"Glee Clubs"

[Rex_Tremende]

I've been meaning to respond to this December, 2007, post for some time, but only now have gotten around to scanning in the evidentiary documentation. And since I have no interest in rekindling an old debate, I'm posting it here, in the Off Topic forum, just for fun.

TO QUOTE: "since so many of us advocate the wearing of the kilt in non-conformist ways, you are free to wear a black tie with a wing-tip collar if you choose, so long as you don't mind that you'll look like you got lost on your way to the glee club."

How clever of you to mention glee clubs... do you sing? Sorry Rex, but I don't buy into the whole non-conformist thing. Too much dumbing down for my tastes. I prefer the elegance of style and wit in society, something that is sadly lacking in our post-modern world. But be of good cheer. If you will tell me where your glee club is singing I'll try to pop in on my way to the Ritz-- unless of course I get lost on the way.

Why, as a matter of fact, I do sing - and I'm sure you recognize this place - it's not far from the Ritz - just a few blocks. Here I am, in the second row, just behind the second row of cellos.

Regards,
Rex.

[Dan R Porter]

It must have been a good debate. Kinda glad I missed it. I saw a glee club in Boston when I was a teen, I laughed like it was a joke. Now I look back and think about all those men and women putting their heart and souls into it for nothing other then satisfaction and joy. No money, no fame, just fun and soul. I wish I had been more open minded then.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Rex--
LOL! Actually one of my best friends (now in law school) was in Chimes whilst at Georgetown University and I did hear him (and the rest of his mob) sing on a couple of occasions. None of the performances, however, caused me to stray from the art deco bar at the Ritz.

Best regards,
Scott

[Bugbear]

I very strongly suggest clicking on the link to the original post, then reading the other posts in that thread.

[Rex_Tremende]

I have performed many concerts over the years. This was one of those performances where our collective output far exceeded our individual talents, and it's one of the two most memorable singing experiences I've ever had. I sometimes pull this event out when introducing myself in those group meetings when we are instructed to "disclose something about ourselves that most people wouldn't know."

"I have performed on the stage of Carnegie Hall."

The New York Times
March 21, 1991
Review/Music; A Cincinnati Chorus Visits

By JAMES R. OESTREICH

Perhaps no other American city has cultivated the classical choral tradition more assiduously than Cincinnati. The Cincinnati May Festival, a choral event presented every two years from 1873 to 1967 and annually thereafter, claims to be the oldest continuous music festival in the United States.

On Friday evening New Yorkers who gaze longingly each year at the May Festival repertory were able to sample it for themselves. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and its music director, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, arrived at Carnegie Hall with the May Festival Chorus to perform Mendelssohn's "Elijah" -- during a season, coincidentally, in which the New York Philharmonic also presented this not particularly fashionable work.

All that Cincinnati history, combined with the fustian oratorio tradition itself, might have led listeners to fear something weighty and ponderous, the more so since Mr. Lopez-Cobos is not widely regarded as a firebrand. But the conductor shook the cobwebs out of the score immediately with pointed accents and with an impetuous tempo in the Overture (Moderato) that relented but little for the opening chorus and choral recitative (Andante Lento).

There were prices to be paid for the haste. That recitative speaks of dire thirst and hunger, and was undoubtedly meant to convey a languor not hinted at here. And the skittering Mendelssohnian string scales and arpeggios emerged slightly blurred, whether because of the players' difficulty with tempos or because of the slight echoey haze that afflicts the front of the stage in the current Carnegie acoustics.

But Mr. Lopez-Cobos had an impetuous ally in Benjamin Luxon, who, as Elijah, swept all before him like a force of nature. Given such purpose, the sprightly overall pacing quickly took on a logical force of its own, and the benefits in coherence and concentration far outweighed the occasional losses of detail. Whatever slight difficulties the orchestra may have experienced with tempos, the lithe 162-member chorus, trained by Robert Porco, encountered none. Diction and intonation were consistently admirable.

Mr. Luxon's baritone was hardly huge, and his pitch definition lost focus under dynamic pressure. But he threw himself into the role of the hectoring prophet with intelligence and abandon, riveting the listener with his plaints through any means available, from scarcely adorned speech to elaborate song. When the prophet arrived at despair unto death, Mr. Luxon seemed utterly spent, and with good reason.

But comfort came immediately, for him and for anyone within earshot, from the angel of Florence Quivar, who contributed glorious moments throughout the evening. Her half-voice in the alto arioso "Woe unto them" was especially lovely. The soprano Faye Robinson soared fetchingly at times, but her control seemed tenuous, and she tended to slide into pitches. For whatever reason, the tenor John Aler appeared to be working under strain.

Still, this was in sum a most exhilarating evening.

Indeed it was.

Regards,
Rex.

[The Wizard of BC]

I have seen the stage at Carnegie Hall.

[Bugbear]

Good for you, Rex.

[McClef]

It's an interesting phrase that I know was applied to many male voice choirs in Wales when they first started.

[GMan]

Rex,

You amaze me.

[Sheep In Wolf's Clothing]

Any recordings?? I would love to hear them!!
Sara

:ootd: