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Modern choral masterpieces and old familiar folk songs

By Meredith Dodge
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Jun 27, 2005, Page 16

Over the weekend the Formosa Singers gave audiences at the National Recital Hall a chance to enjoy choral poetry from a variety of different cultures and eras with their concert titled Flower Songs (花之歌).

On Saturday, the Singers filed into the nearly full auditorium (Sunday's concert had been sold out since Friday) and delivered three Latin songs from modern Eastern European composers. The first, Christus est Natus (1997), by Slovenian Damijan Mocnik, went from somber to disconcerting with its intense, chanted harmonies and dissonance. As the lyrics proclaimed the birth of Christ and glory to God in the highest, the music illustrated a bizarrely powerful rather than purely joyful

message.

For one line -- "Hodie in Terra Canunt Angeli" -- the music became a perfect complement to the lyrics. The basses and tenors sang in low monotones to represent the Earth, as the altos and sopranos sang a sweet melody, becoming the angels singing upon the Earth.

The second song, Diffusa est Gratia, by Lithuanian Vytautus Miskinis, was similar to the Mocnik piece but with more varied harmonies. The third song, however, Daemon Irrepit Callidus by Hungarian Gyorgy Orban, was quite different. Telling of the Devil's wiley ways and the temptation of the flesh, this was a fun, wicked-sounding piece with a fast tempo and lots of staccato.

Then came the inspiration for the concert's theme: Three Flower Songs, a set by contemporary US composer Eric Whitacre. These three songs were pure poetry. With textured harmonies and a breathtaking range of volume, the pieces were both expertly conducted by conductor Julian Su (蘇慶俊) and beautifully enunciated by the choir members. The crystal-clear pronunciation of consonants in phrases such as "night love" and "little widow" illustrated why English holds its own as a poetic and and musical language.

The choir members came out after the intermission with a spring in their step, the women having traded their black gowns for deep red ones. You could tell they were excited to perform the second half of the concert -- which was all Hakka and Hokkien folk songs -- after paying their dues to modern choral masterpieces during the first half.

They immediately launched into Zhai Cha (摘茶) a Hakka melody about picking tea, during which Atayal Aborigine Zhang Yao-qun (張曜群) delivered a solo in his stunning tenor voice. His mournful, lilting sound was complemented by the equally lilting and passionate voices of the choir in this soulful call-and-response.

Tao Hua Kai (桃花開), another Hakka folk song, provided an exuberant contrast to the mournful Zhai Cha, and its catchy melody was probably stuck in the heads of half of the audience for the rest of the night.

Tang Bo Bo, a tune written by Hakka singer Chen Yong-tao (陳永淘) and adapted for a choir by the Formosa Singers' accompanist Tsai Yu-shan (蔡昱姍), was the sweetest melody of the evening.

The remaining six songs were all Hokkien, and the conductor Su, showed off his passion for the language by reading the lyrics aloud before performing several of the pieces.

To someone who did not grow up in Taiwan, these songs were lovely but less memorable than the Hakka tunes or the earlier English and Latin pieces. However, judging from the volume of the applause, they were some of the crowd's favorites.

The best-received song of all, however, was the encore -- Shou Yu Cun (狩俁村). This hand-clapping, foot-stomping, vigorously harmonized Japanese folk song sealed the victory for Formosa Singers.
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