Word: chorus
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...singers and 11 instrumentalists performed the cantatas "Der Herr denket an uns" (BWV 196), "Ich bin ein guter Hirt" (BWV 85), "Ihr Menschen, Ruehmet Gottes Liebe" (BWV 167), and the motet "Komm, Jesu, komm" (BWV 229) elegantly and unpretentiously. They produced a full but never heavy sound; the chorus's long threads of melody were sung smoothly and sensitively; the diction was inpeccable. Collins's phrasing and dynamics avoided the spectacular, but could be striking on occasion through their subtlety. He chose to take the final cadence of "Der Herr denket" simply and quietly, rather than grandly and pompously...
...through being somewhat uniform in sound, especially since the entire soprano section sang the soprano aria, and all the men sang the tenor-bass duet, for no apparent reason. Part of the function of these solos is to break up the homogeneity of the choral sound, and though the chorus sang lightly and clearly enough to prevent their sounding rough or gross, the listener missed the delicate sound of individual voices singing ornate lines clearly intended for solo performance...
...elimination of these solos was all the more puzzling because the soloists did begin to sing in "Ich bin ein guter Hirt." Marsha Vleck, soprano; Jane Struss, contralto; Karl Dan Sorensen, tenor, and Francis Hester, bass, all sang clearly and sensitively, and, like the chorus, without any heaviness or pretension. Sorensen was especially fine, floating without apparent effort over long lines almost continuously in his highest register. Hester was stronger in "Ihr Menschen" than in "Ich bin ein guter Hirt," in which there were moments when he was almost covered by the orchestra. Penelope Ann Colwell and Cynthia Weinrich...
Another composition, Momente, featured an orchestra plus chorus and soloist who, among other things, snapped their fingers, scraped their feet, giggled and whispered lovingly (Stockhausen confesses that he was in love when he wrote the piece). One musician poked a gong with drumsticks while another "played" the organ with the palms and backs of his hands. Stockhausen declared that Momente was still unfinished and, to the dismay of some listeners in the audience, added that "some day it will be played all evening...
Conceived during the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann, the 50-minute oratorio based on the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, is a highly personal memorial to the Nazis' victims. Scored for bass-baritone, double chorus, orchestra and string quintet, the pace in all but one of the ten movements is slow to slower. To sustain interest within such a restrictive format, the score trades on subtlety rather than splash, deftly plays the wistful mewings of the string quintet against the dense harmonies of the orchestra, intertwines exquisite vocal patterns like a kaleidoscope turning in slow motion. Brilliantly...