The Longfellow Chorus in Press and Review

2012 Reviews and Comments

Photo at left: Charles Kaufmann conducts The Longfellow Chorus & Orchestra during rehearsal on Saturday, March 3, 2012.
View slideshow of photos from the 2012 Longfellow Choral Festival (photos by Chris Darling).
Listen to a Maine Public Broadcasting news report about the performance on June 4, 2012, in the Music Shed of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival by the Orchestra of The Longfellow Chorus and violinist Lydia Forbes in commemoration of the centennial of Maud Powell's premiere of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Keep me from sinkin' down : Maine Musician Resurrects 100-Year-Old Coleridge-Taylor Work.
Q. What's your favorite part of your job? A. The fact that it's different every day. One day I'm recording with The Pubcrawlers, and the next day I'm on location recording beautiful opera at a local church for the Longfellow Chorus and Orchestra, and then the next day I'm mixing sound design for the Titanic documentary.
—recording engineer Jim Begley, from an interview in Portland Press Herald, April 12, 2012
Your news [about The 2013 Longfellow Choral Festival: Longfellow & Samuel Coleridge-Taylor] is enormously impressive. When performers explore matters so deeply, musicologists become obsolete. I'm confident you'll end up with the most extraordinary of all commemorations, at least in this country.
—Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma, musicologist specializing in the history of African-American music, April 4, 2012
Most audiences are familiar with the "Peer Gynt" Suite, which gives only a faint idea of the episodes in their original settings. The atmospheric vocalise of the "Arabian Dance," with soprano Elissa Alvarez and the female chorus, was a revelation. So was "Solveig's Song," sung movingly by soprano Rachele Schmiege. The Grieg blockbuster, however, was the overly familiar "In the Hall of the Mountain King." The percussion was overwhelming, but the transformation came when the chorus joined in as troll voices. The result was uncannily like "Carmina Burana," with a fantastic ending as the trolls shriek imprecations at Peer Gynt, only to be silenced by the deep bass voice of the King, shouting "Pipe down, you rascals" (or the Norwegian equivalent thereof). The Longfellow Chorus Orchestra, made up primarily of members of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, was excellent and well-rehearsed, and [Arve] Tellefsen more than lived up to expectations, beginning with Greig's Prelude from "Sigurd Jorsalfar" (Op. 22) written just before "Peer Gynt."
—Christopher Hyde, Concert Review: Longfellow Concert a Celebration, Sunday, March 4, 2012, Maine Sunday Telegram.
Congratulation with the marvellous job you have done. I don't really understand how you did manage to do all the preparations, administration work, performances where you narrated, conducted and played the bassoon! And not to mention the translation work you did with the Ole Bull film. And with very good results!
—Arve Tellefsen, March 2012.
Well, your concert was certainly a tour de force! I had a wonderful time and enjoyed every minute of the time I was able to be there. You have an amazing group of talented and dedicated musicians; many thanks for a wonderful day.
—Patricia Bull Smith Langdon, Ole Bull's great-granddaughter, March 3, 2012.
I attend that church, and I know they overheat it [but] I sat there with wave after wave after wave of chills washing over me as I listened.
—audience comment about Longfellow Chorus Scenes from The Saga of King Olaf, March 4, 2012.
I had never heard that piece before, and I can't understand why choruses don't perform King Olaf as THE expression of how choral music should be.
—audience comment from The Longfellow Choral Festival 2012.
Absolutely thrilling!
—audience comment about Longfellow Chorus Scenes from The Saga of King Olaf, March 4, 2012.
This three day experience you have put together has provided me with immense pleasure and excitement.
—audience comment, Longfellow Festival 2012.
