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The woman in the seat next to me is sniffling. Gazing around the packed house at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis—certainly an unprecedented crowd for the Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend—I realize she isn't the only one. People had come from across the country to celebrate and to reminisce. It seemed fitting, somehow, that the group whose final days we were grieving was providing the balm. This would be the last time we would experience live, in concert, the rich warmth of the Dale Warland Singers.
DWS Scores Go To Cincinnati |
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| The Dale Warland Singers' score library and archives—one of the largest collections of contemporary choral works in the country—will live on as a resource for students, researchers, musicians, and the public. The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and its University Libraries was chosen to house the archive after a rigorous, six-month search. The DWS collection includes its score library (multiple copies of more than 1,100 choral works and arrangements); first edition copies of all 270 works commissioned by the Dale Warland Singers; valuable papers including all organizational and artistic records; and a media library that includes more than 300 audio and video recordings of the performances. |
| For more information on CCM's archive of DWS scores and papers, go to www.ccm.uc.edu. |
The May 30, 2004 farewell concert, I Have Had Singing: A Choral Celebration, offered a smorgasbord of the very things that had made the Dale Warland Singers one of the premiere professional choruses in the country, perhaps in the world. An "Eclectic Mass" featured pieces handpicked from the group's popular annual Cathedral Classics concert and recordings; Dominick Argento's Walden Pond, a recording of which garnered a 2003 Grammy nomination, exemplified DWS's daring in commissioning new music. In three Christmas pieces—a Dale Warland arrangement of "What Child is This," Arvo Paert's luminous "Magnificat," and "Lux Aurumque" by Eric Whitacre—the Singers' reverence and humility was quietly evident, and the Whitacre piece a reminder of the dozens of young composers whom DWS helped to champion and bring to a national light. The last of the concert unfolded thrillingly in excerpts from Sergei Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil, the only live DWS performance that has been released as a CD. And as encores, two other pieces by Twin Cities-area composers who through commissions had become integral members of the Warland musical family—the simple, heartfelt "Pilgrim's Hymn" by Stephen Paulus, and Carol Barnett's exultant, "McKay" from the DWS commission An American Thanksgiving.
And through it all there was—that sound. How to describe the Dale Warland sound? "Fabulous intonation, sustained richness of tone at all dynamic levels, balance, vocal lines filled with nuance and color, elegant phrasing, clear diction, and emotional content," wrote composer Jeffrey Van in the farewell program. "A finely-tuned, superb instrument—a Stradivarius," exulted Royce Saltzman, executive director of the Oregon Bach Festival.
And imminently listenable. "You went to a Dale Warland concert knowing you would be bathed in that wondrous sound," says Mike McCarthy, former DWS board member.
It may be too early to be thinking about the Dale Warland Singers in the past tense. At least until the end of 2004 the organization will be a flurry of activity. Already the staff has packed up the Singers' massive library of original works and live recordings and shipped it to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where it will be kept as a living archive for researchers, conductors, and students to enjoy and learn from. The next two years will see two more CD releases: in 2005 a new collection of folk songs and in 2006 another in the Cathedral Classics series. Warland is also considering CD releases of a selection of Christmas music from the group's live concerts, another Dominick Argento work, and a group of American secular songs—but only if these live recordings meet his high standards.
But it may be instructive now to consider the Dale Warland legacy. "When a chorus achieves such artistic excellence, we need to ask, how did they do it, what was the cost, what can we take and apply to our own chorus, our own community?" says Ann Meier Baker, president & CEO of Chorus America.
Getting "That Sound"
Most choral conductors can tell you the building blocks of a beautiful sound. But knowing what you want and getting it from your singers are two different things. "Phrasing, shaping, all of that, is how you make something musical," says Stephen Paulus, whose compositions have been performed and recorded by many choruses. "But not everybody does that. Some just sing notes. Sometimes you put on a CD and say, 'Oh dear, someone let the air out of the balloon.'"
Warland's work ethic in the music-making craft is by now well-known and sets a very high bar for the choral field. It starts with how he chooses his singers and fashions his "instrument." Warland decided early on that the sound he wanted required 40 voices—not the 16 or 20 voices in the typical chamber choir. (This became an organizational challenge when in 1982, DWS began paying singers.) He chose voices with personality and warmth—not straight-toned homogeneity. DWS auditions became something of a legend, Warland his back turned to hear better, arranging and rearranging singers until he heard the blend he wanted.
