Jazz Articles

Placido Domingo, The Chicago Symphony Orchesta and Chorus, Daniel Barenboim: Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique - La Marseillaise

by C. Michael Bailey
March 13, 2011

There was no one man in the French Romantic Movement more hot-blooded than composer Hector Berlioz (1803-1869). Proficient in no particular instrument, Berlioz's talent lay in composition, arrangement, and conducting. The entire orchestra was his instrument. Learned, erudite, and all around sanguine wild man, Berlioz existed in the rarefied company of other great Romanticists including Liszt, Wagner, Paganini, Chopin and Schumann. Berlioz's most noted composition was his five-movement symphony Symphonie Fantastique, composed and premiered in 1830. The ...

Chanticleer: A Portrait

by C. Michael Bailey
June 25, 2003

The all-male vocal orchestra Chanticleer is touted as "the only full-time classical vocal ensemble in the United States." The group is composed of 12 male voices: one bass, two baritones, three tenors, three altos, and three sopranos. They have earned a reputation for its crystalline a cappella interpretations of everything from Renaissance liturgical music to jazz vocals. The group was named for the "clear singing" rooster in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and was formed in 1978 by tenor Louis Botto, who ...

Chanticleer and the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston: John Tavener-Lamentations and Praises

by C. Michael Bailey
March 4, 2003

I suspect that this review is untimely with respect to the fact that John Tavener’s Lamentations and Praises, as performed by the all-Male Chorus Chanticleer with orchestral support by the Handel and Haydn Society, won two Grammy® Awards on February 23, 2003. The two awards captured were for the Classical Best Small Ensemble Performance and the Best Classical Contemporary Composition. But further discussion is warranted because of the caliber of this music.

Chanticleer, the Handel & Haydn Society ...

Chanticleer: Our American Journey

by C. Michael Bailey
December 26, 2002

...when I get home to that bright land!

Our American Journey is an intersection of multiple musical directions that the all-male choral group Chanticleer has been exploring for the past 20 years. Thematically, Our American Journey is a pan-continuation of several previous releases. The disc can be conveniently divided up according to the groups past and current interests. The disc opens with the traditional Appalachian melody "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah" and closes with "Wayfarin’ Stranger" and "I am ...