The story of the
Constellation Men's Ensemble is an inspiring one; the ensemble began as a group of friends at Northwestern University who came together, began serious rehearsals, and have performed around the Chicago area. Its sound, developed outside the usual choral channels, is distinctive, with links to the U.S. glee club style, and the execution is knife-sharp. The group has stated some idealistic goals, reflected on
Man Up / Man Down, which is the group's first recording. It is entirely original stuff. The titular work by
Robert Maggio draws together diverse texts that reflect on contemporary masculinity. It revolves around a central thread about an encounter at a skatepark leading to an attempt to recruit a nameless narrator into a white nationalist movement. Surrounding this are interludes of various kinds on the masculinity theme; it may be a bit disconcerting to hear the group sing text like "I should use my platform as the dominant gender to uplift and support the movements of marginalized groups," but musically, this is so boldly done that it works.
Maggio's piece is framed by works for
Jeffrey Derus (setting a
Carl Sandburg poem) and
David Lang. It is quite difficult to pull off a theme of this kind without seeming preachy, but the
Constellation Men's Ensemble does so, and one is anxious to hear more from the group. ~ James Manheim
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