Orange Fest’s Opening Program Aims Wide

The opening salvo in the seven-week Eclectic Orange Festival was both esoteric and accessible--a fitting combination in a wide-ranging concert/event series that seems to aim both low and high. It was a return visit by the male vocal ensemble Chanticleer, in tandem with a personable, musically satisfying appearance by Frederica von Stade, the beloved American mezzo-soprano.

The event drew a glitzy crowd to the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Saturday night and netted many happy moments, including the Southern California premiere of Jake Heggie’s a cappella cantata--the composer calls it a scena--”Anna Madrigal Remembers,” with a text by Armistead Maupin, the author who first created the character of Anna Madrigal in his “Tales of the City.”

Chanticleer has evolved over the seasons, and not all the changes one sees and hears are necessarily improvements. In Irvine, this time around, the ensemble seemed tired and sometimes unfocused; its former crispness of delivery became compromised in many moments, and the sense of stylishness that has characterized its performances has begun to fade. Chanticleer’s ever-broadening repertory may be admirable, but the group is in danger of being so versatile that it sings everything in a mediocre way.

One enjoyed the opening group of songs by the neglected English composer E.J. Moeran, four “Chants de France” by Canteloube sung by soloist Von Stade with the 11-member ensemble. A brief group of English and Italian madrigals recalled Chanticleer’s glory days.

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Despite Von Stade’s many musical charms and irresistible stage personality, a Mahler/Ginastera set emerged only dutiful in execution. Clytus Gottwald’s turgid arrangement of “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” had the flow and consistency of library paste, and “Cinco canciones populares Argentinas” emerged forced--cuteness on demand.

The final group, two over-arranged, molasses-slow Sondheim arrangements followed by musical theater oldies from the 1930s, started poorly but ended with panache.

Heggie’s recent “Anna Madrigal” piece is an engaging and touching 17-minute vocal monologue for Von Stade, handsomely supported by men’s voices. The word-setting is masterly and flows naturally--Heggie handles the vernacular with a showman’s touch and a poet’s incisiveness. The performance proved lively, word-clear and richly intoned.

This work, plus the many songs on Heggie’s recently released CD, bode well for the young composer’s next major project, an opera based on “Dead Man Walking,” which he is writing with playwright Terrence McNally, and scheduled for a premiere next fall by the San Francisco Opera.