Concert Report 1

Baichim Jennet Tita
Music 1220 Survey of Western Music
Dr. Jonas Westover
12/05/2014
Music Appreciation: concert report
I attended concert Welcome Christmas 2014 performed by the Vocal Essence and The Ensemble singers on Friday December 5th from 7.30 to 9: 30 pm at the Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, Apple Valley. The concert was conducted by Phillip Brunelle, narrated by Katherrine Fennard and fiddled by Sara Pajounen. Recording devices and cameras were prohibited it could have been a nice opportunity to record and listen again. I arrived just on time and the singers all dressed in black suites for men and black dresses for women processed silently as they took their spots on the stage according to the parts they were practicing for while the audience cheered for them as they took their spots on stage. As the choristers arrived the hall the musical prelude was going on with different instruments such as the flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, horn, trumpet, fiddle, violin, viola, cello, bass and percussion but the musicians stopped playing and cheered them as well. Everyone cheered them and then sat down and the deal began.
When the audience had sat down, the conductor came up the stage and took the microphone when he welcomed everybody especially the quest who came from out of the country to participate in this event. During his introductory speech, I understood that the Welcome Christmas was a tittle that had graced vocal Essence programs for so many years. This was a vast range of glorious music of the season, past and present. It almost seemed like they could never run out of special music for Christmas. The most exciting thing at the beginning of the concert was the introduction of the premiere performances of a lovely new cantata by an English man Alan Bullard. There was also a preparation of Scandinavian carols from Denmark, inland, Norway and Sweden and some familiar new and fulfilled charmed melodies.
The concert was performed in two parts, the first part had the very first song that was sang was A light in the stable prologue of our maker’s love begotten by prudentius, trans. J.M. NEALE, H.W. Baker and R.F. Davis. When this song was sung I could hear all the parts coming out clearly with soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Each singer sung with joy and delight as I could imagine that they were all thrown into some form of worship and deeply enjoying every bit of it.
The second song The Journey from Hamlet (Act 1, scene 1), by William Shakespeare was also well sang and I could get all the parts of the song clearly and every one of the singers knew exactly what they were doing. This song was connecting right away with the song as Joseph was a-Walking. So as Joseph was on a walk he heard the angels sing this night they shall be born on the earth our heavenly king. This was also well sung. They began in parts with the bass first and all the other parts joined then they had it sung slowly and finally the bass completed the song it was amazing how they all modulated the song.
The shepherds a Christmas Hymn by Richard Wilbur was their fourth song and this song connected with go tell it on the mountain while shepherds watched was their fifth song. The bass part sang the refrain first and then the tenor, the alto and the last part was the soprano and the conductor indicated that the audience could join in the song and it was amazing how everyone joined at different times and made the song even more interesting. The people playing the instruments did a fantastic job. What I realized is that each time the audience was directed to rise and the song ended, the conducted also redirected the audience to sit down as he continued to direct the rest of the choir.
The sixth song was the angels and the recitation passage was taken from the book of Luke 2:13. This one was sung with all the parts alternating with each other from soprano to alto to tenor to bass. This song was in connection to the seventh song which was Glory to God in the Highest. This was one of the songs that were played with more instruments than voices. It was a Gloria in excelsis Deo! Luke 2:14. The song Hark the herald- angel sing was sung in all parts and especially the audience was involved right at the beginning till the end just like a congregational song. It was really nice to stand and sing with the rest of the choir. This song was completed by the musical instruments and the conductor went really exited in the way he particularly ended this song with some enthusiasm. The ninth song The Manger by Carol, Donald Hall was also connected with the tittle My Lord Jesus away from the manger a 19 century American traditional. The shepherds by the lamb, William Blake visit the stable was a way to connect the song with the song He is born (il est ne) Mary ponders these things in her heart was also one of the songs that really moved the audience. The soprano started the song and then the Musical instruments joined and the whole choral group then joined. This is a song taken from the passage in Luke 2:18 to 19. This song was connected with the 14th song The Lullaby! After the song was almost complete I could hear them hum the song slowly and gradually ended it with all the parts of the song. In each song that was presented, each musical instrument that was introduced that made the song even more beautiful.
The 15th song the Three wise men taken from the book of Mathew 2:1-3, 8-10,12 was connected with the As with gladness men of old. At this point the conductor indicated that the audience could rise and join them and each one of the audience stood and joined the choir and they song was powerful as there were more voices joined together. The only problem I had was that, each time the audience joined the beauty of the parts of the songs was lost in the air until they could start singing by themselves again. This was because; there were people in the audience who had no idea how to sing as they were just saying words as they wish with no consistent melody. The beauty of involving the audience was that, they felt involved which helps to keep boredom away from the audience. This was quite amazing as everyone felt happy each time I turned around and looked at the audience they were all involved. The choir did not sing any of the verses by themselves, they only sang the rest of the 3 versus, then the audience and the choir both sang and then the music instruments concluded.
In the 17th song the wise men offered their gifts there was an interlude before this song was sung. This song was composed by Bethlehem Down; Bruce Blunt This song was connected with the song light for today from the three kings came a- riding Henry Walworth Longfellow. After this song was the song of our maker’s love begotten by pruentius, trans. J.M Neale, H W Baker, and R.F. Davis. This song ended in a very high pitch.