The winners of the 2012 Longfellow International Composers Competition not only receive prizes, but also get to hear their works played by eminent soloists, a first rate orchestra and a fine chorus, conducted by Longfellow Festival artistic director Charles Kaufmann. All of the winning works were of high quality. The most original and entertaining was the last performed: "Excelsior" by Ross C. Bernhardt of Texas. Bernhardt does in music what James Thurber accomplished in cartoons—a whimsical and lighthearted spoof of Longfellow's admonition to strive ever "onward and upward." A soaring "My Cathedral" by Niccolo D. Athens made one wonder why the clarinet is not used more often to accompany choral works. Its voice, under the command of Karen Beacham, easily distinguished itself through the most fortissimo passages of the Longfellow Chorus. In addition to conducting and playing bassoon in the woodwind quartet, Kaufmann contributed five highly enjoyable settings of passages from Longfellow's "Saga of the Skeleton in Armor," one of which uses a scale he specifically invented for the poem. His tongue-in-cheek approach to the poem was an appropriate lead-in to "Excelsior."
—Christopher Hyde, Concert Review: Winning performances reward composers, Tuesday, March 6, 2012, Portland Press Herald.
This is wonderful! Thank you very much for this special performance. You and the Chorus amaze me, and I am deeply grateful for your work.
—M. Susan Brown, 2012 Longfellow Choral Competition winning composer, Christmas Bells.
I always value my experience playing for you, and congratulations for a terrific job conducting these works.
—Longfellow Chorus Orchestra member comment.
The Longfellow Chorus sounded wonderful! It was a true gift to get to hear Arve Tellefsen.
—Longfellow Chorus Orchestra member comment.
Congratulations again for bringing music not often heard to Maine audiences.
—John Schnell, Principal Trumpet, Portland Symphony Orchestra, about the March 3-4-5, 2012, Longfellow Choral Festival: "Ole Bull, Longfellow & Elgar: Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf."
Image, right: Deborah Selig, soprano, and The Longfellow Chorus and Orchestra performing Scenes from The Saga of King Olaf, March 4, 2012
Bravi! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
—audience comment about King Olaf, March 4, 2012.
Please accept my appreciation for your very evident major commitment to making this an exceptional experience.
—Longfellow Choral Festival 2012 audience comment.
I hope you could feel how much your audience loved that King Olaf, loved the music you made. Oh, those soloists, too. Such a pleasure to hear them.
—audience comment from The Longfellow Choral Festival 2012.
The clarinet took center stage again in the concert of prize-winning compositions at the Longfellow Chorus Festival last week. The woodwind quartet of bassoon, English horn, flute and clarinet turned out to be ideal in concert with choral and vocal works, since it, like the human voice, is capable of producing perfect intervals (unlike a well-tempered piano).
—Christopher Hyde, CLASSICAL BEAT: The clarinet takes center stage, again, Sunday, March 11, 2012, Maine Sunday Telegram.
Have enjoyed the festivals so much and the fascinating history and research behind it. The program was a treasure.
—audience comment from The Longfellow Choral Festival 2012.
The movie Ole Bull's Fairy Tale with Arve Tellefsen was one of the best I've ever seen.
—audience response, Nickelodeon Theater, March 3, 2012.
I do hope Longfellow was floating around the ceiling of the sanctuary to hear his words, given Elgar's King Olaf "reading."
—audience comment from The Longfellow Choral Festival 2012.
I shall reevaluate Elgar now, as this was an enormous experience for me, and he is at the root of it.
—audience comment from The Longfellow Choral Festival 2012.
EVERYTHING WAS SUPERB.
—audience comment, Longfellow Choral Festival 2012.
We came to this afternoon's King Olaf concert and enjoyed it tremendously. What a wonderful performance, instrumental and vocal!
—audience comment Longfellow Choral Festival 2012.
2011 Reviews and Comments
The first program of the Longfellow 204th Birthday Choral Festival got off to a rousing start Saturday at the First Parish Church with a trio of cantatas based on Longfellow poems -- one by Franz Liszt and two by the cantata finalists in the Longfellow Chorus International Composers competition. The chorus was supported by a fine orchestra, conducted by artistic director Charles Kaufmann, and soloists Bradford Gleim, baritone, Tania Mandzy, mezzo-soprano, and Tyler Putnam, bass-baritone.
—Christopher Hyde, Concert Review: Prize-winning cantatas give Longfellow festival a rousing start, February 28, 2011, The Portland Press Herald.

