So I'm reading today's mail, in particular "The Mormon Times" newspaper, and I happen to look at happenings in Colorado, when I see that listed for our area, tonight, is the BYU Singers, a fine choral group in the chamber-music style, that I've liked for the longest time. Luck? I think not. I NEVER check that section because it doesn't apply to me; usually it's for Young Single Adults, so I stopped looking at it long ago.
Long story short: I went to the concert. My wife had Church meetings and could not go. I managed to get a last minute ticket and then wormed my way up to the 3rd row and asked if I could sit there in a spot that was vacant. 3rd row.
To my surprise it was a joint concert between BYU Singers and my local college/alma mater, Adams State. I've performed under the direction of the Adams State choral director, Beth, just a couple of years ago in our Community Chorale when we did Mozart's Vesperae Solemns" a difficult but beautiful requime. So I knew she was good.
And I've long admired BYU's conductor Ronald Staheli. And here there were, together in our little area, in this wonderful catholic cathedral with fabulous acoustics in a stained-glass nave. Both conductors were cordial and warm and complimentary of one another's respective choirs. Staheli paid tribute to our valley, the beauty of it, and the privlege of performing in this Catholic church with it's murals of Jesus. Good will and warmth, not snobbery nor snide slurs, was the mood of the night. The concert was flawless. Staheli had his group perform a piece by one of my favorite British conductors, John Rudder, "The Wings of the Morning", complete with flute and violin accompaniment.
One expects this kind of music to be sung in both English and Latin, but the BYU Singers performed beautifully in French, German, and Russian as well. Their repertoire was amazing, including a Celtic Invocation, a selection set to the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson (There is Sweet Music Here by L. J. White), and a new-to-me "When Summer Sets" (Jay Matthew Butler, born, 1981), that includes in it's text these poignant words: "God hears my prayer. I know He is there, and I am at peace." A beautiful hymn by Johannes Brahms, done in German had these English-translated lyrics:
"When we are in greatest distress and know not what to do, And find neither help nor counsel even when we seek it early and late, Thus our only consolation is to implore Thee together, O faithful God, For rescue out of anxiety and misery. Look not at our great sins, but speak to us out of mercy. Stand by us in our misery and make us free from all sorrow, So that we can afterwards thank Thee from the heart, And be obedient to Thy word."
All music was beautiful, all chords true. It was sublime. Extremely sublime.
Be Well. Do Good.
