BYU SINGERS AND CONCERT CHOIR, Ronald Staheli and Rosalind Hall, conductors, de Jong Concert Hall, Nov. 11; second performance 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12, tickets at 801-422-4322 or online at www.byuarts.com
This program featured BYU’s two most prestigious choirs and began with a pair of doxological pieces – one contemporary and one renaissance. The contrast between the two works was a prelude for the progression of the rest of the concert. The BYU Singers mainly focused on the American choral canon with works by such luminaries as Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland. The Concert Choir had a decidedly more European bent with a lengthy excerpt from Johannes Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem and Ralph Vaughn Williams’ “Toward the Unknown Region.”
Highlights from the Singers’ program include a surprisingly poignant a cappella “Gloria” by Vincent Persichetti paired with a rousing “Sanctus” by Bernstein. The latter half of the Singers’ selections had a homey feel with a spattering of folk texts and spirituals. The Concert Choir performed a version of Ein Deutsches Requiem which Brahms himself arranged for two pianos and choir. The pianists played so well and with such enthusiasm that the absence of an orchestra never came to mind. The selection was by far the darkest piece of the evening, but being so grim, it had the most redemptive conclusion.
The singing was superb. Both choirs performed with commendable focus and energy, and the Singers especially showed a staggering capacity for breadth. They effortlessly moved from the sacred to the secular and back again. They even managed to sing a cowboy ballad while being sincere yet not overly earnest, and fun but not hokey. And throughout the entire concert, I was amazed at the choirs’ consonance and force.
Rather than providing program notes, the two directors gave commentary on the pieces during the performance. At every instance, I felt that these mini-lectures were not only appropriate but informative and even enlightening. Rosalind Hall took full advantage of the medium by having the choir perform different motives to illustrate the points in her lecture. The demonstration allowed for a level of depth that program notes just can’t deliver. It was a welcome change from the usual format of orchestral concerts.
The title of the concert was “Beautiful Life.” The pathos of the Brahms and the mysticism of the Vaughan Williams, paired with the gradual revelation of Americana, told a story so deeply human that by the end I felt I had witnessed a “beautiful life.” Just as a certain solemnity accompanies the end of a life, I felt that applauding at the conclusion of Stephen Paulus’ “Pilgrims’ Hymn” (the evening’s last piece) was almost profane. This was ultimately a profoundly enriching concert. The constant juxtaposition of time periods, styles and themes was a reminder that life and death, praise and agony, love and mourning are often separated by no more than a breath.