece: I sensed they were singing from the heart. Their facial expressions convinced me that they believed what they were singing. And as for the tone, they navigated a key change elegantly, and I could discern no flatting.

For “Jubilate Deo in C” by Benjamin Britten, the singers retrieved their scores. And no wonder ─ it was a challenging contemporary classical composition. To me, it was a demonstration of this group’s versatility, and I noticed that, scores notwithstanding, the singers’ eyes were really focused on Vanderbout’s directing. You could sense their feeling they had mastered the challenge of the piece from all the smiles that broke out at its conclusion.

At this point in the concert, most of the singers exited, leaving the 18-member Chamber Choir. Their first selection was the madrigal, “It Was a Lover and His Lass.” I found it a delightful performance ─ a cappella ─ with the special spirit and articulation required by the madrigal format.

For “Oh, My Love’s Like a Red, Red Rose,” Destiny Elazier stepped down from the formation and took Vanderbout’s place. As the music proceeded, I found my attention drawn to several singers who were really enjoying the song. I appreciate these people in every choral concert I attend. They realize that the essence of their performance is communicating with the audience ─ communication that extends beyond the notes sung to their facial expression and body language. An audience doesn’t have a lot to look at when a song is being performed, so their attention will be drawn to the most expressive singers. And the audience’s feelings about a song will be based largely on what they get from those people.

The final selection from the Chamber Choir was “The Place Called Morning” by Earl Reisdorff. This recent (2001) composition was a total delight. As it was being performed, I noticed the extraordinary expressiveness of Vanderbout’s directing, as he urged each syllable and each nuance from the singers. And as I watched and listened, I felt that there was no question that those singers had their hearts in this lovely piece.

Presently, the full chorus reassembled to perform “Greensleeves.” This must have been a difficult song for them because I noticed people concentrating intently on their scores. It was worth the effort because I’m sure the audience appreciated this familiar music ─ as did I.

It seems like a long way from “Greensleeves” to “Home on the Range,” but that was the genius of this well-organized concert ─ alternation of English and American songs, moving from one genre to another. Still, “Home on the Range” was no cowboy song, despite the nice tonal color of the incidental harmonica playing. To me, it was a sweet ballad, with a surprisingly elaborate arrangement, culminating in a pleasing interplay of the different vocal sections.

I found the “Sky Boat Song” an interesting composition with very pleasant listening. As it was performed, I was conscious of strong, confident singing from the men and a beautiful, sensitive final chord as the music concluded.

For “Nelly Bly,” it was like a new choir had taken the stage. They had a surge of energy performing this lively piece, demonstrating especially good tone and blend as they sang a cappella and from memory. One alto was so “into it” that she made me laugh ─ in appreciation of her enthusiasm.

The second half of “Across the Pond” began with another orderly, silent entrance by the Chorale. Once in place, they performed “It’s a Grand Night for Singing” by Rodgers and Hammerstein from the 1945 movie, State Fair. This piece was great fun for singers and audience alike. There were big smiles all through the chorus, and I bet there were also smiles throughout the audience. The happy mood was reflected in the fact that almost all the singers were swaying in time to the music. Even the lady who came in with a walker was rocking her walker back and forth.

The next piece in this popular music section of the program was “All I Ask of You” from Andrew Lloyd Webbers’ The Phantom of the Opera. This well-loved song seems “word-intensive” to me, and as I listened, it occurred to me that I had been hearing good articulation from these people throughout the concert.

“They Can’t Take That Away from Me” was introduced in the 1937 movie, Shall We Dance, with the singing and dancing of Fred Astaire. His spirit was recaptured in this cute, bouncy arrangement by Mark Hayes, and it got the chorus moving in place ─ and I’m sure a lot of toes tapping in the audience. I’d been impressed by the piano playing of Dean Mora since the beginning of this concert, but for this piece ─ and for the rest of this second half of the concert ─ I felt his playing was really inspired. I kept writing “great piano” in my comments for each song.

I bet that many in the audience were looking forward to the medley of James Bond theme music. I certainly was. I’d never heard this medley, but I was familiar, as most of us are, with the individual movie themes. Of course, it was well performed (with a lot of “scat” singing). But as I listened, I had to marvel at how tough the piece must be to sing, especially going from one theme to another. And it was sung from memory! In fact, almost all the selections in this half of the program were performed without scores, no doubt an indication that they will be the heart of the group’s repertoire when they take this show on the road.

Those of us over a certain age are especially familiar with “God Only Knows,” a Beach Boys song dating from the 1960s. This was a fairly sophisticated arrangement (with more good piano, of course), and it made for great listening as we reminisced to that sweet music. Then, staying in the 1960s and switching to the other side of the Atlantic, we heard the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love.” It was another fun, gently rocking piece, full of spirit. And one evidence of that spirit was that some of the chorus members tried to get us in the audience to sing along. Sadly, though we appreciated their enthusiasm, we were far too inhibited as a group to go along with the idea. I expect British audiences will be more cooperative ─ at least I hope so.

At this point, the music paused and we heard from Lois Wright, a long-time member of the River City Chorale, who would be moving away and leaving the group. She fought back tears to tell us how much the Chorale had meant to her. Then Vanderbout returned to offer his thanks to donors, volunteers, the host church, the singers ─ and his right-hand man, accompanist Dean Mora. (Be sure to read the impressive biographies of Vanderbout and Mora in the accompanying program.)

There were two more musical selections on the program.  The first was listed in the program as “The National Anthem,” but we all know it as “God Save the Queen.” The Chorale performed it from their scores (I bet they have it memorized by the time they get overseas), singing the first verse with great respect, and the unfamiliar second verse with great spirit.

The concert concluded with “Sacramento-Sis Joe,” a lively piece by Jackson Berkey that is built mostly around the melody of “Camptown Races.” It was an elaborate arrangement, lyric-intensive, with difficult rhythmic effects ─ and performed from memory. It must have been very hard to learn, but great fun to sing. The fun was underlined by the hoots, hand-clapping and other “choralography” by the singers, along with even a bit of whistling. It will be a great crowd-pleaser on tour, as it was this evening.

This 45-year-old organization is looking for more singers ─ as are all choruses these days. So if you’re a singer, how do you decide which chorus to join? Of course, there are many factors, such as location and time of rehearsals, the chorus’s reputation, male/female/mixed, etc. But a big factor is the opportunity to perform the kind of music you like. That will be classical for some, barbershop for others, Broadway for still others. One big attraction of River City Chorale is the variety of music they perform. So if your musical tastes are broad, if you value a dynamic organization with a spirit of community and a continuing reputation for putting on audience-pleasing shows ─ you’ll likely find a comfortable home with the River City Chorale.

(Note:  The River City Chorale's tour will include stops in England, Scotland and Wales.  High points of the tour will be a performance at a church service in Stratford-upon-Avon in England, a concert at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland, and a joint concert with the Colwyn Male Voice Choir in Llandudno, Wales.  Monitor River City Chorale's upcoming concerts in their website at this link.)