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Over THE SHOUT
The Shout
Purcell Room
John L Walters
Wednesday January 5, 2005 The Guardian
Originally brought together as a vehicle for the compositions of Orlando Gough and Richard Chew, the Shout's 15 singers make a virtue of their divergent backgrounds. The resulting a cappella sound - broad, rich, thrilling - has meant that the ensemble has remained unclassifiable: too awkwardly multicultural for a bench at the high table of classical music; too unpredictable to become teatime TV favourites; too tuneful to be cool. They're so good it's possible to take them for granted.
In their latest touring show, A Day in the Life, populist seasonal songs rub shoulders with gritty originals and readings (perhaps a few too many), which include an account of Christmas in a London labour ward, an Auschwitz diary extract, and a nine-year-old's present wish list, cueing a jokily alternative Twelve Days of Christmas.
Pace and sound vary constantly, from a harmonically adventurous In the Bleak Midwinter (featuring ethereal ex-Doctor and the Medics soprano Louise Sofield), to Melanie Pappenheim's backwards version of See Amid the Winter Snow (sung while Gough chalks "40 words for snow" on a blackboard), to a spine-tingling all-female version of Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby.
The second set builds to novelty items such as Christmas Pudding, in which the males intone the contents list of a shop-bought pud; Chuck Berry's classic Run Run Rudolph; and a campy version of the Pet Shop Boys' perennially dreadful Shopping. Giles Perring, introduced by Gough as "the high priest of improbable percussion", adds minimal but highly effective details: bass drums and oxybells. The show gives many of the group a chance to shine as composers and arrangers. Song of Work by Carol Grimes has a vigour and improvised complexity that recalls The Shouting Fence. Yet the musical heart of the Shout remains in Gough's substantial compositions and arrangements, including Saltwater Laments, Personent Hodie and an intense, raw treatment of I Saw Three Ships.
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By [email protected]The Shout
Purcell Room
John L Walters
Wednesday January 5, 2005 The Guardian
Originally brought together as a vehicle for the compositions of Orlando Gough and Richard Chew, the Shout's 15 singers make a virtue of their divergent backgrounds. The resulting a cappella sound - broad, rich, thrilling - has meant that the ensemble has remained unclassifiable: too awkwardly multicultural for a bench at the high table of classical music; too unpredictable to become teatime TV favourites; too tuneful to be cool. They're so good it's possible to take them for granted.
In their latest touring show, A Day in the Life, populist seasonal songs rub shoulders with gritty originals and readings (perhaps a few too many), which include an account of Christmas in a London labour ward, an Auschwitz diary extract, and a nine-year-old's present wish list, cueing a jokily alternative Twelve Days of Christmas.
Pace and sound vary constantly, from a harmonically adventurous In the Bleak Midwinter (featuring ethereal ex-Doctor and the Medics soprano Louise Sofield), to Melanie Pappenheim's backwards version of See Amid the Winter Snow (sung while Gough chalks "40 words for snow" on a blackboard), to a spine-tingling all-female version of Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby.
The second set builds to novelty items such as Christmas Pudding, in which the males intone the contents list of a shop-bought pud; Chuck Berry's classic Run Run Rudolph; and a campy version of the Pet Shop Boys' perennially dreadful Shopping. Giles Perring, introduced by Gough as "the high priest of improbable percussion", adds minimal but highly effective details: bass drums and oxybells. The show gives many of the group a chance to shine as composers and arrangers. Song of Work by Carol Grimes has a vigour and improvised complexity that recalls The Shouting Fence. Yet the musical heart of the Shout remains in Gough's substantial compositions and arrangements, including Saltwater Laments, Personent Hodie and an intense, raw treatment of I Saw Three Ships.