Choral singers show love for old favorites
— David Fleshler, Miami Herald, 11/5/10
The singers of Seraphic Fire set aside their scores of Bach, Handel and Monteverdi and returned to the music of their childhoods Thursday for a more personal concert of gospel, Broadway and American pop music.
As artistic director Patrick Dupré Quigley told the audience at St. Christopher’s by the Sea Church in Key Biscayne, the choir members learned to sing in churches, from the radio and on high-school stages, and they returned to this music for a program titled His Eye Is on the Sparrow.
Sometimes the choir’s characteristic virtues — tonal purity and immaculate technique — seemed almost like vices, as compositions such as the African-American spiritual Steal Away came off technically perfect but dry and passionless. A real church choir may not have delivered so technically polished a performance, but it would have sounded more unbridled and genuine.
But other times the singers’ clear love of this music came through, investing fervor and authenticity in performances of works such as From a Distance, You’ll Never Walk Alone and Victory in Jesus.
Mezzo-soprano Lexa Ferrill brought a rich, round voice to Feed the Birds from Mary Poppins. Although she sounded considerably more operatic than Julie Andrews as she sang “Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag,” Ferrill’s expressive phrasing and the sheer tonal beauty of her voice made the performance succeed.
Stefan Reed’s intense, focused, lyric tenor was spotlighted in the gospel hymn Because He Lives. Reed and the choir brought the work to a magnificent crescendo, with free and natural phrasing that brought real emotional power. Another highlight was two up-tempo, barbershop-quartet versions of gospel hymns anchored by the firm and agile bass-baritone of the aptly named James Bass.
Among the singers, tenor Darrin Stafford sounded most natural and unaffected in this populist repertoire.
He delivered His Eye is on the Sparrow with a light, throaty, emphatically American voice that brought dynamism and raw excitement to the performance.
