Three Irish Tenors fit into a long tradition
When the Three Tenors (aka Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras) became international sensations, they inadvertently spawned a host of imitators who strove to jump into the niche that had appeared.
The 3 Redneck Tenors, Three Mo’ Tenors, Three Canadian Tenors, etc., etc., all sought to parlay good, classically trained voices into a viable commercial entity.
Probably the only group to fully capitalize on the group tenor concept was the Irish Tenors, who were able to draw on the rich heritage of the modern Irish tenor, as defined by John McCormack, Frank Patterson and Josef Locke, as a base. This meant that Irish folk songs and lyrics detailing the emigration to America were dressed up in orchestral finery and showcased by group harmonies and solo singing suggestive of the “auld sod.”
This is not a bad thing, and the three singers currently banded together under this notion proved their worth Monday evening in front of a receptive audience in Artpark’s Mainstage Theater. Along with Arnie Roth, their music director, the three singers performed with an ad hoc ensemble consisting of members from various area orchestras, including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
The instrumentalists played their charts well enough, but the cohesion of a long-term professional association led by a top notch conductor wasn’t there.
It didn’t really matter for this occasion, however, since all the musicians had to do was play well enough not to get in the way of the singers.
Anthony Kearns is the only original member of the group, having outlasted both John McDermott and Ronan Tynan, while Finbar Wright is the next-longest-standing member of the trio, and Karl Scully is its most recent enlistee. All were well trained and with their own individual sonic fingerprints.
Kearns’ showcase was a Phil Coulterpenned tune, “Scorn Not His Simplicity,” a heart-wrenching, soul-lifting lyric about Coulter’s mentally challenged son that was wrapped around by a gorgeous melody.
Much of the time Wright displayed the highest, sweetest voice in the group, a perfect vehicle for “When You and I Were Young, Maggie” and, from the John Wayne/Maureen O’Hara movie “The Quiet Man,” the lovely “Isle of Innisfree.”
Scully was probably the best all-around singer. He may not have had Wright’s upper end or Kearns’ vocal depth, but he did possess the most powerful and consistent voice throughout all facets of a tenor’s range. His presence, for one so new to the group dynamic, was impressive, especially during his solo turn during the group’s rendering of “The Irish Rover.”
In the end, it should be noted that it was a group concert, and while each of the singers had his moments in the sun, it was when they sang in unison, as they did during “Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears,” that the concept of three tenors blending their voices reached its peak.
Concert Review
Irish Tenors
Monday night in Artpark Mainstage Theater.
