Mus i c Types of Choral Singing TUE recent visit of the
Czechoslovakian Male Voice Choir recalls the good impression made by these singers during their last English tour, seven years ago. The concert given in the Queen's Hall on October 26th deepened the impression, and allowed the critics to congratulate themselves that they had discerned so wisely on the former occasion. Professor Metod Dolezil and his singers were determined to allow us no loop- hole for compromise or qualifying statements. Of course, the technique of this choir differs widely from that which is prac- tised by the leading English choirs, but this fact gives us no sanction for accusing the Prague singers of unorthodoxy. For one thing, the voices have a different quality, and so must be accommodated by different methods of production ; and for another, the music chosen—all by Czech composers— demands a change of front if it is to be approached with assurance. Janacek's ballad, Marycka Magdonova, for instance, mils for all kinds of subtle colouring and rhythmic turns which would become meaningless if attempted by an English choir. J. B. Foerster's On the Field Path was one of the few works which touched the common ground between English and Czech technique, but even here there were strange idioms of expression which baffled description and analysis.
The Don Cossacks Choir has been heard here on many occasions of late. For my part, I think that the Czech singers are superior if only for their greater individuality and for the
greater freedom of their rhythm. The Don Cossacks over you with a sudden fortissimo (which comes at you as if
released from a catapult), or surprise you with an incredible echo effect. The Czechs rely not so much upon surprise assaults as upon unity of conception ; yet they are none the less precise and disciplined.
The balance of the voices is admirable, and the basses provide a sound yet supple foundation to the whole structure. I was amazed to hear one of them booming out a clear and resonant bottom B flat, as if that note were exactly in the middle of his register.
A week or so after this concert it fell to my lot to hear some choral singing of a typical English kind. This was at the Centenary Festival of the Brighton and Hove Harmonic Society. The Festival had been arranged to reveal that the Society, after a hundred years of history, during which adversity and prosperity have alternated, can still lift up its head to give adequate performances of such works as Elgar's Gerontius and Sullivan's Golden Legend. The singing of this chorus is notable chiefly for clear and unforced tone. It was so unforced at times that it lacked the necessary rhythmic pulse. The passage in Gerontius beginning with the words : " From the nethermost fire " lost all point through this mis- placed reticence, and as for the Demon's Chorus, I have never heard it run so smooth a course, and smoothness is the very last quality we ask for in the singing of these staccato taunts. Elgar's music was made to sound almost lyrical at this point. My thoughts turned to the Czech choir. They, unembarrassed by the feminine element, would have given the words their proper sting. On the other hand there were moments—the chorus, " Rescue him, 0 Lord," for example—which became the more significant through the certainty of the English choir's intonation and the stillness of its quality. In the end, however, I decided that no amount of stillness would com- pensate for a lack of dynamic power, and to encounter this in an English choir one must travel to the North.
BASIL MAINE..
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