Harvard in Song

In its first recording under the leadership of Elliot Forbes '40, the Harvard Glee Club offers an interesting potpourri entitled Harvard in Song. The varied program includes something for everyone and is designed to illustrate the versatility of the Harvard Glee Club. The first side includes a collection of traditional "Harvard" songs ranging from football songs and glees to Fair Harvard itself. Side two is labeled, properly, "a short but representative concert offering, sampling the choral literature from the Fifteenth Century to the present."

It must be admitted that the Glee Club performs the more "classical" numbers with greater skill than it does Ten Thousand Men of Harvard. This, of course, is attributable to the quality of the music, and it would be ridiculous to sing the Veritas March with the same delicacy necessary for a Monteverdi madrigal. If the football songs are not sung with the highest artistic quality, they are at least rendered with a great deal of spirit.

On the reverse side, the Glee Club sings with more restraint and is considerably more impressive. In a particularly excellent performance of Josquin's "Gloria" from Missa Master Patris et Filia, the strained tone of the pep rally numbers is no longer evident. The Glee Club sings this type of music with especial resonance and precision. The classical repertoire is, on the whole, very well performed under the sensitive guidance of Mr. Forbes, who coaxes both elegant gentleness and sturdy vigor from his forces.

The album also includes two folk songs arranged by Mr. Forbes, following the tradition of his predecessors; a Tarantella by Elliot Carter, '30; and for the certain delight of the many friends of the Glee Club, an absolutely wonderful performance of Glorious Apollo.

Two minor complaints must be filed, one of them however having nothing to do with the quality of the music. The piano accompaniment, although sparingly used, detracts some what from the general excellence of the disc. While they may be perfectly fine in live performances, the pianos, at least in this recording, tinkle and boom like refugees from an amateur music hall. Also, the picture on the front of the album, while it is a striking photograph of the Glee Club in action, is definitely not a portrait of the Glee Club members (1959-60), that made this recording. But then I suppose the Glee Club is such a traditional body that it doesn't really matter.

Anyway, irrespective of who is on the cover, what's inside is highly enjoyable and attests to the continuing high standards of the Harvard Glee Club.