The King's Singers

Virtuosi in a refined sound-world

The King’s Singers make their debut in the Philharmonie Essen

It took some time before the ensemble gave its debut in Essen: for forty years now the King’s Singers have taken every curve along the roads and byways of vocal music, piercing the depths of sacred renaissance music with impressive solemnity, or swinging along to a pop title in new guise, their humour ever discreet. An example is the new CD “Simple Gifts”, which has just been awarded a Grammy. In the Philharmonie they presented six works from another project, “The Triumphs of Oriana”, this music harking back over 500 years to the time of Queen Elisabeth I. But there was a world premiere too: the “Estraines” by Graham Lack, a British composer whose adept composition effortlessly followed in the tradition cultivated by the King’s Singers, and who accepted the generous applause with noblesse.

One is well aware of the harmonic twists and turns with which a master like Thomas Morley or Carlo Gesualdo amazed their audiences at the time, but one has seldom heard them presented with such consummate ease, with such pure intonation, and so knowingly balanced as in these performances by the English vocal virtuosi. And when they sung Lieder of the German Romantic era such as Schumann’s “Die Rose stand im Tau” or Brahms’ “Waldesnacht”, one forgot immediately the lusty habits of many a male voice choir simply having a bash at these songs, and dove down into a world of the most refined nuances of sound. With singers of this standard, it goes without saying that precise articulation is part and parcel of the delivery, but for the singing to be perfectly audible in the far reaches of the Alfred Krupp Hall is another matter entirely.

Two countertenors, a tenor, two baritones and a bass complement each other in ever-changing formats from four to six voices, on occasions concentrating on a perfectly polished ensemble sound, at others on witty, onomatopoeic “punch-lines” or saucily accented words. That the King’s Singers can draw on the famous English sense of humour is felt immediately in their presentation of excerpts from the CD “Simple Gifts”. As encores, their “Swing low, sweet chariot” and specially arranged Beatles numbers with instrumental effects transported the audience into a realm of jovial serenity.