The lights dimmed, an expectant hush fell upon the audience, and Chanticleer appeared out of the darkness, each carrying a real burning candle, to stand in two arcs to perform the plainsong Christus natus est nobis, followed immediately by Jean Mouton’s Ave Maria virgo serena, accompanied by the worst outbreak of coughing and hacking by an LA audience heard in the years since smoking became passé. The delicate lines of the plainchant and Mouton’s counterpoint gained an unwanted staccato percussion section. Shameful, and one hopes that Chanticleer will forgive Los Angeles for the rudeness of about a dozen people.

As the concert proceeded, the noise from the audience eventually reduced to the more appropriate loud applause and shouts of approval following each item. One carol each from the 14^th and 15^th centuries preceded Stephen Sametz’s Two Medieval Lyrics and a premier performance of Jan Sandström’s setting of the St. John text:  “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt amongst us.” Where the Sametz creations flirted with triadic homophony, Sandström sought to depart into aural otherworldliness. In both cases, Chanticleer made the listener a believer with a clear and convincing performance.

As the intermission-less concert continued, the musical fare lightened, with a section of Christmas seasonal works, highlighted by brilliant solo singing. So often one hears, in countertenor and male soprano ranges, a raspy or constricted sound en passaggio. Such was happily not the case, with the high soaring sopranos (named below) providing beautiful, legato phrasing that was balanced to perfection by the supporting singers.

If there is a tiny flaw in Disney Hall acoustics, it would be the tendency for bass notes to evaporate into the television studio-like ceiling. One more bass singer would have offset this local flaw – but that is not to be laid at the doorstep of Chanticleer.

Joseph Jenning’s wonderfully inventive arrangements of Christmas Spirituals brought the evening to a close, save a couple of generous encores, starting with Chanticleer’s best-known “hit tune” – Franz Biebl’s oft-heard but never as well sung as by this group “Ave Maria.”

Perfection. And here are the men who work so hard, and make it look so easy:

Casey Breves, Michael McNeil, Gregory Peebles, soprano
Cortez Mitchell, Alan Reinhardt, Adam Ward, alto
Matthew Curtis, Brian Hinman, Ben Jones, tenor
Eric Alatorre, Michael Axtell, Jace Wittig, baritone and bass
 

For tickets to other Los Angeles Philharmonic concerts, call (323) 850-2000 or visit www.laphil.org

Douglas Neslund is Classical Voice correspondent and a noted voice/choral teacher in Los Angeles.