Although there are many "best music" scenarios for me personally, one of my
alltime standouts is when as part of the chamber singers at my junior college
in Syracuse, NY, we performed at the cathedral downtown. While rehearsing the
Vaughn Williams arrangement of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" [acappella] our
director told us to imagine that we were all monks singing at a Vespers
service. [the second verse was being done with only men.] In that twilight
dark, rapturously reverberant space, we sang as one voice, with a hushed
reverence in our sound, that to this day stands as an unrepeated experience of
true musical attainment.
Paxmaha
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
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
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