Furthermore, Allen from England who just came to Minnesota for the concert was recognized and he bowed down in consort to greet everybody including the choristers the musicians and the audience. It was quite amazing that he came to the United States from Britain just to attend the concert. After his introduction, there was a break at this point and all the choristers including the musicians and the audience exited and all came back after the short break. During the second part of the concert, the choristers all came back afresh with a different style as they came in in grouped into four groups. The first song they sang as they proceeded was Nu ar det jul igen meaning now it is charismas again. This was my favorite part of the concert and I think the best piece of the concert sang in a foreign language. Then they sang a song from Finland the conductor stated that this song was written by a young man who gave it to the publisher who left it and forgot about it but that it just got released. The song of the shepherd was introduces as a song that no one has ever heard, the song and the composer of the song Rachael DeVore Fogarty whose works had been commissioned or performed by the ensembles in the united states and the international including St Olaf College, Oklahoma State, the Russian making choir waves, the young New Yorker’s chorus Woman‘s Ensemble, the concert chorale of Nashville.
At this point I was so much into the concert that I hoped it never ended because all the songs were so good the audience stood after this song and the introduction of the writer and applauded so hard for a long time. Then the concert proceeded with the song Det are n Ros Utsprungen there is a Rose Springing up they stared by humming the song slowly and later on sang it out nicely. At this point the song was connected with the Dejlig er deb Himmel Bla. Bright and glorious is the sky by Phillip Brunelle. This song was sung with all the parts and I could tell that each chorister was using their voive effectively. This song was only sung using one instrument and the other instrument players had retreated and only one was playing at the time. Then the next song was I know of a lovely Flower (Det Finnes en Dyrebar Rose) by egil hovland. In this song the soprano started then the alto while every other part was humming their part. Then the whole choir joined after all the humming and modulation. The next song was he The Holly and the Ivy byarr. Ola G jelo. The other song that was also well sung was the Cradle hymn by Kim Andre Arnesen and text by Isaac Watts. The following song was From Heaven High BY Martin Luther, arr, Gunnar Idenstam. The song started with the viola nicely playing and the choristers came in with their beautiful voices and just made the song very interesting. The second to the last song was one of my favorite song because I like meeting song writers especially song that we sing but have no idea who composed the song and my honor attending this concert was meeting song writers because one of my passions in life is writing songs. The song was Miles and Miles by Justin Merritt the composer who came all the way from the Northfield and really miles and miles to attend the concert. The violin first played the song and the other parts then came in and sang the song in a way that all the parts were heard nicely. The best thing about this song is when the composer came out bowed to the crowd and they all stood up and applauded for him. It was wonderful seeing this happen as he bowed to the audience and then the musicians and the choristers as well. I got to learn from the conductor that Justin Merritt is associate professor of composition at St Olaf College.
The last song Ringen I Klockor (Ring You Bells) arr. Gunnar Idenstan and translated by Stefan Sylvander. Was sung in two groups the first group sang the song with each oat coming in as indicated by the conductor until they two groups now merged and the whole choir joined to get the whole song going. In fact it was a great concert if I had to evaluate the concert I will give them 90% on overall concert. The 10% will be going out for the fact that being Christmas songs they could have acted some scenes to make it theatrical. The musical instruments were amazing as I got to see most of them live for the first time this actually raised my interest just watching them play with so much talent. I have been to high school concerts for my kids but those are nothing compared to this one. The fact that I had the opportunity to see some of the real composers of songs was quite amazing. I have not seen any composer in my life and I hear songs that are presented all the time.
The whole choir group looked like it was a selection of happy people because they were all glowing with joy and they were all organized in their standing position and in the way they stood on stage. The people who sat by me were very friendly I only signed up for this concert on line bit I sat by people who were really nice and explained a lot of things to me that I did not understand. I was very happy to be part of this audience and I was as involved as each time they stood up to applauded in recognition of a person I also stood with them and at the end of the concert everyone applauded as they stood up and I did the same. There were times I felt like applauding them but when no one did I held applauds back until it was in unison.
In a nut shell, it was quite an interesting experience for me because I am a song lover I love music and every environment that can produce any form of music makes me very happy. Like Shakespeare “ If music be the food of love play on give me excess of it that my appetite may sicken and so die “ Music is a language that speaks to loneliness, sadness, joy , sorrow and what have you. I was a little bit distracted when I had to refer to my text book to make sure I understood some of the parts in order to appreciate the songs better. This is because I took my text book with me and tried to identify some of the things we learnt in class with the concert this was the only time I was distracted. This was quite an experience from what I listen to in my car or at home because I sat there seeing these people live in concert. Infect I enjoyed them so much that I had to sign up for another concert with the same group in February and I cannot wait to take my whole family with me. Well the concert was really good the performers performed well and I had a good experience in the concert as compared to the one I attended last time at the Secret Heart Church, Robinsdale, MN on November 10th this one was more professional and well organized and there were more interludes in this one and the difference is that this one was performed by two groups and the other one was just a one group concert. The cost to attend the concert was $65 but I am satisfied with what I got for my money as compare to the other concert that was free but I was not very satisfied nay way I spent nothing but to driving there and back. Thanks to Dr. Westover for this wonderful opportunity to attend these concerts now it has create in me more love for concert and I know how to look them up in the near future.