Theatre Review / Stars Are Born

Last Tuesday Keys Choral Arts went supernova at St Paul’s.  Closer to earth, I think Emily Boyd Lowe is smiling to see that her remarkable Chorales in the last century are now matched–if not, dare I say, exceeded–by Conductor Tim Peterson’s current version.

From the first phrase the rich blend of 50 voices was mesmerizing.  The human voice is generally our ears’ favorite instrument, and to blend the group in a balanced SATB is a challenge rewarded by an aural ecstasy, when it can be accomplished.  I actually started to weep in the first verse and it lasted through three songs, before I ran out of juice–not tears of joy or sorrow, but from an overflow of emotion, the highest order of musical appreciation.  And they had tough acts to follow: I’d enjoyed the full symphony at Tennesse Williams on Saturday and a chamber performance by Emmy-winning cellist Zuill Bailey (from 10 feet away, almost in his lap) on Sunday.

Conductor Peterson’s accomplishment is manifold.  The songs he chooses are a mixture of the familiar and fresh, from the Sound of Music to rare German Lieder.  As a conductor he is first a teacher, guiding a wide range of singer backgrounds, from professionals to newcomers.  With an exact ear for pitch, dynamic, and phrasing he corrects errors in any through months of practice.  At the concert, he pulled what I feel sure must have been the best he could out of his 50-person musical instrument, guiding tempo and dynamic, blending the four ranges and their varying voices, eliciting a near perfect rendition of the songs he “Loves”–the concert was titled “For the Love of Song”–getting us to love them too.

The singers humbled me.  About halfway through I realized I had not yet heard a “wrong” note–meaning, usually,  a pitch error–so I paid special attention through the rest.  I have a pretty good ear, and I still couldn’t hear any.  Better, I didn’t hear the kind of error I make in choir, singing too distinctly–“soloing,” Tim calls it.  This choir is a perfect team effort.  The only time I heard a single singer stand out just a bit was my favorite tenor putting a pin in the central note of “Our Birth Is But a Sleep,” the word “joy,” leading the men to the strong clarity it needed.  And their dynamic control, under Peterson’s direction, moved like waves from soft to loud, as suited the lyrics.

Following the principle of team play, the program did not name the soloists, so I won’t either.  Most delightful were four musical actresses doing the Sound of Music’s “Maria.”  They were spritely and serious in their turn, vividly displaying the humor of the piece.  The baritone solo portions of the title song of Sound of Music taught me I’d get no solos as long as he was in, as opposed to directing, this choir, as he did for “Verlieh’ uns Frieden,” when Peterson took the organ.  And the tenor dared a song we all know well, “Edelweiss,” and made it his own.

In addition to the solos, the program concluded with dividing the singers into three subgroups, the women, the men, a mixture, with the pack hoofing it on and off the stage in close order drill.  At my age, I would expect to fall at least once in such an endeavor, and I watched with held breath as they made their way hither and yon.  Amazingly, it went as well as halftime with the marching band at a college football game, with both precision and dispatch.

My only wish for the singers would be to hear more of the high climactic soprano notes, as almost arrived in the penultimate, “We Are the Music Makers.”  Here to my ear the conductor was a bit too reticent, perhaps most would call it refined, but I know at least three of these women can break glass  (perhaps not a felicitous phrase) and I wish they’d been set free to soar.

Only accompanist Lou Ann Steely was named with Peterson on the program.  She is so perfect that the day I first heard her at Jordan Sommer’s brilliant recital I rushed to employ her as my accompanist at The Gardens (she turned me down, darn, too “retired” she says, to take on any more mere single vocalists).  She is flawless in support, not really getting any solo parts.  My only quibble is that the “piano” part of the concert grand pianoforte did not have the lower dynamic range the singers employed, so when the singers were at their most delicate, the piano could not go quietly with them.

Finally, even the program itself.  Rarely for such concerts, it included the lyrics to all the songs (trusting compulsive singers like myself NOT to sing along, which we all, mercifully, did not).  This was especially useful for the Lieder, as all can be expected to enjoy the sound of the German, but not to be able to translate, as the program did.

Emily Boyd Lowe was the Key’s musical saint for decades.  I got here long ago enough to hear her 100+ full Chorales in the 1990’s, and got to sing with her when she came out of retirement to conduct one last holiday concert in my second year of singing.  For that one, she graciously made as though she knew of me and was pleased to have me join, a charm I am sure she showed to all her singers.  And the fellow next to me was a former New York professional then moved to Miami, who came down to Key West just to sing with Emily.  She has been an impossible act to follow for 20 years.

Until now.  My congratulations to Keys Choral Arts.