November 17, 2024
Spivey Hall, Clayton State University
Morrow, GA – USA
The King’s Singers: Patrick Dunachie & Edward Button, countertenors; Julian Gregory, tenor; Christopher Bruerton & Nick Ashby, baritones; Jonathan Howard, bass.
Ron GOODWIN: What kind of things do The King’s Singers sing?
TRADITIONAL (arr. Gordon Langford): Blow away the morning dew
TRADITIONAL (arr. Gordon Langford): The oak and the ash
Marion SUNSHINE, Moises SIMONS, Wolfe GILBERT (arr. Gordon Langford): The peanut vendor
Albert HAMMOND (arr. Peter Knight): I’m a train
Michael FLANDERS, Donald SWANN (arr. Gordon Langford): The slow train
Gioacchino ROSSINI (arr. Daryl Runswick): Overture to The Barber of Seville
Billy JOEL (arr. Bob Chilcott): And so it goes
John LENNON and Paul McCARTNEY (arr. Paul Hart): Honey Pie
George GERSHWIN (arr. Bob Chilcott): Oh! I can’t sit down
THE BEACH BOYS (arr. Bob Chilcott): Kokomo
Brian WILSON: The Lord’s Prayer
John LENNON and Paul McCARTNEY (arr. Daryl Runswick): Ob-la-di, ob-la-da
John DAVID (arr. Peter Knight): You are the new day
Harold ARLEN (arr. Alexander L’Estrange): I’ve got the world on a string
Bob CHILCOTT: We are
Final set: “The Show Goes On” — A selection of songs since 2019 from songwriters such as Jacob Collier, Laura Mvula, James Blake, and Ed Sheeran, as well as the world of Disney, which recently celebrated its 100th birthday.
Paul Hyde | 27 NOV 2024
Though the faces of The King’s Singers have changed multiple times over the past five decades, the group’s consummate musicianship endures.
The six-member men’s vocal ensemble returned to Spivey Hall at Clayton State University on November 17 with a highly entertaining program of lighter classical works and classic pop songs by the Beatles and Elton John, among others.
This seemed to be something of a “greatest hits” program, with the British a cappella group offering a chronological survey of some of its best-known short pieces dating from its founding up to its album of Disney tunes, “When You Wish Upon a Star,” released only last year.
Formed in 1968 by six recent choral scholars from King’s College, Cambridge, the group has mostly featured the same voice parts throughout its history, with two countertenors, a tenor, two baritones, and a bass.
The King’s Singers’ voices are of modest size; these are not operatic voices. If they were, they would perhaps not be able to blend so beautifully. The intimate Spivey Hall, with only about 400 seats, was a well-nigh-perfect venue for the group.
As their more than 50 albums attest, the King’s Singers are superb vocal musicians, capable of negotiating the thorniest classical pieces. The Spivey Hall concert, however, focused on lighter fare with plenty of the good-natured mugging and physical hijinks that have been a cornerstone of the group’s modus operandi for years.
Indeed, in four decades of seeing the group myself, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more easy-listening song set by the group than the one at Spivey Hall. But that’s no criticism. Anything the group performs is luminously rendered with pinpoint intonation.
Billy Joel’s tear-jerker “And So It Goes” was simply sublime in an arrangement by Bob Chilcott, a former tenor with the group. Equally memorable were the radiant harmonies in Amanda McBroom’s “The Rose,” a song best known in a version by Bette Midler, and Elton John’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”
John David’s “You Are the New Day” has become something of a signature song for the group, and it was caressingly sung. The singers offered a heartfelt rendition of the civil rights anthem “If I Can Help Somebody” in a lush arrangement by American composer Stacey V. Gibbs.
The group delivered, with panache, delightful arrangements of Albert Hammond’s “I’m a Train” and Rossini’s Overture to The Barber of Seville. “The Slow Train,” by the British comic duo of Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, was nicely sung but the words were not ideally articulated.
“Honey Pie,” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, gave bass Jonathan Howard an opportunity to offer a tasty imitation of Louis Armstrong. “Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da,” also by Lennon/McCartney, evolved from an uptempo jazz number to a Russian folk song.
The concert opened with “What Kind of Things Do the King’s Singers Sing,” a 1973 jazz-inflected song that seeks to introduce the singers’ style to the uninitiated. That was followed by more jazzy arrangements of English folk songs from the group’s early years — “Blow Away the Morning Dew” and “The Oak and the Ash.”
The concert concluded with an encore of Freddie Mercury’s comic ditty, “Seaside Rendezvous,” with the singers pulling out kazoos to add to the fun. The packed house at Spivey Hall rewarded the singers with an enthusiastic standing ovation.
The King’s Singers must be among the hardest-working groups in music. A glance at the ensemble’s website finds the singers constantly on tour, when they’re not in the recording studio, and frequently flying back and forth across the Atlantic. It must be exhausting, yet the singers were in top form.
There have been 26 members of the group throughout its history; this current lineup seems as excellent as any in the past.
If you missed this particular King’s Singers performance at Spivey Hall, have no fear: they will return to the area in February for a Valentine’s Day concert at the UGA Performing Arts Center’s Hodgson Hall on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- The King’s Singers: kingssingers.com
- Spivey Hall: spiveyhall.org
Read more by Paul Hyde.
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