The Fredösphere

Alan is back as a guest of the Fredösphere with a CD review.  Those of you with long memories recall him in a guest-post as Wobegon Boy at WUOM.  At the time, we hoped he would return with more on that topic.  It wasn't meant to be, but the following review does contain some Wobegon Boyish content.  Take it away, Alan.


Harvest Home: The Dale Warland Singers
GOTHIC G49243
Recorded November 2003 and May 2004 at the Chapel of Saint Thomas Aquinas
The University of Saint Thomas, St.Paul Minnesota

Executive Producer-Roger Sherman
Producer and digital editing: Steve Barnett Music Productions
Recording and mastering engineer: Preston Smith, Perfect Record

 On September 21, 2005 I received an e-mail from Gothic Records announcing a new  release of the Dale Warland Singers.  “Interesting” thought I, “It must be a  collection of previously unreleased recordings from the ensembles 30 + year existence.“  The choir disbanded in May of 2004 when Warland retired. But as I  read through the release notes this appeared to be a final project of the ensemble before being scattered to the choral winds.  I then started looking at the specific titles on the release. Half way down was an arrangement of Stephen Foster’s “Gentle Annie” by Edwin Fissinger. I sang with Fissinger for 5 years and that particular arrangement was written for his choir and sung by the best tenor section I have ever heard. PERIOD. That clinched it; I had to get this CD. I did and I was not disappointed-just depressed.

I’ll explain. After graduating from college in 1982 I drifted aimlessly across Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois and landed in Michigan where I went to work for a fledgling Public Radio Station. My plan was to work a couple of years getting experience in the business then move to Minnesota where I would go to work for Minnesota Public Radio and join the Dale Warland Singers.  I’m not sure what happened….O yeah, I got married, had a family, left the radio business and 23 years later received an e-mail for a CD…But every 5 years or so in that time span I revisited my dream of someday relocating to Minnesota and finding my way into the DWS. 

The ensemble disbanded so that dream will remain only a dream. Hence, for me the depressing aspect.  But this CD will let me sing along with Dale and the gang as it contains well known melodies such as Shall we gather at the River, Simple Gifts, Deep River and The Water is Wide. It also contains what, for me at least, are some less familiar tunes in well-crafted arrangements.  Several arrangements are enlivened by tasteful guitar and flute accompaniment. Jeffrey Van’s guitar playing has been a regular feature of many DWS releases and flautist Linda Chatterton joins him.  The liner notes were written by Brian Newhouse, a music producer at Minnesota Public Radio-Brian sang with the ensemble for several years and his familiarity breeds contentment and insight. For example although I was very familiar with the Fissinger arrangement of Gentle Annie, I did not know the sad circumstances that lead Stephen Foster to pen this beautiful but mournful air.  Newhouse gives us other appropriate factual and descriptive background  information for these arrangements.

I wish I could SEE the ensemble as this music was being performed. These arrangements are sung with an effortless sound, which can be a great contradiction. Many choir members know how physical the job of singing is.  Yet as these beautiful melodies and harmonies come flowing from my speakers, I am fooled by the aural images of ease and balance fully expressed by the last edition of the DWS.  They make it sound so easy.

My personal favorites are the Fissinger arrangement mentioned earlier-mostly because of the personal memories it revives, but I also was drawn to “McKay” a piece by Carl Barnett from a larger work called “ An American Thanksgiving.” The piece opens with rich lyrical writing for men’s voices, and then slowly builds to the ending text of  “the river’s of Delight";a rugged and majestic arrangement that reveals the marvels of the voice. The concluding piece-"The Road Home" by Stephen Paulus is if sentimental, certainly striking in it’s simplicity but captivating in spirit and sound. A fitting piece to conclude this collection of  music designed to connect heart to home.

All the skill and effort put forth by the choir would be void without the brilliant technical efforts displayed in this recording.  Too often choirs are placed in some large space and a couple of microphones are stuck a few meters away to gather in “the sound”. This method can work for some pieces but most often the text disappears and the message gets lost in the sound. This can be a detriment to communicating the message behind the music.

This recording reveals texts and interior harmonies that have been beautifully balanced by the DWS and are no less expertly displayed by the engineering team of Preston Smith, Roger Sherman,and Steve Barnett. They have given us a splendid balance of the acoustics of The Chapel of Saint Thomas Aquinas and the vocal presence of the DWS.

-Alan Young.