The Words In The Tones

St. Anne's Anglican Church is a heritage building on Gladstone Ave near Dundas St. W. in Little Portugal. Although it has been part of Toronto's Door Open festival, and I suppose open to any worshiper, I have yet to step inside. I'm not usually motivated to visit a building simply to look at it but to experience it in use.

So on Sunday afternoon, with a concert being held there, I found my opportunity to have a peek. The main space was dominated by a large dome decorated with paintings and murals. It was certainly the most ornate, "ordinary" church I've seen and inspired some amount of awe. The British woman behind me remarked dismissively to her friend that the ostentatious display was unsurprising (and perhaps a bit gauche) for Anglican churches. I guess I haven't set foot in too many of them.

The Toronto Beach Chorale is a 60-member community choir based in The Beach neighbourhood. This was their first concert outside of their home base. The show was divided into two parts. Before the main showcase of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, we heard a collection of mostly Hungarian folk songs with English verses and 2 short piano pieces. The songs (Brahms, Bartók, Seiber) were representative of the interest in "authentic" folk music with the rise of 19th nationalism and the piano pieces demonstrated Orff's influence on 20th century composers (Scarponi's Lullaby Song and Glass' Étude no. 4). This was the milieu in which Orff's folk primitivism found success. I wasn't fully convinced of the examples today. This first half had the whiff of filler material. But it was a pleasure to listen to un-amplified singing and musical instruments.

For the showcase cantata, the chorale was joined by 3 guest soloists (Christina Lamoureux, Michael Dodge, and Matthew Cassils) as well as the TorQ Percussion Quartet. It started off electrifyingly with the famous O Fortuna passage. The remaining 60 minutes or so couldn't quite compete at that level of attention. There were moments of beauty but 2 pianists instead of a full orchestra made some sections a bit bare-bones. But Orff obviously knew you need to close out strong so O Fortuna returned at the end, leading to a standing ovation from the audience.

With this show, the chorale hoped to attract new audiences from outside its turf. I do wonder how many west-enders, for example, came by. Given what I know about shows with "local bands", I suspect with 60+ performers, most of those in the audience were friends and family. Nevertheless, looking over their history, it looks like they have become more musically ambitious over the years. So kudos to them for continuing to grow.