The Longfellow Chorus was fortunate indeed to have a handful of young attractive soloists who, frankly, could not have been better suited to [Arthur Sullivan's The Golden Legend] and were, in fact superior to those on the impressive Hyperion/Musical Heritage Society recording. So clear was the diction of all five (as well as that of the chorus) it eliminated any necessity of reading the nicely sized (for once) libretto provided in the program. . . . Conductor, Charles Kaufmann, led all with a sure hand and obvious affection for this remarkable work and, aside from some glitches (most noticeably in the strings), his orchestra (particularly the winds who were marvelous throughout) responded in a performance that made as strong case as I can think of for this work re-entering the repertoire of choral and symphonic organizations. . . . The small but hearty audience, clearly moved by what we experienced, cheered and applauded lustily, calling back the soloists and Maestro Kaufmann for an extended and well deserved bow. It's a shame the house wasn't packed. Hopefully a repeat performance today at 3:00 will be better attended.

—Paul Padillo, February 27, 2011, SharkOnArts blogspot.

[Image, left: After hearing the word "run" uttered by Portland Stage Company affiliated artist Daniel Noel in the role of "Official Race Starter" Longfellow, 60 runners head off west on Congress St., Portland, Maine, during the start of the 2011 Longfellow "February Frostbite" 2.5 K Road Race — the kick-off event of the 2011 Longfellow Choral Festival — on a sparkling morning, February 26, 2011. Photo by Cynthia Farr-Weinfeld. More amazing race photos are here.]
Downeast Magazine and Salt Institute "Salt Radio" audio feature about the Longfellow 'February Frostbite' 2.5K Road Race (Congress Streeet, Portland, Maine, 8 AM, February 26, 2011)
"How beautiful it was, that one bright day in the long week of rain," Daniel Noel read from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem 'Hawthorne,' "though all its splendor could not chase away the omnipresent -- run." And with a short play on words in the last line Noel read, about 100 runners crossed the starting line for the February Frostbite 2.5K. The early morning run was the kickoff to the Longfellow 204th Birthday Choral Festival taking place this weekend. . . .Said Noel: "I think Longfellow would get a kick out of people running for him in the cold."
—Emma Bouthillette, 204 and Longfellow's still got rhythm, February 27, 2011, The Maine Sunday Telegram.
I just wanted to thank you for putting on such a great race. Even now, it puts a big smile on my face. It really flashed a beam of sunshine through the gray winter doldrums. I have told a lot of people about it, and I think you may get a larger field next year. One of the things that made the race really fun was the chance to see after-race pictures. . . . My dog Nellie [was] the first winner of the 'faithful hound' award. Nellie is definitely training to come back next year, this time joining me in costume, to defend her title!
—Mike Carey (and Nellie), Longfellow 'Frostbite' participants.
It may seem to go without saying, but the most vital element of any artistic organization is the art itself. This is the foundation upon which all else is built. Too many communities are flooded with endeavors that replicate products already present in the market, are of inferior quality, or serve individual vanity rather than the community. Kaufmann has created a musical offering that is artistically unique; performed at a high level by professional orchestral musicians, soloists of a national caliber, and choristers from a variety of community ensembles; and has a meaningful relationship to the history of its community.
—Shannon Cline, Kennedy Center Arts in Crisis Mentor of The Longfellow Chorus
It seems to me that [The Longfellow Chorus has] done miracles—what a collection of music you have recorded!
—Charles Dodsley Walker, past president of the American Guild of Organists, co-founder of the Berkshire Choral Festival and founder of Canterbury Choral Society.