How to describe the Dale Warland sound? "Fabulous intonation, sustained richness of tone at all dynamic levels, balance, vocal lines filled with nuance and color, elegant phrasing, clear diction, and emotional content."
With his singers in place, the rest was plain hard work and tenacity. He expected superior musicianship and wouldn't settle for anything less. And he trusted his singers. "He felt the interpretation of a piece of music was all there on the page for us," says Marie Spar Dymit, a 20-year veteran of the group. "There was a tremendous assumption on his part that when we were doing our own voice study we would be internalizing all of those details, like dynamics, tempo.
"Dale had a preset sound in his head of what a given piece of music was going to be like," Dymit continued, "and if it wasn't there immediately he would stop us. Sometimes that was frustrating, but he knew realistically that everything could and should be in place from the very first read. I don't think that's something that every conductor does. I think singers, sadly, are allowed to be lesser musicians."
Though Warland could be a taskmaster, he never resorted to surliness or behavior associated with having an artistic temperament. "I always felt that if I'm dictatorial and harsh, the sound is liable to be harsh," Warland says. "If choral music is done extremely well, is beautiful music and crafted well with a spiritual element, it can go to places in a person like nothing else. That has been the great, great gratifying, fulfilling thing in my life."
Taking Risks with the Repertoire
From the beginning, Warland also had very particular ideas about the repertoire he wanted to perform. "I was always more interested in the old and the new than that in between," Warland recalls. Though in the early years, DWS regularly answered the call from the Minnesota Orchestra to put together a symphonic chorus to perform big classical or romantic choral works, the Warland sound seemed to fit hand-in-glove with more contemplative, spiritual pieces. With Warland absolutely evangelical about the importance of expanding the choral repertoire, commissioning and premiering new music became an integral part of DWS's mission.
The result is a body of new compositions unmatched by any other chorus in the country—270 new works or arrangements by more than 150 composers. Warland found many of those composers right in the Twin Cities area, including Paulus, who has created 40 new works or arrangements for DWS. "Warland's leadership has changed the choral field immensely," says Paulus. "He will be missed, but there will be no gaping hole in commissioning. Lots of the big guns, and even good community groups, are commissioning now."
Tom Hall, music director of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, sees a larger lesson for the field in the manner in which DWS embraced new music. "The paradigm that he presents to all of us is that risk-taking is imperative," says Hall. "We have to take chances, all the time. We have to be out there, trying new things, expanding our own musical horizons, we have to be open to musical rhetoric we don't understand, that we don't have a visceral connection to, no matter how old we are or how experienced we are."
The Costs of Excellence
Warland's commitment to—some would say obsession with—choral artistry and championing new music had its costs, and it wouldn't be fair not to acknowledge the difficulty DWS had over the years keeping the organization afloat. They accumulated no endowment and rarely closed the books on any concert season in the black. "And the choice of music meant we were not doing everyone's favorite anthems or pieces from their college choir," notes Gayle Ober, DWS executive director for its last four years. "Until our final season we had trouble selling out our concerts. We had to raise a lot of money. Sixty percent of our income was contributed. You need a powerful development staff to keep that money coming in."
Their largest budget—just over $1 million—covered a year that included 37 regular season, public service, tour, and benefit performances. The staff that year included six full-time people, three half-time, and a number of volunteers. And for his part, Warland focused much more on perfecting the artistic product than on building an organization.
It wouldn't be fair not to acknowledge the difficulty DWS had over the years keeping the organization afloat. They accumulated no endowment and rarely closed the books on any concert season in the black.
"The organizational part never came first," says McCarthy. "It almost didn't come second. He never spent as much time raising money as others in the field. Dale put an amazing amount of energy into the musical product. Without that, it would not have been the musical product it was. I respect him for the choices he made. The music always came first."
And on that score—that musical excellence came first—everyone in the organization, from the board to the staff to the sound technicians, agreed. "You have to recognize that the very best music directors always want more than they can afford," says Ober. "You need to acknowledge that that's their job...and say, 'what can we do within the confines of our budget?' If the administrative operation has to be dragged along behind the artistic vision, you will never achieve your full potential."
Even so, it worries McCarthy that pouring all of one's energy into artistic excellence would somehow work against an organization's solvency. "It is an indication of how undervalued the whole choral field is within the arts spectrum in this country, compared to European standards. It's sad that Dale couldn't have devoted that much energy into the artistic product and still had the organization to support it. If he had been an orchestral leader—I hate to say it—it would have been different."
