NY quartet exerts vocal balance
New York Polyphony ‘preserves individual integrity’ over blending
The voices of four men comprise New York Polyphony and the a cappella quartet lives the motto “balanced, not blended.”
“To us, this means that each of us brings a unique voice to our musical and ensemble experience,” baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert said in a phone interview. “Rather than subjugating our personalities for the sake of a ‘blend,’ we balance our voices, preserving our individual integrity and creating a whole that, we hope, is greater than the sum of its parts.”
On Saturday, Feb. 7, New York Polyphony will be in concert at St. John’s Cathedral in Downtown Albuquerque. It is the ensemble’s third appearance in the Friends of Cathedral Music Series at the church.
Since its last performance here, New York Polyphony has recorded two CDs, both of which have been nominated for Grammys. The albums are “Times Go By Turns” in 2013 and last year’s “Sing Thee Nowell.” Both Grammy nominations were in the Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category.
The Albuquerque concert will include several selections from the 2014 CD. Even though the album seems Christmasthemed, Herbert said the strength of the album is that much of the music on it is not strictly related to the holiday.
“It can be applied to Christmas, but a lot of it can be sung year-round,” he said. “For example, ‘There is no Rose.’ … From a liturgical angle, you can sing it any time of year.”
The program will include two sacred works by Spanish Renaissance composers Francisco Guerrero’s “Regina caeli”
and Tomás Luis da Victoria’s Missa “O quam gloriosum.”
A secular piece is also on the program Camille Saint-Saens’ “Sérénade d’hiver.”
“This is completely different music,” Herbert said. “It is very much written in the style of the chanson, French melody. This particular piece is about a group of young men who are trying to get a young woman to go out with them. She’s on a balcony.”
Herbert said a large majority of the ensemble’s music is early music.
“Polyphony is in our title and Renaissance polyphony is at the center of our mission, and that music is going to be religious in nature,” he said.
The other three members of New York Polyphony are countertenor Geoffrey Williams, tenor Steven Caldicott Wilson and bass Craig Phillips.