I spent last night experiencing one of the finest masterworks ever created – the Mass in B minor by J.S. Bach. It’s a big work and tremendously difficult and an ensemble has to be both ambitious and a bit crazy to undertake it, so it shows up quite infrequently on concert schedules. . . and I’m sure beyond its sheer difficulty and massive length is the very real possibility that hardly anyone will come to hear it. (I think some people think of Bach as a sort of musical brussel sprouts or broccoli- necessary for one’s diet but not as exciting as steak or as easy to consume as pudding or as fun as a burger and fries. I bumped into some Kenosha folks in the lobby last night (this was in Milwaukee) who were there out of a sense of family obligation more than any sort of devotion to Bach or any authentic enthusiasm about hearing this lengthy, intricate masterpiece. And I have to say that if what basically amounted to a free ticket hadn’t crossed my path, I very likely would have taken a pass on this as well . . . and what a loss that would have been! While I would have been sitting at home with my feet up on the ottoman, watching “Fishing with Frank,” this incredible performance would have gone on without me.
The tickets came courtesy of Sarah Gorke and Nic Sluss- Rodionov, who are both in the paid core of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, and I’m delighted that two other recent Carthage grads, Stacy Zabinski and Aaron Steckman, are also singing. And of course, Jackie Drummer and Dal Drummer from Holy Communion are up there as well – as they have been for many many years- – – and I also got to speak with a mainstay in the sopranos who was a judge at state solo and ensemble. (I played for several contestants in her room and we had a nice chat- she turns out to be a Luther alum.) So it felt like Old Home Week.
I actually attended with Mr. Noble as well as his dear friends George and Cathy Gentes – and I met a development person with Luther College and his wife, the Nelsons, who are dear friends of Mr. Noble’s as well. They had supper together with some Luther alums at Carl Rautsch’s, a famous German restaurant in downtown Milwaukee (what could be more perfect before hearing two hours of Bach than a big, hearty German meal) but I was detained in Racine playing for a wedding and had to be content with my Subway special eaten in the car on the way. But we all feasted together on the main course of Bach’s B Minor mass.
As I already said, this work does not get done very much – Mr. Noble, for instance, had never been in the audience before to hear it performed in its entirety. (He had sung it before, I think.) I had heard it once before, about twenty years ago, when Luther alum Bruce Tammen brought his choirs from the University of Chicago up to Carthage to perform it. (When you labor over something like this, you have to do it more than once.) That was a powerful experience and at the time I wondered if it might be a once in an lifetime thing- so to experience it a second time, seated next to Weston Noble, was a tremendous treat.
And the orchestra and chorus responded brilliantly. At the pre concert lecture, someone (I think it might have been chorus master Lee Erickson) said that having a group this big do the B minor Mass was a little like trying to get a Mack truck to handle like a Porsch. But they did it- and there were a couple of times when Maestro Delfs took some surprisingly brisk tempos that lit the place on fire. . . and on the other hand, the harsh strikes of CRU . . . CI . . . FI . . . XUS rang out like the pounding of nails. There was powerful drama on that stage – marvelous music – and a distinct sense that we were fortunate beyond belief to be there, partaking in this rare musical feast.
And in some ways the best part of the evening was afterwards when we got to chat with Sarah and Nic and Stacy and Aaron and the Drummers and saw the evident delight on their faces. Bach is SO hard to sing – he writes for the voice like it’s an instrument and demands some rather unreasonable things from the human voice – but when you manage to sing it this well and get an audience on its collective feet, cheering, you know you have been part of something priceless. . . and that all of the tiring rehearsals were more than worth it, and that they in the chorus – and we in the audience – had just partaken not of some tedious vegetable platter. This was a banquet.
pictured: the final bows- the audience on its feet-