You’ll notice that a number of the arrangements
above, plus one original item, are by Ward Swingle. We’re told
that he came to work with the Vasari Singers before this CD was
made, presumably to help them ‘swing’ stylishly in this music,
most of which is jazz-inspired. Another obvious, and perhaps superficial,
sign of his guidance is the use of appropriately Americanised
pronunciation. For example, we have a ‘nidingale’ singing in Berkeley
Square, and we’re ‘crassing’ Moon River in style. Put this way,
it sounds as if it would be affected, but in fact comes over as
perfectly natural. (Isn’t it odd, by the way, that our choirs
have to work at authentic American diction, while our pop singers
are mostly unable to resist adopting a cod transatlantic
accent for their offerings?).
Swingle’s work has not been in vain, for the
Singers turn in delightfully stylish interpretations of these
numbers, many of which are classics in their own right. It helps
that the arrangements, many of which are a capella, are
superb, and the choir’s sense of enjoyment comes over strongly.
The programme is that much more enjoyable for including a number
of items by modern English composers, the first of which are the
delightful Birthday Madrigals by John Rutter. This commences
with a setting of Shakespeare’s It was a lover and his lass
– irresistible, and supported by a jazz trio of piano bass and
drums. Later on, we have the exciting Dances in the Streets
of Bob Chilcott. Thoughtful programme planning here, for these
two pieces, entitled Soho and Paddington follow
on with geographical logic from A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley
Square.
The general standard of this group is very high,
with diction, ensemble and rhythmic discipline all of splendid
quality. Tone and blend are not quite so outstanding, partly because
the men’s voices are not as good as those of the women, and partly
because there are one or two sopranos whose voices protrude ever
so slightly from the texture in long-held notes from time to time.
Intonation (i.e. tuning) is mostly superb, but sopranos are sometimes
just under the note when singing in the upper-middle
of the stave. This is never bad enough to be really distracting,
but it’s something their excellent conductor, Jeremy Backhouse,
will want to keep working on.
It’s things like this, together with the variable
quality of the solos from the choir (some of which are terrific,
others undistinguished), which stops the disc being of top-notch
quality. However, it is the sort of CD which provides terrific
publicity for the choir, and will sell like hot cakes at their
concerts. Personally, I’m just looking forward to an opportunity
to hear them ‘live’!
Gwyn Parry-Jones
Robert Hugill has also listened to this
disc
John Rutter wrote his well known setting of ‘It
was a lover and his lass’ (also featured on this disc in a setting
by Ward Swingle) in 1975 since when it has become deservedly well
known. Its pairing of Shakespearean text with a catchy, jazz-based
tune is proving both popular and effective. In 1995, to celebrate
the jazz pianist, George Shearing’s 75th birthday,
Rutter wrote four more pieces to create the five movement, ‘Birthday
Madrigals’ suite. Movements 3 (setting Marlowe and Raleigh) and
5 (setting Shakespeare and Peele) are in the same jazzy vein,
using bass and piano. Unfortunately, the two new movements have
the feeling of history repeating itself, and though pleasant and
effective, do not add anything to the original movement. Movements
2 and 4 are unaccompanied and rather a surprise, eschewing the
jazz-like rhythms for a more contemporary, serious feel firmly
in the English part-song tradition. These two movements were rather
effective and had fewer of Rutter’s signatures; I would have been
more than content with these two on their own.
Conductors find this kind of choral music useful
to programme as a lighter item at the end of a concert. This is
music which is well written for voices and is enjoyable to sing.
But it can be tricky and when singing this repertoire I have occasionally
found that the music takes more rehearsal than it really deserves.
And I always have a sneaking suspicion that music of this genre
is in danger of being more fun to sing than to listen to. If sung
at all, it must be sung very well. And here the pieces are sung
very well indeed by the Vasari Singers.
One other piece stands out in the programme,
Bob Chilcott’s ‘Dances in the street’ setting two of Verlaine’s
poems. Like Rutter, he takes popular elements to create distinctive
and effective items.
The remainder of the programme is in roughly
the same jazzy/Broadway type category. This is a genre which I
think of as piano bar jazz, an area where it is tempting for classically
based artists to stray into with mixed success. But such artists
as Richard Rodney Bennett, Marian Montgomery, Cleo Laine and even
Elly Ameling (I have a fond regard for her late, crossover album
‘Sentimental me’) have had great success. It is to Rutter’s credit
that he takes elements from this genre to create popular and effective
pieces, again making it all seem easy. But in the jazzy movements
of ‘Birthday Madrigals’ the combination of classic texts and jazzy
rhythms made me wonder whether this wasn’t all slightly second
best, making music accessible to choirs when it has been better
done by John Dankworth and Cleo Laine in Dankworth’s ‘Word Songs’.
