Choral Spectacular

Ever since my sister pulled me to Parry Sound for the first time in 1994, the Festival of the Sound has been a regular feature of my summer.  I've watched it grow from 2 concerts a day to 3 and occasionally even 4, and spread out until it now covers almost 4 weeks.  The most spectacular change of all was the shift, 9 years ago, from an overheated, stuffy high school gym with stacking chairs on the floor to a concert hall which is truly world class in both creature comforts and acoustics!

For those not familiar, the Festival of the Sound focuses on classical chamber music, and does it very well indeed.  But there are also excursions into jazz, Broadway show tunes, Celtic music, orchestral music and choral music.

This year's Gala Opening was a choral concert, featuring the Trinity College Choir of Cambridge (England, not Ontario!).  Put 34 enthusiastic and skilful young singers into the hall of the Charles W. Stockey Centre and you get results which had everyone in a state of breathless excitement in the lobby afterwards!

We were asked ahead of time not to applaud between numbers as the program would proceed throughout without breaks and without intermission.  That turned out to be an understatement.  The choir came on stage, lined up, and sang their first three numbers without a break -- and without a conductor!  None of these pieces were simple, and the third of the sequence was a fiendishly complex piece with fierce stabbing cross-rhythms.  I suspect I wasn't the only person who wondered how they could pull something like this off!

After that, the choir's director, Stephen Layton, came forward and led the ensemble through the rest of the program.  The very next piece, with frequent stops and starts built into the music, basically forced the issue for them, I think.  After that, the concert consisted of an alternation of works by older composers (Bach, Purcell, Schütz, and Mendelssohn) with modern works, many by composers from the Baltic countries.  Of the entire performance, only the Bach was accompanied (on a small chamber organ) until the penultimate number.

A most memorable piece was Sven-David Sandström's "recomposition" of Purcell's anthem Hear My Prayer.  Starting with unadulterated Purcell, Sandström gradually added broken up phrases and bits of the original into a kaleidoscopic musical fresco.  This musical elaboration continued until the 34 voices built up what my sister Kathie aptly called "a wall of sound that made my hair stand on end."  The effect was overwhelming and almost shattering.

The choir had been specifically asked to perform Parry Sound-born composer Eleanor Daley's Paradise: A Song of Georgian Bay.  This was commissioned by the Festival for the opening of the new hall 9 years ago.  The choir performed it as their second-last number, accompanied by piano, and made a lovely job of this repeat performance.

The overpowering volume of sound from Sandström and the gently flowing sounds of Daley were equally well served by the splendid acoustics of the Stockey Centre.  The auditorium's high-pitched steep roof has the same acoustic effect as a tall English cathedral or church, but with a softer, warmer edge as the interior is dressed with wood.  Without the amplifying effect of that unique roof it would have needed a much bigger choir of 60 or more to create the same physical impact on the audience. 

After that concert, it's not hard to see why so many musical artists of all kinds love to be invited back to the Festival of the Sound!