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Sacred Music
You can call me TC Started conversation Mar 30, 2004
On Sunday I went to a concert in the Christuskirche (Christ's Church) in Mannheim.
Having the difficult choice between Mozart's Requiem in Speyer and this concert, I decided you can hear the Mozart any time, really.
The Programme:
Johannes M. Michel:
"Cantate Domino"
"Ave Maria"
"Alleluja, I heard a voice"
Thad Jones:
A Child is Born
Duke Ellington
"Sacred Concert"
(10 parts - varying themes, mainly "Freedom")
The concert was absolutely breathtaking. The Church looked beautiful in the Sunday evening light - better than I remembered it. (I sang in the choir there from 1977 - 1987). It has superb acoustics.
Being there brought back such lovely memories and so I was rather highly-tuned emotionally. Plus which I noticed that the conductor I had known back then was sitting right in front of me. He has gone on to higher Ecclesiastical Musical offices in the meantime, but was quoted in the programme as the founder of the Chamber Choir who put on the concert.
The first works, by Michel, were impressive and rhythmic, but I felt that there was nothing there that I couldn't have done myself. It was entirely a capella. The Ave Maria was most unusual - almost too jazzy and bordering on "disrespectful".
"A Child is Born" was instrumental, played by the accompanying Big Band. It didn't create a Christmas feeling, but was good meditative music and pleasant to listen to.
The Ellington was very enjoyable, the audience (lots of old people) took ages to warm up, but by the 7th movement "David danced before the Lord" with lots of drums and very skilled jazz playing (the trumpeter was brilliant - and the clarinettist surprised us each time he played a solo) the audience/congregation finally got going and gave the applause that was deserved.
The choir were extremely skilled and obviously enjoyed the performance.
There was a solo soprano, who was somehow just a bit too young and inexperienced to pull it off, but she showed promise and certainly had no trouble with the highest notes.
It's hard to put it into words - if you get a chance to see it or perform it yourself, you'll love it!
My arms still ache from clapping!
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