The Colby Echo

Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Courtesy of Cliff Johnson The Colby Chorale in St. Mark's Square

Media Credit: Courtesy of Dori Smith The Chorale performing in Italy

I heard from an alumnus over spring break that Colby's Chorale never sounds better than when they've just returned from their biennial European tour. This year they earned the right to casually brag that they sang while strolling through the streets of Italy, and put on concerts in Florence, Rome and Lake Como. Some of them may miss gelato, others the architecture, but all came back with invaluable experience and strengthened by both the stresses and the excitement of touring. My source may just be right: given almost a week to recover physically, the Chorale delivered to a packed Lorimer Chapel a performance worthy of the aged cathedrals in which they sang while most of the rest of us were sleeping in till noon.

77 members strong this semester, they opened the "Easter in Italy" section of the program with the short "Tu es Petrus," which in its entirety translates to "You are Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church." Conductor and Professor of Music Paul Machlin related the sense of awe he felt as they performed this "standing almost immediately under the dome" of St. Peter's Cathedral in the Vatican; relocating to the Hill stole none of the piece's sacred gravitas.

Following this with a Gregorian chant showcasing their ability to phase in different voice parts for a smooth, steady sound build-up relying very little on the actual raising of voices (though this, of course, was also very well-done when it happened), they proceeded to shuffle and augment the program a bit. Machlin prefaced each piece with some historical or scriptural context and described artistic details in a manner understandable by the mostly-lay audience. In particular, he mentioned twice the alternately melancholy and chilling "instrument of dissonance" used by different composers to evoke the emotional and physical agonies of Christ's Passion.

In the latter half of the Easter segment, over half the Chorale left the bleachers, leaving a 31-person chamber chorus that performed two pieces by German composer Felix Mendelssohn and one by Italian Gioachino Rossini. Of this last (a French New Year's song in turns cheery and somber) some details escape me now, but at some point in the song's narrative the singers are supposed to have consumed enough champagne that they've forgotten the words they should be singing, and so simply repeat "tra-la-la." During these sections the faces of the singing students often lit up with an amusement the audience was able to share through the singers' spiritedness if not the words themselves.

After this the rest of the full Chorale reassembled for two more paschal songs, including another Rossini piece that again demonstrated their finesse as much as their sonic power.

After an intermission, they re-entered the chapel having exchanged their typical white top-black bottom ensembles for brightly colored tees; Machlin himself wore a crowd-pleaser that suggested the African influence of this part of the program. Joel Biron '07 and Canaan Morse '07 featured in a set of traditional African choral pieces. Following this was a song called simply "From" that Machlin said might "require some explanation," at which many of his singers chuckled and a few hung their heads in feigned embarrassment. Concerning a rare animal with medicinal powers (I think), the metaphor-heavy Yoruba poem was set to electronic music played from a DVD, but what caught everyone's attention was the carefully coordinated clapping and arm-slapping of the singers as additional percussion.

More recently-written pieces followed: "Black and Blue," a pun-titled but depressing song by about the experience of growing up black in the segregated America of the writer's time, and crowd favorite "Your Feets Too Big," an occasionally Vaudevillian ("your pedal extremities are colossal") satire Machlin described as "probably the world's only anti-love song" ("there were four of us: me, your feet and you"). Becky Thorburn '09, John Bergeron '08 and Bobby Underwood-Halpern '08 had solo parts; Bergeron's in particular-baritone laments about those massive feet-drew laughs.

Rounding out the African-themed segment were two spirituals. "Deep River" featured one of the single most impressive crescendos of the night and the "Ezekiel Saw De Wheel" showed off the choir's ability to weave together even more layers than usual.

The night ended with a reprise of "Tu es Petrus" and one-and-a-half standing ovations. Machlin also gave a nod to President William Adams for the College's support of Chorale.

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