Give the River City Men's Chorus a sea-plus for its season-closing concert, Mighty Waters ... and little ponds, Sunday afternoon at Little Rock's Trinity United Methodist Church.
Music Director David Glaze picked a program of "water music" that washed Sunday's audience off its feet, featuring 49 singers, eight instrumentalists and three screens displaying topic-appropriate scenes of oceans, rivers and rains, as well as the occasional set of lyrics.
Glaze put together a sort of six-segment Gwyneth Walker song cycle, strong settings of poems by Norah Mary Holland ("Down to the Sea"), May Swenson ("I Will Be Earth") and "I've Known Rivers" (settings of four water-focused works by Langston Hughes). Performances of two of the Hughes texts were particularly effective -- "Jump Right In!" with flippant words and music regarding the depths of love, and "In the time of silver rain," an expression of joy and wonder at the renewal of the earth and its life. Walker's music flowed from Glaze's fingers, who, as always, conducted from the keyboard.
Traditional tunes were well-represented, including some gorgeous harmonies in "Shenandoah," Mark Hayes' swinging arrangement of the spiritual "Wade in the Water" and Diane Loomer's arrangement of the deeply moving "Frobisher Bay."
The chorus did well in two hit-parade numbers -- "Cry Me a River" and "Moon River"; one Broadway hit -- "Muddy Water" from Big River; and the program's one humorous entry, "The Crawdad Song."
Glaze, his players and his singers will pour out their program again at 7 p.m. today and Thursday at the church, 1101 N. Mississippi St. in Little Rock. Admission is free; doors open one hour prior to curtain, and it's a good idea to get there early because seats and proximate parking spaces usually fill up early. Additional information is available by calling (501) 377-1080 or online at rivercitymenschorus.com.
Metro on 04/18/2016