The Modern Toronto Choral Sound: Concreamus' Sonoluminescence Concert

On February 17, I was fortunate enough to attend Concreamus' Sonoluminescence concert. Concreamus, a choir associated with the Modern Sound Collective, consists of forty singers between the ages of 18-30 performing works by young composers in the Toronto area. Their programmes usually feature a mixture of works by known composers (canonic) and new works, either commissioned by Concreamus, or written by members of the choir. 

However impressive Comcreamus' sound and technique are (most members are either professional musicians or very experienced singers), what enchants me the most is the quality of the compositions that they perform. The title piece, Sonoluminescence by Toronto-based composer Erik Kreem, wowed me both through its innovative compositional technique, but also through its defiance of the modern Toronto choral sound.

It's hard to describe the modern Toronto choral sound. With the geographic hyper-locality of certain compositions that embody the modern Toronto choral sound (now abbreviated as MTCS), there must be some sort of a combination of both compositional technique and 'heard-sound' phenomenon. When it comes to compositional technique, the biggest idea that shines through in the MTCS is repetitive parsimonious chromatic voice leading. These pieces often use techniques that spotlight long smooth phrases, often with the melody obscured in the middle voices or lacking a melody at all, and above all, very smooth and relaxing. However, 'heard-sound phenomenon', are the ideas that tie all of these works that embody the MTCS together. It is a set of philosophical ideals that these composers are unconsciously vying towards: the idea of being inoffensive. 

No gasps! The MTCS is writing inoffensive music. Pieces that are written this way? Perfectly fine, if not too fine to be completely indistinguishable from others in the same style. 

The conclusion being? Erik Kreem's work, Sonoluminescence did not fall into the trap of the MTCS style. Unafraid to be offensive, it stood out like Erik Kreem himself in a crowd: tall and bold. 

Contagious Energy from the MRU Kantorei Choir

Last Friday, I saw the Mount Royal Kantorei Choir perform at the Bella Concert Hall, their first solo concert post-COVID. It was my first time seeing them perform and I had little expectation on what this choir would look like, let alone sound like. I must say, I was happily surprised to see a mixed community choir with over 80 members sing (with great skill and ability) a vast and expansive repertoire that included everything from Thomas Morley to a new Jake Runestad commission. I was even more happily surprised to find them present a concert that not only included interesting music, but also kept me engaged throughout the entire nearly two hour length. Too often do choirs sing technically challenging or serious repertoire but fail to realize that the audience often cannot bear to listen to same 'choral ahhs' for many hours without end.

What the Kantorei Choir had was an abundance of contagious energy, of musical oomph, that forced the audience to pay attention, and follow along with the story they had to tell. Personally, as much as I enjoy choral music, it is rare for me to attend a choral concert that can transmit such an energy to keep the audience engaged for the entire concert. 

I have included the program from the concert, mostly as an archival habit, but also for you to browse if you want to draw your own conclusions.

VIEW PROGRAM HERE

What does it mean to transmit such an energy? 

Basically just two things. Their tone and their diction. And I find that they come together as a set. Since Kantorei is a community choir, I did not expect King's College choir sounds to spring forth from their lips. They delivered a sound that, although not professional trained voices, added great colour and expression to their pieces. The pop-esque sound (non-discriminatory) that they produced traded the traditional choral sound for lots of energy. And the repertoire called for it! Pieces like Fire from Elements by Katerina Gimon needs that energetic sound. From my point of view, a lot of the enjoyment of this choir comes by them producing different sound than what I am used to. Perhaps I've been listening to too many church choirs. Sure, they might not blend as perfectly as professional choirs, but they don't need to! Their unique tone cuts past what traditional audiences might consider to be flaws in their sound. Even pieces such as the Morley did not suffer as one might expect; they sung it with such joy that they found the 'spring' that so much Renaissance choral music requires. 

Furthermore, their vernacular sound production allowed for vernacular diction. A choir that size (over 80 members!) with clear diction is basically unheard of. And I can happily say that I could easily pick out the text. There's a reason why they didn't provide the text in the program! A piece that would've been a mess if it wasn't for their immaculate diction was Would You Harbor Me? by Ysaye M. Barnwell. The homophonic text setting was as clear as reading the words off a page. Every word drew you closer to hear the next. And since the text was so powerful, they for sure could not afford to drop a single word.

I hope I get to hear the MRU Kantorei Choir perform again. Their unique sound transmits a contagious energy; I hope they never change. Truly a gem in the Calgary choral scene.