Mostly Shakespeare …
… as you like it

Sunday, May 1, 2005
By Paul M. Somers

Pro Arte Chorale, David Crone (cond.), Janet Montgomery (accompanist) with theRidgewood High School Madrigal Singers and the New Players Company at Ridgewood High School: Andrew Petzinger, John Moody, James Viggiano, Pat Lenihan, Larry Crane Moscowitz, Emily Levitan, and Rebecca Warm. Mostly-Shakespeare texts with music by Morley, Bennet, Purcell, Vaughan Williams, Mulholland, Diemer, Shearing, and Rutter. Excerpts from As You Like It: II, vii, 139-167 (Jacques' "All the Word's a Stage"); I, i; III, v. Community Church of Glen Rock.

For those of us who speak and read English, we should be encouraged to notice that the language of Shakespeare, antique though it may be to many, is still the font of so much of our modern speech. Many current English words make their entrance on the linguistic stage in the works of The Bard. Inelegant though it may be, the word "puking" to mean "vomit" appears for the first time in Jacques' well-known (and too often misunderstood) "All the World's a Stage" speech which was declaimed by Andrew Petzinger early in the Pro Arte Choral's concert of music from Shakespeare's time or setting his texts.

The concert eased its way toward real Shakespeare by beginning with "Now is the Month of Maying" ( most apt for a May 1 concert) with the text by composer Thomas Morley himself; followed by Bennet's "Weep, O Mine Eyes" with an anonymous text. We edged closer to the real thing with Purcell's "In these delightful pleasant groves" from Thomas Shadwell's The Libertine; Shadwell had written a new version of Shakespeare's rarely performed Timon of Athens.

So it was left to Ridgewood High School's Andrew Petzinger to finally give us the real thing as he declaimed Jacques' famous "All the world's a stage" speech (replete with "puking"). He did a fine reading, perhaps a bit too fast for the acoustic, but certainly secure in his delivery. In the context of the drama it should, of course, be delivered far more in the manner of the sardonic realist which is the persona of Jacques (pronounced "Jack-wes"). But when separated from the play such a delivery would sound bizarre, having no antecedent to occasion the biting tone.

Of all the Shakespearean choral settings presented during the fascinating concert, the most engaging were those by Emma Lou Diemer and George ("Lullaby of Birdland") Shearing. Diemer's "O Mistress Mine, Where Are You Roaming" (Twelfth Night, II, iii) and "Take, O Take These Lips Away" (Measure for Measure, IV, i), when compared, as the program notes urged us to do, to settings of the same texts by James Mulholland, were far more clearly defined by rhythm and mood. Diemer knows how to dance, while Mr. Mulholland tends toward the sentimental with added tones for color. Diemer's "Sigh No More Ladies, Sigh No More" (Much Ado About Nothing, II, iii) proved to be a zippy 6/8 rollick. In all the Diemer songs the Pro Arte Chorale was enhanced by the presence of the Ridgewood High School Madrigal Singers and their younger, straighter tones. Perhaps their clarifying presence would have rescued Mulholland's pieces.

Diemer's engaging music was followed immediately by George Shearing's equally enjoyable Music to Hear. The eponymous first song of the cycle takes its title from Sonnet 8; British-born Shearing described the effective work as obviously influenced by Delius. "Shall I Compare Ye to a Summer's Day?" (Sonnet 18) is a rhythmic concoction which could have been conceived by Dave Brubeck. It can be described as an active *call-and-response piece with the singers calling and the piano and double bass responding. The final sonnet setting (no. 9) referred back in music history to a time before Shakespeare by using much unison singing.

Shearing had a very different view of "Sigh No More Ladies" than Diemer's lively take. His proved to be a really great piece of big-band-era choral jazz writing: a slow ballad which placed Much Ado in the 1940s. Those wishing for classic Shearing finally got it as he laid down blues-style riffs to support "Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind", the song which the Senior Duke in As You Like It requests of Amiens to clear the air after Jacques' mocking "All the World's a Stage" monologue.

The concert concluded with a fun and bouncy "It Was a Lover and His Lass", again from As You Like It (V, iii) by British composer John Rutter.

All of these works were performed by the Pro Arte Chorale with direction, energy, and fine diction. Conductor David Crone has fashioned a warm, direct sound out of the 69 voices, but he has also elicited from them a rhythmic crispness which belies their numbers. The only concession to the ensemble's size was the use of soft organ accompaniment to support the three opening madrigals, which with smaller forces would be *a cappella.

The major work of the afternoon was Ralph Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music with its text "Here will we sit and let the sounds of music Creep in our ears. Soft Stillness and the night Become the touches of sweet harmony." Those of us of a certain age will always connect this magical passage with Fleetwood as he began his nightly wandering through the vales of classical music on WNCN (R.I.P.) back when classical radio - at least overnight - was free from the shackles of the program guide.

But I digress. Vaughan Williams' setting is exquisite, one of the great works for chorus and orchestra. On this occasion, however, it was performed with organ. No matter how well Janet Montgomery played - and she played organ and piano beautifully all afternoon - the magic of a real orchestra was missing. In the last issue of CNJSJ (v.5, no. 17) it was noted that the work does not feel complete without chorus; just so is the music devoid of its full impact without orchestra. Those distant calls for horn and trumpet which invoke Diana for Shakespeare need to be the real thing.

Of course the lack was made all the more apparent because the Pro Arte Chorale's lush sound was perfect for the English-impressionist work. Their love for the music was touching, and their ability to sing it was soaringly apparent. To be sure, each of the soloists drawn from the chorus had pluses and minuses and made, with the exception of the mezzo soprano, the weakest link. Were the Pro Arte able to perform this with an orchestra, one would suspect professional soloists could be used.

Ridgewood High School's New Players Company was an energetic addition to the program. Their scenes from As You Like It showed that the actors are developing a close understanding of Shakespeare. Beyond that, it was a treat to hear unamplified high school actors. Proper support and projection should be part of an actor's technique, and directors Laurie Fales, Danny Ryan, and Meg Schaefer are correct to insist on this, even in larger spaces. What was lacking was instruction in how to gauge the speaking tempo to the performing space. The Community Church of Glen Rock is a fairly resonant hall which required the actors to slow their speech and exaggerate their consonants more in order to be heard most effectively. Rebecca Warm in the lead role of Rosalind (in III, v, she appears in male disguise as the shepherd Ganymede) spoke that way and was thus understood the best of the seven young actors. They all projected well, but just spoke too quickly.

The whole afternoon was the kind of imaginative interdisciplinary programming that enlivens the concert scene. And who better to be the theme than Shakespeare!

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