Canterbury opens season with bluegrass
Bluegrass is an art form unique to the United States; it grew up in the hills and hollers of the Appalachian Mountains from the seeds of Scottish and Irish colonizers and the many different ethnicities of enslaved Africans. It sang itself into being on guitars and violins carried by the Europeans and on the long-necked stringed instrument with a gourd or a box for a sounding chamber, brought from West Africa and today called banjo.
Last Friday, Canterbury Voices opened its 201718 season at the OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center with “Bluegrass and Blue Jeans,” which featured music of the American experience: folk songs, hymns, a bluegrass session and a Mass written with bluegrass instrumentation. The evening was relaxed — almost every one of the performers really did wear blue jeans — and the music was both casual and precise. Conductor and artistic director Randi Von Ellefson has done a superb job.
Randol Bass’ “Southwestern Suite” is a series of mostly Euro-American folk tunes. Laced with some interesting harmonies and accompanied by pianist John L. Edwards, the six movements were delivered with enthusiasm and a clean, specific sound.
The evening also included a tribute to American composer and arranger Alice Parker. Three hymns, arranged or composed by Parker, were both gentle and powerful.
Canterbury Voices partnered with the Mustang High School Varsity Choirs, who performed another Alice Parker hymn and an arrangement of a folk song. Conducted by
both Cynthia Goss and Stephanie Easley, the young singers gave a lovely performance.
Local bluegrass fiddler Kyle Dillingham and Horseshoe Road (Peter Markes, guitar and violin; Brent Saulsbury, double bass), having recently returned from an invited performance in China, took the stage and played a set of five tunes; for two, they were joined by Lucas Ross on banjo and Matthew Denman on guitar. The bluegrass classics “Orange Blossom Special” and “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” roused the audience and garnered roars of enthusiasm. They ended the first half with “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” a piece that gives a virtuoso fiddler an opportunity to blow the roof off the room; Dillingham did not disappoint.
The second half was “The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass” by Carol Barnett. The Mass has a libretto by Marisha Chamberlain that blends traditional elements of a classic mass with a ballad text that follows parts of Genesis and the Gospels. The melodic elements reference or quote modal motifs and traditional harmonies. The Mass is scored for violin, mandolin, standing bass, guitar, banjo, and a mixed-choir with three soloists.
“The World Beloved” was beautifully performed. The Canterbury Voices were joined by the young singers of the Mustang High School Varsity Choirs, and the sheer volume of voices was impressive — perhaps especially because they sang as a single instrument. The three soloists — Rachel Barnard, Stephanie Easley, and Dan Jollay — sang with lucid tonality and emotional transparency. The instrumentalists were accurate and, at times, brilliant. The score itself has moments that suggest traditional Appalachian harmonies, and the two instrumental movements highlight bluegrass stylings, but for the most part, the Mass was evocative of modern composition rather than bluegrass.