Music review: The Leonids explore vast sonic territory in concert with Chor Leoni
The new ensemble defies expectations of what lower-tone male singers can do
Enrico Lagasca. Photo courtesy the artist.
Jacob Perry Jr. Photo by Tim Coburn
Chor Leoni presents A Sound Like This: Chor Leoni & The Leonids on May 13 at 7:30 pm at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church. Reviewed on May 12
THE TITLE PIECE of A Sound Like This, the debut concert by the Leonids, Chor Leoni’s new supergroup, is set to text by Kabir, a 15th-century Indian saint and mystic poet whose ecstatic poems include one about “the flute of interior time”, which is “played whether we hear it or not”. Translated by Robert Bly, it continues: “What we mean by “love” is its sound coming in./When love hits the farthest edge of excess, it reaches wisdom./And the fragrance of that knowledge!/It penetrates our thick bodies,/it goes through walls./Its network of notes has a structure as if a million suns were arranged inside./This tune has truth in it./Where else have you heard a sound like this?”
The answer to that question is nowhere: never before in Vancouver have we heard sounds like these coming out of St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church.
The Leonids consist of nine leading male baritone, bass, bass-baritone, and tenor singers from across Canada and the U.S.; between them, they have performed with some of North America’s top vocal ensembles. In introducing the group to the world, Chor Leoni artistic director Erick Lichte created a program of more than a dozen songs that allow him to play with and highlight the artists’ vocal textures and hues. Although the Leonids all fall into the lower-tone category, the concert proves that within it, there exists vast sonic territory.
Minneapolis composer Edie Hill’s “A Sound Like This” strongly illustrates this range. Originally composed for the Cantus ensemble of nine soloists, the moving, multilayered piece also features duos and trios. The selection contributes to the theme of the program’s first half, dedicated to the divine—without religious dogma, as reflected in Kile Smith’s “I want to write a book of praise”. Here, the composer explores his relationship to a greater power through “little words”, his questioning opening the concert gently, as if to mirror our cautious re-entry into the world post-COVID.
The tone shifts to shimmery in Melissa Dunphy’s “The Elements of the Sun”, a vocal depiction of sunrise inspired by her love of Renaissance madrigals, then lurches from haunting to playful in “Muistse mere laulud”. Veljo Tormis’s medley of sea shanties weaves in Estonian lyrics into a filmic mariners’ soundscape that even incorporates sounds of splashing waves, the occasional “Ahoy!”, and wait… Is that a flock of seagulls we hear?
This cinematic journey rolls into the program’s ensuing theme of nature—from the life-giving and deadly forces of the ocean (Robert Rival’s sometimes jaunty “The Midnight Sea”) to the world premiere of Chor Leoni composer in residence Don MacDonald’s “Dolcissima Mia Vita”. The latter is a concert highlight. MacDonald has recast segments of a Renaissance madrigal by Carlo Gesualdo into a love song for our burning planet, both choirs joining in the work’s complexity and passion.
There are a few instances where individual artists get the chance to shine, namely bass-baritones Jonathan Woody and Enrico Lagasca (the latter whose commanding sound you can sense coming from very depths of his core) in Ēriks Ešenvalds’s “Love’s Philosophy”; with Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good”, arranged by David Harrington, tenor Jacob Perry Jr. delivers the kind of deeply felt solo that gives audiences goosebumps.
If there’s anything missing from A Sound Like This, it’s an opportunity for the Leonids to really let loose, to show a more booming and boisterous side. Mister Rogers’s “It’s You I Like” (arranged by Harrington) is fun, but with the program as a whole generally having a contemplative feel, we can’t help but think there’s a side to this ensemble we haven’t heard yet. The plan is for the Leonids to perform regularly with Chor Leoni (and they will be guests at the May 14 VanMan Summit Concert at the Chan Centre). With their obvious elevated level of technical and expressive skill rounding out the already excellent offerings coming from the local choir, we’re keen to experience what sounds we’ll be hearing from them next.
Related Articles
