Silent Films and Sacred Music

Actually, two different programs/venues. Silent films—The Loopy Legacy of Lupino Lane (their title, not mine), and The 5th Festival of Universal Sacred Music.

Names get a little dicey here with the films—Lupino Lane (star billing) is the brother of Wallace Lupino (who also appeared in all five silents I saw this afternoon). With me so far? According to progam notes, sans genealogy, "Lane was part of the Lupino family – a famous theatrical clan ... in the 1600s. Stanley and Barry Lupino ... were cousins, and Stanley's daughter Ida Lupino became a big movie star in America."

Anyhoo, Lupino Lane (a trained vaudevillian) was a comedic actor/dancer/acrobat—as a result, some of the stunts in his films were astonishing. Seeing five in a row, though, was a bit of overkill. Maid in Morocco (1925) (my favorite); Hello Sailor (1927); Roaming Romeo (1928); Be My King (1928); Good Night Nurse (1929). The films were funny; the piano accompaniment superb—just a little too much same ol', same ol'.

The Sacred Music Festival was a Wall-to-Wall–style Symphony Space extravaganza. Started at 2pm (I wasn't there; I was watching silent movies) and ran 'til I-don't-know-when; I left around 8:15pm.

I heard the Brahms Four Serious Songs (Thomas McCargar, baritone; Brent Funderburk, piano); multiple selections sung by The Western Wind Vocal Ensemble; and part of a set by Anonymous 4.

Mr. McCargar sang well, though the audience noise was pretty atrocious. Western Wind (two sopranos, countertenor, two tenors, baritone) started out with a little bit of a balance problem—I found the tenor sound a little less blended and a little too pronounced (been there, done that). Things settled down after that. I still would have preferred a real bass presence, though the baritone of the group also composed/arranged several of the works on the program.

Anonymous 4. Nice vocal sound. Less blend than I would have liked, but then, their schtick (for this concert, at least) was Americana folk/sacred/religious tunes. Just a bit too much "authentic" twang and scooped pitches for me. And verse after verse after verse wears thin, thin, thin for me.

Hey! I'm opinionated.

ConcertMeister