Mangione: Too Much Chorus

by Lee Coleman, The Post-Star, June 18, 1973

It must have been nice to musician-composer-conductor Chuck Mangione Saturday night.

With a wave of his hand he had a complete philharmonic orchestra, a large chorus or a soloist during his “Best of Chuck Mangione” performance at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Mangione (pronounced with the final “e”), steeped in music from his studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester and displaying consummate mastery of his art, looks more like the rock music star than the accomplished composer-musician that he is.

You and I would like to be Mangione because he makes conducting look easy and enjoyable and he has a sea of instruments at his command. A flick of his wrist and 20 pieces of brass blast the air. A slash of the hand and 17 violins stroke together.

Mangione’s reward was at least six curtain calls Saturday night as the crowd – skimmed of the usual throng that sits on the lawn behind the amphitheater due to the rainy, chilly weather showed obvious delight in the long-haired, leather-hatted Mangione.

But for the listener who likes the Mangione of “Hill Where the Lord Hides” the chorus and some of the soloists were a little too much.

With Mangione conducting the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in his instrumental compositions he seemed to move the crowd the most. When solo horn player Gerry Niewood added to such instrumentals as “The One-Eyed Sailor” and “Legacy” the Mangione purist was ecstatic.

But when the spotlight turned to the male-female chorus, prepared by Joe Crupi, the tight Mangione sound loosened and this reviewer found it hard to understand what the chorus, pretty as it looked, was singing.

Soloists Don Potter once of Glens Falls and Esther Satterfield were the only enjoyable parts of the instrumental-vocal portion of the program.

But who can argue with six curtain calls – I guess only the purist.

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