I’ve finally made the move out of Provo and now live in the city of angels “ready” to start my DMA program at USC (I use the term “ready” very loosely here). A friend of mine asked me what some of my favorite moments at BYU were, and it got me thinking. It might be the best way to talk about this transition. There’s been a quote going around attributed to Dr. Suess (don’t know if it was him, and I don’t feel like taking the time to verify right now) that says “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
Here are some of my favorite moments/times that I had at BYU in no particular order:
- Being at the inauguration of President Samuelson as the President of BYU by Gordon B. Hinckley. It was the first time I had been in the same room as the prophet. It was electrifying.
- My very first day in Concert Choir with Professor Hall. Completely changed my life.
- Singing the premiere of “Midnight Clear.”
- The premiere of “In Paradisum.”
- Our study abroad in London learning about English choral music.
- Returning to Ireland on tour.
- The first time I conducted BYU Singers in performance. Will Todd’s “Ave verum corpus” in the Conference Center Theater in Salt Lake.
- Singing “Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine” in the Provo Tabernacle. I’ll never forget the audience reaction.
- Taking Counterpoint and Independent Readings (Renaissance Music) with Dr. Bush.
- Conducting the Men’s Chorus in the MTC. “Choose the Right,” arranged by Rosalind Hall.
- Climbing to the top of Squaw Peak, Y Mountain, Cascade, Timpanogas and Nebo.
As you can see, most of these best times involved the choirs in some way. That’s how important they have been in my life. As a final gesture, I want to post one of my favorite choral pieces. These last several years have shaped my life in a way that few other things have. I usually can’t listen to this without tearing up . . . a lot.
- Harvest Home, Dale Warland Singers – One of the final recordings by the group, which features a great deal of music written specifically for this ensemble. Besides arrangements by Dale Warland himself are pieces arranged by Stephen Paulus, Carol Barnett and Kevin Siegfried. I actually had a really hard time getting a copy of this recording. It’s out of print from Gothic Records and it’s suffered from serious price gouging from independent sellers on Amazon (so has BYU Singers’ recording of Whitacre). The cheapest copy was maybe $60. Thankfully, a reasonable seller showed up and I was lucky to snag it up. That should say just a little something about how popular this album has been. It lives up to it’s reputation, this is a world class choir singing some well done arrangements of traditional American songs. A few highlights are “We Gather Together,” and “The Road Home” by Paulus, as well as “McKay” by Barnett. The latter piece, I feel, is a brilliantly done, rhapsodic sort of setting that matches the text so beautifully. Another highlight is “Lay Me Low,” from Shaker Songs by Siegfried. It’s really easy to over do this fragile, tender setting, but the Dale Warland singers make it so moving. The only drawback of this album is that there are a few arrangements that are a bit too bland in my opinion. They all have their merits, but some of them could have used a little more salt and pepper.
- Mass in B minor, Collegium Vocale, Ghent – This is a recording I was very excited about getting my hands on. A friend shared with me the “Sanctus” from this recording, and my ears immediately perked up. It sounded like a fresh new approach to this exquisite work by Bach. I have to say, this was the biggest let down of all the new recordings. It’s actually not a very good recording at all. It wasn’t that the interpretation was bad, or that the tempi were wrong, or even that the editing was sloppy (Monteverdi Choir, St. Matthew Passion anyone?), the choir just wasn’t up to snuff for this kind of literature. Throughout the recording there were balance issues and intonation problems. I was surprised by what seemed to make it into the final recording. I kept asking myself “surely they would have noticed that and chopped it out?” Maybe worse, that was the best take they had. I just couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the sopranos the entire time, as if half of the other sections were sick in bed or something. Also very shocking was how sloppy consonants were throughout this entire recording, especially ending consonants. Now the recording did have it’s good moments, one of which being the “Sanctus,” but they were few and far between, and made listen to this wonderful work a drag and a chore. Bach should never be either. Avoid this recording.
- Intimations of Immortatliy, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus – I’m a fan of Gerald Finzi’s choral music for sure. It’s hard to forget any of his Seven Poems of Robert Bridges. They’re all immensely fulfilling to sing and listen to. Other marvelous works of his include his Magnificat and Hymn to Saint Cecelia. When I saw this recording of Intimations of Immortality, I was taken back because I’d never heard of the work before. Now there were a few red flags when I saw this, first a choir, orchestra and tenor I’ve never heard of. Risky. Another red flag of course was the Naxos label. Let’s just say that Naxos has a knack for picking up all the crap recordings and selling them at dangerously low prices to lure in people like me who love classical music and saving money. But at the bottom I noticed David Hill’s name. I met him in London conducting the London Bach choir as well as the BBC Singers. He knows what he’s doing and that gave me a little reassurance. I picked it up and haven’t looked back. This is a surprisingly great recording. First, the work is tremendous, definitely one of Finzi’s greatest (we should perform it more often), and the performance ain’t half bad either. The Bournemouth Choir actually gave some other symphonic choirs I know a run for their money.
I recently saw two stage productions here in London. The first being Tosca from the English National Opera and the second being War Horse by the National Theatre. Both were brilliant experiences, and worth a visit.
Last night I saw War Horse with a few friends. Now it was my turn. Unlike Tosca, I had no idea what this play was about. I had heard great things about it from people I trust so I figured it couldn’t be all that bad. I was not let down. It’s incredible. What a powerfully moving work. Everything in the production was brilliantly executed. One of the most incredible parts about the production was the puppetry. It requires the use of several onstage horses, but of course getting horses to act is virtually impossible. Instead, the horses were all life size puppets. Each horse took three puppeteers. While obviously puppets, there were some moments when I honestly forgot that.
