| Requiem Mass: Durufle |
[Nov. 2nd, 2010|11:10 pm]
e_moon60
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Well, we did it. Unfortunately R- came down with a gut bug today and could not go with me, but I trekked down through the rain and traffic in plenty of time. It was a very different experience from last time--last time we did it with an orchestra and organ, as a performance, in a different church but not as part of a service, and with a different director. This time, the parts were used as service music in a Requiem Mass...and we had David Stevens directing (and leading all the rehearsals, so we were much better prepared.)
It worked...amazingly. The meaning of the words mattered more in that context, embedded in the service itself, than in a purely performance setting. There were little human blips here and there, but nothing that really detracted. Every section outdid its rehearsal self, and the rehearsal selves weren't just your average choir.
Austin, our organist, also amazed--the organ accompaniment for this thing is very complex and in places (looking at the organ score) seems impossible if you aren't born with a couple of extra hands and feet. Somehow he handled it all with only two hands and two feet (and a page turner. At least we had a hand free to turn our own pages!)
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