OK - now that we've thoroughly aired our gripes, let's be done with that. In a less Scroogely spirit of Christmas, what is the best music you have played?
For me, it was a small Episcopal Church orchestra playing the Fauré Requiem at a Good Friday worship service. No, the horn parts weren't especially outstanding, no chance whatsoever to show off, but the music was astoundingly beautiful. That same evening, the Minnesota Orchestra was playing the same piece, so as I drove home, I heard it again on the radio. I mean no disrespect to that incredible orchestra - I routinely thank God I have the opportunity to hear them live regularly. Their performance was far more skilled than ours (though our Soprano, singing the "Pie Jesu," easily would have taken any trophies offered), but I would take the reverent silence in the church over the thunderous applause in Orchestra Hall any day. As it turns out, my 93 year old Grandfather, lying in a hospital bed, breathed his last earthly breath that evening. He died, as he lived, with the absolute certainty that he was entering "In Paradisum." I can think of no more fitting farewell. Timothy A. Johnson Information Technologies Northwestern College St. Paul, Minnesota http://tajohnson.org _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
