Dr. Kenneth Gartner and The Down Town Glee Club

Near death, Dr. George Mead, the eminent musicologist and conductor, asked Kenneth Gartner to take the reins of The Down Town Glee Club, an organization Dr. Mead had led for generations. Dr. Mead had been impressed when The Canarsie High School Elite Chorus appeared with the Down Town Glee Club as guest performers. This Elite Chorus was NYC's only school chorus to have been honored with a Level VI Gold with Distinction rating from the New York State School Music Association, and we must note that Canarsie High School at that time possessed the lone Male Chorus within a coed high school in the entire State of New York.

This recording, made live at the May 1, 1998 concert is not technically as perfect as others on this web site. It does, however, illustrate what Dr. Kenneth Gartner is able to do with a Male Chorus. Song Clips of "Down in the Valley," (2.5 Mb) Dr. Mead's popular arrangement of this folk song, and "Good Night, Beloved" (2.3 Mb), together with "All the Things you Are" (3 Mb) , by Jerome Kern, arranged by Gladstone Trott (Associate Conductor & Accompanist of the Club), and "Danny Boy" (2 Mb) (a monument to the oldest member of the Club at the time, baritone soloist Stan Hall) demonstrate the wide ranging, almost astounding musicality of which a Male Chorale is capable.

"Widmung" (1.1 Mb) is performed by Soprano soloist Monica Yunus accompanied by Dr. Gartner from this same May 1, 1998 performance.

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Last Update: July 25, 2004

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