When it comes to the arrangements on this disc,
this issue of whether the pieces stand up on their own or whether
we must simply accept them as a way of making this type becomes
a serious one. It is quite hard for a classically trained choir
to stray into this genre. There is the constant tug between flexibility
and unanimity. The rhythms don’t get the laid back feel that they
deserve when there are four of you on a line endeavouring to sing
with unanimity. When listening to most of the arrangements on
the disc, my thoughts were mainly that the performances were well
done, if a little stiff at times. But I am not sure I wanted to
listen to a whole album. There are thirteen arrangements on this
album and some of the original items, like Grayston Ives’ ‘Calico
Pie’ sound just like the arrangements. These are all, pleasant,
sing-along encore items, but have no distinctive voice beyond
making that particular song available to the choir and it rather
makes for an indigestible disc. Carter’s arrangements in particular
have a tendency to sound as if they have strayed off the soundtrack
of a Walt Disney cartoon and I really do not want to hear the
soprano solo line in ‘Summertime’ sung by the whole soprano section
of a choir, no matter how well they sing it.
It must be said, though, that Ward Swingle’s
arrangements are in an entirely different class. Swingle’s is
a very distinctive voice which comes over, even though the pieces
are being sung by a choir rather than a small group of amplified
singers. In ‘All the Things you Are’, the opening melody responds
well to Swingle’s treatment and the choir sing this beautifully.
But when it comes to the scat singing, the texture can get a little
heavy. Generally the Vasari Singers respond to the challenge very
well, but there are moments in most of the Swingle arrangements
where the trickiness of the part writing prevents the choir from
providing the effortless smoothness and complete accuracy that
the arrangements really require.
This probably all sounds a little unnecessarily
harsh. This is a well sung disc and some thought has gone in to
the programme. I particularly like the involvement of Ward Swingle,
but I did wonder whether the arrangements could not have been
varied a little more by something like Manhattan Transfer’s material.
Apart from Swingle’s own, not enough of the arrangements are distinctive
enough to stand on their own, they feel too much like the producers
padding the disc. Couldn’t the Vasari Singers have commissioned
someone to write one medley and then have devoted the remaining
CD to some more interesting repertoire exploring other composers
that like to dip a toe into the tricky world of piano-bar jazz.
Robert Hugill
ans so has Robert Farr
This is the 23rd year of existence
for the ‘Vasari Singers’, all under the direction of Jeremy Backhouse.
In that period they have appeared at the BBC ‘Proms’, in the major
English Cathedrals, given acclaimed annual concerts at such prestigious
venues as St. John’s, Smith Square and St. Martin-in the-Fields,
have recently appeared on BBC TVs ‘Songs of Praise’ and performed
the soundtrack for the Discovery Channel documentary ‘Seven Wonders’.
They have recorded 14 CDs, the last two being of music by Dupré,
including a ‘World Premier Recording’ of ‘La France au Calvaire’,
reviewed by me elsewhere on this site. Their first Dupré
disc, simply entitled ‘Choral Works’’ achieved a prestigious award;
both the Dupré discs appeared on the Guild label that rather
specialises in music by that composer. This disc is in more distinctly
popular vein despite starting with Rutter’s ‘Birthday Madrigals’
(trs. 1-5). The first of these settings, to words by Shakespeare,
(tr. 1) is more in the jazz idiom than the more traditional Rutter
type music of the second (tr. 2), which together with the remaining
pieces (trs. 3-5) were first presented in 1995, added to celebrate
the 75th birthday of George Shearing, the great jazz
pianist. After his reversion to a serious, even sombre mode in
the first of these additions, Rutter shows himself to be in more
birthday bent in ‘Come live with me’ (tr. 3), with it’s introductory
plucked double bass, being immediately lighter and more appropriately
in character with the Vasari Singers articulating its syncopations
with élan and the sopranos having a very distinct vocal
patina. ‘My True Love’ (tr. 4) with its high vocal line, and hummed
backing, is again very distinct in character although here I could
have done with better diction from the sopranos in which respect
the resonant, rather too ‘swimmy’ acoustic is a distinct disadvantage.
After the Rutter pieces, suddenly, even unexpectedly,
track 6 whisks us to the world of George Shearing with an arrangement
of ‘Lullaby of Birdland’, made famous by Sarah Vaughan, and after
which arrangements of one popular song follows another; ‘A Nightingale
sang in Berkeley Square’ (tr. 7), ‘Moon River’ (tr. 10), Gershwin’s
‘Summertime’ from Porgy and Bess being some of the most
notably well known. Composers such as Kern, Joplin and Loesser
rub shoulders with Kosma’s ‘Autumn Leaves’ (tr. 11). All the pieces
are rendered in a suitably light, entertaining, and beautifully
relaxing idiom, light years away from the previous ‘Vasari’ discs
of Dupré and non the worse for that. There is the odd time
when I do feel that these very accomplished musicians, who are
perhaps more used to deputizing for Cathedral Choirs than the
lighter repertoire, are too heavy for the music, but the feeling
soon passes and enjoyment allied to respect for the skill and
accomplishment involved resumes. I was mildly irritated too when
there is a tendency for the simple tunes to get lost in over-elaborated
arrangement. However, that is really being hyper-critical because
I thoroughly enjoyed the disc and will be purchasing copies as
Christmas presents for a couple of choral enthusiast friends who,
I am sure, will be rapturous and be taking new ideas back to their
groups.
Robert J Farr
Vasari Singers/Jeremy
Backhouse