Word: capella
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Friday night's performance by the Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society, led by Elliot Forbes, surmounted the considerable technical difficulties of the work, but threatened to break upon the Scylla of a capella singing, intonation. The intra-chorus work was satisfactory, with the exception of several bewildering opening bars of various sections; but as each part went on, the chorus, depressed by a rather cowardly soprano section, sank lower and lower, and at the end of the second movement was grovelling around a third lower than was written, producing the weird impression of a record being played...
...clear as it has been. But the sensationalism, the milking of each piece for the last ounce of "effect" has also gone, and the resulting straight readings are more honest and rewarding. This was particularly evident in Bach's Motet No. 1, also for double chorus, a capella, which preceded the Thompson...
Aside from these two, and the a capella rock and roll, all the songs are about equally bland. To be sure, it is better to be bland than abrasive; the Dunces are well coordinated, their entrances and pitch are good, and even the solos are, in the main, well handled. Their faults stem mostly from the inherent disadvantages of the form, and weak material...
...Mass of the Holy Spirit, by Randall Thompson, recently completed, was a fitting number to follow the Palestrina. Professor Thompson's choral style, without surrendering its individuality, draws not a little inspiration from 16th Century polyphony. Written entirely for a capella chorus, the work is impressive in its construction, evidence of the composer's unquestioned versatility in contrapuntal writing. The chorus appeared quite at home with the piece and sang it admirably; the Gloria was particularly well done...
...Glee Club and Choral Society. It seems remarkable that in so short a time they could become so respensive to Mr. Munch's direction. And even in the last performance, their tone quality remained pure and clear. The excellence of their training was particularly well shown in the a capella prayer "Quaerens...