Life > May 1, 2008

By Conner Swarbrick | Asst. sports editor

The Spring Choral Concert featured the concert choir, Collegium Musicum Vocal Ensemble and the Wake Forest Chorale performing choral music from France.The performance, directed by Brian Gorelick was an overriding success.

Collegium was up first and they sung all their pieces in French. Their first song was “Revecy venire du printans” by Claude Le Jeune. It was a very upbeat and happy work about the return of spring, “the beautiful season of love.” It began with everyone together, followed by a section with just the sopranos and altos. Long syllables were equated with quarter notes and short syllables with eighth notes. There was a five-part refrain alternating with verses of gradually increasing number of voices before finishing high with everyone singing “even those who don’t realize they are in love melt with pleasure.”

Their second piece was “Au joli bois” by Claudin de Sermisy. This was a very lyrical and sentimental song. The third work, “La, la, la, je ned l’ose dire,” composed by Pierre Certon, who is known for his chansons, was short and humorous. It is syllabic and homorhythmic reflecting the style in vogue in the middle of the 16th century.

“Dieu, qui’il la fait bon regarder” by Claude Debussy was up next. This had a Renaissance-like texture and is an extraordinary example of word painting. These qualities combined effectively with the harmonic palette of the French impressionist era. The song is a poem praising the Lord for a beautiful woman, in the sense it is certainly romantic.

Their final piece, “Verger,” by Paul Hindemith is based off of a poem by Ranier Maria Rilke. This piece featured phrasing and lightness of the Renaissance along with a harmonic language that, according to the program, is unique to Hindemith. The altos and sopranos singing very fluid beamed notes while the tenors and bases sang staccato. The Wake Forest Chorale then came on to sing “Cantique de Jean Racine” by Gabriel Faure. This piece, which was sung in English, is a religious hymn. The piece began with a piano accompaniment and was intense and diverse. The second piece, which was sung in French, was “Sa Nuit d’ Ete” by Morten Lauridsen written to a poem by Ranier Maria Rilke. The poem is clear and has a deep passion. Morten Lauridsen presents both of these with his melodic and harmonic richness.

“Gloria” by Francis Poulenc was performed by the concert choir, Wake Forest Chorale and university orchestra. It is divided into six short movements which have strong musical contrasts. The first part, “Gloria,” forms the basis of the movement. The chorus enters with a dotted figure to the word “Gloria.”

The second movement “Laudamus Te” is more playful. The chorus is divided into pairs of voices exchanging a series of short phrases.

The third section, “Dominus Deus,” is very expressive and a soprano soloist performs a yearning melody while the chorus supports.

The playful mood returns with “Domine Fili Unigenite,” which is an example of the stark contrast. Another soprano soloist performs in the next part ,“Dominus Deus, Agnus Dei.” Here the soloist and chorus combine and exchange lyrical phrases.

The sixth movement begins with a short majestic opening before moving on to a very peaceful section. However, Poulenc has to close with a loud interjection recalling the dotted “Gloria” from the opening.

The performance saw a good crowd and featured the premier choral talent at the university. When all three groups came together to perform the Mass, it was a beautiful display.