This was a world premiere of a vocal quartet and it was quite lovely. And not unexpected given the known history of these singers. The group was called Arcenciel presumably Arc-en-ciel, French for Rainbow. Amusingly, I looked up YouTube and found a Japanese metal band with that name playing Madison Square Gardens. This was another, obviously. Our Arcenciel was pure, SATB, glorious often challenging harmonies, with music from a range of composers from Purcell and Bruckner to Bobby McFerrin and languages from Latin to Latvian with some English. It started with lovely religious music, Psalm 23 and Thou knowest Lord and like themes, but then onto jazzy styles, soprano over African grooves or vocal bass lines with complex interplays of melodies and ostinatos through the higher parts and wonderfully difficult echoed lines and harmonised interplays in The Shore then a final The Bee by Frank Bridge, written in 1913 but with a surprisingly modern sound. So a fascinating and satisfying program, lovely and pure up front then more modern and fun towards the end. It can only bode well for this choral quartet in its premiere concert.
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