Camelia Pasandaran, Contributor, Jakarta
Under the dim light, sacred tunes sung by 15 men virtually brought a 16th century monastery to life in Jakarta. The singers were members of the Cavallero Male Choir, which held its Premiere Concert at the Goethe Haus auditorium last Saturday.
O Sacrum Convivium by David N. Childs marked the opening of the concert. The united male voices flooded the auditorium with a solemn ambience. Later, the voices divided into three parts and enhanced the dynamics of the tune, which carries the distinctive modern harmony composed to a unique Gregorian scale.
Listening to the next song, Francis Poulenc's Quatre Petites Prires de Saint Francois D'Assise, was like taking a journey into the Gregorian era, when only men were allowed to sing in a choir. The female voice registers were sung by specially trained men called castrati, who used the falsetto vocal technique.
In order to sing the lyrics in French and Latin, guest conductor Rainier Revireino explained to the choir members the meaning of every sentence and how to pronounce them. Revireino was assisted in this by a French cello player who was in the country to teach the choir how to sing the French lyrics with the correct pronunciation.
Cavallero closed the first half of the show by singing all three parts of David V. Montoya's Little Mass: Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. This song possesses rich dynamics, in tempo as well as in volume. In the cantus firmus, the choir sung clearly to highlight the three different vocal parts while a soloist chanted the descant. However these dynamics, especially the powerful Kyrie, undermined the solemn atmosphere.
Although Cavallero's technique was impressive, the first half of the concert was dull -- not because of the selection or their delivery. The lack of instrumental accompaniment was likely the composer's intention, that the songs be sung acappella, but the stage was bare, with no backdrops or props, and no artistic lighting.
On the other hand, when the choir returned in the second half, dressed in the vintage fashion of the 1950s, the concert started to come to life.
Opening Tunes from The Muppet Show and the popular Under the Sea from Disney's Little Mermaid were performed in wonderful harmony and dynamics to the enjoyment of those who favor easy-listening tunes.
Most of the songs in the second half were accompanied by instrumental parts sung vocally, somehow imitating the sound of real musical instruments.
The climax was when Cavallero sang Paul Kuhn's The Creole Love Call, an instrumental piece. The choir members' enthusiasm was palpable as they hummed and produced nasal sounds to impersonate brass instruments. They also pinched their noses and wiggled them to produce a jazzy horn sound, delighting the audience to give a hearty applause.
Cavallero continued to amuse the audience with Mervyn Warren's unique arrangement of the famous gospel song, Joyful, Joyful and a medley of eight songs from Broadway shows as arranged by Arif K. Setyoso, including On The Street Where You Live from My Fair Lady, Maria from West Side Story and Lullaby of Broadway from 42nd Street.
Each featuring different soloists, the medley revealed that most -- if not all -- of the choir members could perform as soloists. The piano accompaniment played by Nathania Karina provided a complementary harmony for the medley.
Cavallero Male Choir chairman Agus Yuwono said the group had carefully chosen compositions of high standards but with moderate difficulty because it was their first concert.
""We want the public to know that we are far more than just a 'pop boy band', because we can sing serious classical songs as well as pop and jazz compositions,"" said Agus.
Founded on Jan. 7, Agus said the choir's name held no special meaning and was chosen for its masculine nuance. Cavallero, he said, aspired to be a professional male choir -- something of a rarity in Indonesia, where mixed and female choirs were the norm.
While Cavallero might be a ""young"" choir, its members are all trained and experienced singers who have sung with established university choirs such as those of the Bandung Institute of Technology, the Bogor Agricultural Institute, the University of Indonesia and Bina Nusantara University, as well as the renowned Impromptu Singers and the Batavia Madrigal Singers.
On one hand, the members' skills and experience are positive assets in creating a professional choir; on the other hand, their conductor needed to work hard at the early stages of rehearsals in combining the various timbres into a choral unity.
""Most of our members are accustomed to be soloists in their other choirs, and possessed different singing styles. But in the end, they were able to harmonize their singing,"" said Revireino.
Revireino believes that a male choir like Cavallero is special because when men sing soprano and alto -- traditionally female voice registers -- they can produce a different sound and mood. He also believes they would perform better if they memorized all songs for a concert.
""But to memorize the entire repertoire for a concert with a wide range of themes is not easy. So we kept it safe by some reading the scores while singing,"" said Revireino, who added that he was satisfied with Cavallero's premiere concert.
According to Agus, the choir's first performance in the Cantate Dominum Concert at Jakarta Cathedral in April also garnered good appreciation. The enthusiastic response has prompted the group to schedule concerts in Bandung and Surabaya as part of their next program.
Revireino said a new choir such as Cavallero faced huge challenges to establish and maintain its existence.
Like the John Lennon and Paul McCartney song they sang in the concert, Cavallero will need to prove to the public Here, There and Everywhere that it is significant enough to contribute to the local choral scene in Indonesia, and has just stepped out on a long and winding road to achieve its glory.