In the end, it was the all-consuming nature of this pursuit of artistic excellence—and the burden of attending to the infrastructure that necessarily supported it—that finally convinced Warland to stop. "I cannot not strive for perfection. The way I operate, I have time for little else," says Warland. "My family has suffered along with this, but there are other things I want to do before it's too late. Normal things, like read a book once in awhile, travel for pleasure, see friends, have a freer schedule."
Knowing When To Say Goodbye
All choral organizations with long-time conductors must sooner or later ask the question, "What happens to this group when that leader is gone?" The question is particularly poignant for groups with founding conductors, where their imprimatur is so strong and personal. There's practically no precedent for choruses that bear a conductor's name continuing on smoothly under that name. The Norman Luboff Choir tried, but ultimately folded. The Roger Wagner Chorale in California and the Paul Hill Chorale in Washington endured difficult transitions before reemerging as different kinds of groups with new names—the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Master Chorale of Washington.
So perhaps there's something to be learned from the Dale Warland Singers' decision simply to close up shop after 31 years. Three years ago, the board did come up with a succession plan that was contingent on Warland staying involved until 2007. When Warland told the board he wanted to move on to other endeavors earlier than that, the board sat down again and did a careful evaluation of the organization's assets. "Ultimately, they decided, no, we couldn't plan for succession in such a short period of time and maintain the organization's integrity financially and artistically," said Ober.
Certainly finances were a deciding factor. Like so many arts organizations, DWS had been living hand to mouth. There were no cash reserves to help weather any downtick in income during a transition. "The first couple of years, no matter how good a new director might be, he or she would be faced with, 'Well, it's a good choir but it's not the Dale Warland Singers,'" says Ober.
In the end, Ober believes the decision would have been no different if the organization had had three more years to work out the details. "This is a good example of a responsible decision by a board," says McCarthy. "There's only one DWS sound. You have to face up to the facts; if it is unique, then trying to keep it going probably doesn't make sense."
"I knew I wanted to stop when the choir was at its best and when I was at my best. Personally, it has been gratifying to be here, to be alive and well to see what our contribution has been."
The message for the choral field, especially those with founding or long-time conductors is this: The discussion about succession needs to happen. "If you begin the process enough in advance and with an open attitude, the discussions are more likely to be non-threatening to the individuals involved," says Ann Meier Baker. "No one wants to think about the world going on without them, let alone to say it out loud. But it would be a disservice to your organization not to. And at the end of the day, some sort of decision needs to be made. With careful planning, it can be made for the benefit of all."
Choosing to stop while on a "high note" left the Dale Warland Singers time to say goodbye with style—a careful search for an institution to house the DWS music and recording collection, a sold-out final concert, the continuing release of additional CDs, and a celebratory dinner for supporters and friends. And it offered Warland himself an opportunity to realize the impact he had had on the choral field. "I knew I wanted to stop when the choir was at its best and when I was at my best," says Warland. "What has turned out to be very exciting is I have been here to experience the high interest in our score and recording library. Personally, it has been gratifying to be here, to be alive and well to see what our contribution has been."
The Next Generation
Perhaps the greatest contribution of the Dale Warland Singers will be the musicians who feel a "fire in the belly" because of the Warland example. A number of Warland's former college students are leading top choirs around the country. A number of the Dale Warland Singers (and there were 355 in all) have day jobs as choral conductors and simply will not settle for adequate after knowing what excellence sounds like. People like Dymit who feels no qualms about introducing difficult, newly commissioned pieces to her high school choir in suburban St. Paul. Two former singers launched new professional music groups with some present or former DW singers at their core: Ensemble of the North and The Singers—Minnesota Choral Artists. Both groups have a strong commitment to commissioning new music.
"Dale raised the benchmark for all choruses, not just professional choruses," says Earl Rivers. "He reminded people of the capabilities of a chorus for expression, for communication. He has always been an advocate of the professional singer and taking choral music to the level of professional symphony orchestras. There are some great choruses in the country, but not enough of them. His goal was to be a standard bearer, to inspire others, so the chorus profile is raised nationally."
"Truly outstanding choirs are rare," says Warland. "And the main deficiency is conductors who really get it, who are true artists, who understand that it is worth the effort." Many hope that Warland's freer schedule—already filling up with choral commissions and guest conducting gigs—will allow time for teaching young conductors not only the painstaking technical aspects of creating an exemplary chorus but how to do it with love, and with heart.
This article is adapted from The Voice, Fall 2004.
