THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 7, 1996 TAG: 9611070032
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 81 lines
FRANK ALBINDER has a good fix as to why Chanticleer clicks with audiences Stateside and all over the world: Identification. Almost everybody sings - some, if they're good enough, with a church choir or high school chorus.
But after nine years with the 12-man group, the country's only full-time, professional a cappella ensemble, he still can't put a finger on exactly what makes it greater than the sum of its parts.
It's ``synergy.'' It's ``undefinable.'' It's ``the wonderful thing about choral music.''
``I've seen where someone great like (the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's) Robert Shaw comes in and puts together people - some good, some mediocre - and makes them sound great,'' Albinder said this week from San Francisco. ``You can't put together a bunch of bad violinists and have a good orchestra. But you can put together a bunch of `amateur' singers and have a good choir.
``Some people can relate to that. It's the one classical art form where you don't have to be an expert with your instrument.''
All the better, then, that the members of Chanticleer - the name is taken from the clear-singing rooster in Chaucer's ``Canterbury Tales'' - are not short of expertise.
The parts: bass, baritone, tenor and countertenor, the full range. The sum: A seamless blend of voices that shifts adeptly from the Renaissance to Mexican and Russian Baroque to gospel to pop standards of the 1930s and '40s.
Chrysler Hall audiences will get a healthy dose of the latter, plus American folk songs and spirituals, Friday and Saturday when the ensemble performs with the Virginia Symphony.
``Lost in the Stars,'' Chanticleer's most recent disc, includes gorgeous a cappella arrangements of the title track, ``In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening'' and ``I Can Dream, Can't I?'' On others - ``In the Still of the Night,'' `` `Round Midnight'' - they're joined by the London Studio Orchestra, conducted by Ettore Stratta.
That only sounds like a departure.
Formed in 1978 in San Francisco, the group first specialized in songs of the Renaissance, without instrumental accompaniment. Since then, Chanticleer has expanded its repertoire, releasing eight CDs after signing with the German label Teldec two years ago.
Performing pop songs with an orchestra was part of the evolution.
``After commissioning all the arrangements and singing with the San Francisco Symphony,'' said Albinder, a bass-baritone and the group's associate conductor, ``it made sense to keep doing it on occasion. We do a wide variety of programs in the Bay Area. Some (audiences) live for the all-Renaissance. We did an all-chant program that was popular.
``On the road, audiences expect variety. It's become a two-headed beast, but it's possible for us to enjoy both.''
Seven arrangers, including jazzman John Dankworth, worked on the new album, which in itself posed a challenge, Albinder said.
``Some of the arrangers had never written for anyone like us. We're not parochial in that sense; we take suggestions from everywhere. We spent a lot of time doing what we call `road-mapping,' going chord by chord stitching the parts, instead of the normal four-part arranging.''
The new album, by the way, won't be new long. In September, around the time a new member came on board, Chanticleer recorded a set of folk songs - two dozen in 14 languages - that will be released for a February tour of Japan.
Albinder planned to spend the afternoon going over the final edit of one song. The next day, the current tour was to resume. And the first home concert of the Christmas season is less than a month away.
``You'd never know we have an office,'' he said. ``It's nice to go out on the road because there's less to do.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color file photo
Chanticleer is the country's only full-time, professional a cappella
ensemble
Graphic
WANT TO GO?
Who: Chanticleer, accompanied by the Virginia Symphony, JoAnn
Falletta conducting
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Where: Chrysler Hall, Norfolk
Tickets: $9 to $38, plus service charge; order at 623-2310 or
671-8100
Information: 623-8590
Also: Chanticleer performs a cappella at 8 p.m. Monday, Chandler
Recital Hall, Old Dominion University, Norfolk. Free; call 683-3925 by CNB