‘TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY
When spirits sag lowest in the darkest of December, we always compensate by getting a shot in the arm via the Chanticleer holiday program. I’d say it’s virtually guaranteed; even when a couple of the dozen singers get respiratory ailments, as this month, the show goes on full-force, with Music Director Tim Keeler stepping in as designated hitter to provide yet another countertenor voice.
Chanticleer provides amazing performance in an unusually broad Nativity-oriented repertory hard to find these days, some of it produced a millennium earlier than Handel’s “Messiah.” Never a blown cue, never a mite off-pitch, never a conductor out front, and all ranging over far-away tongues like Catalan, Old Slavonic, Latin, Spanish, even English. You will not find a finer-tuned Christmas chorus anywhere around in their linguistic world tour, not even on nearby planets (Just ask an astronaut).
As in most early Christian music, it’s an all-male a cappella group, half being countertenors taking the highest notes of trusty time-weathered choirs of men and boys as we know from the Anglicans. At the other end, Chanticleer serves up American spirituals and breezy modern selections like Howard Blake’s “Walking in the Air.” And unlike the first Chanticleer in San Francisco 44 years ago, this group is healthily multi-cultural and multi-racial, representing three or four continents. For instance, in that modern carol the tenor soloist is the unflappable American with South-Asian roots, Vineel Garisa Mahal.
Among its 22 holiday concerts, the chorus has found one ideal site in Oakland’s Cathedral of Christ the Light to launch the first of its Bay Area “home” concerts. The Dec. 11 launch revealed good sightlines, an excellent reverberation (sought after by choral groups) and just one visible hazard: altar steps that I was fearful would trip the singers in their frequently altered up-and-down formations.
Every year, the holiday repertoire varies, but the chorus always heeds its signature work, the Bavarian Franz Biebl’s haunting dual-ensemble “Ave Maria.” Both the work and Biebl were unknowns until Chanticleer took off with it. Writing the holiday music must do wonders for longevity—-Biebl lived to 101, while Blake and Arvo Pȁrt are both close to the 85 mark.
The Estonian Pȁrt contributed a work in Eastern-church Slavonic, surprising parishioners with its lively, upbeat pace. There are works in Catalan related to Spanish, plus the popular “Riu, riu, chiu,” and beloved renaissance polyphony from Victoria and di Lasso which we never hear sung live elsewhere (perhaps because its intricacy is comparable to sewing fine needlepoint or lace). By the end of it, you might pass up a shopping spree and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and spirituality—Always a lurking danger this time of year!
A CHANTICLEER CHRISTMAS, professional chorus of 12 men, half of them high-pitched countertenors. Various Northern California Area locales through Dec. 23. For info: www.chanticleer.org.