2010 Reviews and Comments

Mary was thrilled with all you are doing with the Longfellow Chorus... . It [is] a great honor for me to become an honorary member of the Board of The Longfellow Chorus, and to keep the family connection to your very impressive endeavors.
—Frances Smith Wetherell, great-granddaughter of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and granddaughter of "laughing Allega," commenting for herself and for her late sister, Mary Hunting Smith, co-founder of the Berkshire Choral Festival and the Tanglewood Chorus, September 2010.
DIVA—Metropolitan Opera star Angela M. Brown touches down at [The] First Parish [in Portland] to sing arias from "Hiawatha," the sensational 1898 masterwork by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor... that swept the world. How perfect that this long-awaited concert brings Coleridge-Taylor's genius just steps away from the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whose epic poem "Hiawatha" was his inspiration. This two-night offering takes music lovers straight to the shores of cool.
—Portland Monthly Magazine, February/March 2010
"Each word and each line should be savored, just as we might appreciate a forbidden confection.... Let the words taste delicious in your mouth, like a piece of Godiva chocolate just melting there," opera singer Angela M. Brown told Jesslyn Thomas, a vocal student from the University of Southern Maine.
—Bob Keyes, USM vocal students get pointers from professional opera singers, February 27, 2010, The Portland Press Herald.
The Longfellow Chorus, directed by Charles Kaufmann, an excellent orchestra (mostly members of the Portland Symphony), and outstanding soloists soprano Angela M. Brown, baritone Robert Honeysucker, tenor Mark Sprinkle and pianist and organist Geoffrey Wieting turned what could have been a local celebration into a major musical event.... Coleridge-Taylor's "The Death of Minnehaha" (Opus 30, No. 2), written in 1899, was the centerpiece of Sunday's program.... Orchestra, soloists and chorus united to provide what can only be termed a definitive performance of a little-known masterpiece.
—Christopher Hyde, Concert Review: Longfellow's birthday gives rise to a major musical event, March 2, 2010, The Portland Press Herald.
Read the Program Notes for the Longfellow Chorus Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 203rd Birthday Choral Concert. This is a large file. All content, text and photos in these program notes are protected through copyright 2010, The Longfellow Chorus, Inc. For permission to quote from these notes please contact Charles Kaufmann

I believe Longfellow would have been moved to tears of wonder and amazement at the harvest of beauty.... That was a HUGE concert. My being is the more fully alive for its resonance as I launch my 72nd year.
—An audience member comments about The Longfellow Chorus 203rd Birthday Choral Concert, February 27, 2010
I and many of my colleagues were impressed with both of the young [Longfellow Chorus International Cantata Competition] composers [Keane Southard and Marcus Maroney].... We applauded the decision to have two winners because the two pieces ["A Day of Sunshine" and "Suspiria"] were so very different and so very effective.
—An orchestra member comments about The Longfellow Chorus 203rd Birthday Choral Concert, February 28, 2010
Make no mistake about it: Charles Kaufmann is the Longfellow Chorus. He is its director, fundraiser, promoter, bookkeeper and secretary. Though funding issues may mean 2010 will be its last year, Kaufmann nevertheless has single-handedly revived a lost sub-genre: the music inspired by the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
—Emily Burnham, Discovering Longfellow, February 23, 2010, The Bangor Daily News.

2009 Reviews and Comments

I think the performance does great credit to all involved. As a past holder of the office of International Co-ordinator to The Elgar Society, I am delighted that this wonderful — and rarely heard — cantata has received such an excellent and committed performance in America.
—Paul Adrian Rooke, commenting on the performance of Elgar's The Black Knight by the Longfellow Chorus.
The concerts were superb — especially the Sunday concert, every second of which was pure joy. The Longfellow settings were expertly and sensitively honed, with heart-warming dedication and masterful musical insight — even now fragments of melody continue to play in my head. As for the Elgar, the music was a revelation, and the performance a sensation. I could tell that the audience realised what a privileged bunch they were. Hearty congratulations to your outstanding chorus, company of musicians — and their inspirational conductor.
—Kevin Jones, one of the 2008-09 Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition winning composers
Charles Kaufmann has single-handedly resurrected an interest in Longfellow and how Longfellow's poetry has been set to music in the past, and, in addition, he has inspired composers world-wide to create new music set to Longfellow's poetry.
—Lily Gordon, trustee, Longfellow's Wayside Inn National Historic Site

Mission Statement of The Longfellow Chorus, Inc.:

The Corporation shall organize and maintain a chorus to perform and record vocal and choral settings of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poetry, written from 1840 to the present, shall inspire and commission new vocal and choral settings of Longfellow's poetry, and shall perform choral music of the Romantic and immediate post-Romantic eras, ca. 1825-1920.

Materials on this website are protected, copyright 2007-2010, The Longfellow Chorus, Inc., Portland, Maine, USA

Contact The Longfellow Chorus:

e-mail: The Longfellow Chorus

The Longfellow Chorus
c/o Charles Kaufmann
P. O. Box 5133
Portland, Maine 04101

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