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Mozart's Requiem brought to life at USU By
Mike Sweeney
Confutatis maledictis (When the accursed have been
confounded) * * * Some things are best experienced live -- a baseball game on a warm spring afternoon, fireworks on the Fourth of July . . . and Mozart's immortal Requiem. A recording of this most monumental of classical works fills the room with the full range of human emotion, from pain to sorrow to hope. But it is nothing compared with a full orchestra and chorus right in front of you. The piece is so complex, so rich, so powerful that to listen and watch as it unfolds is to witness it as if it were being created anew. Trouble is, the Requiem is a difficult assignment for any group of musicians, and especially for a director. They must balance an extreme, mechanical precision of strings, horns, drums and voices with the raw emotion of death and the possibilities of damnation or bliss. In other words, they, like Mozart, must mix ice and fire. Monday night at USU's Kent Concert Hall, the Davis Master Chorale, Northern Utah Choral Society and Mountain West Symphony Orchestra, with the USU music department's Dr. Will Kesling conducting, did it right. As they say in Texas, they nailed that puppy. The Requiem demands to be performed well, and the 45-minute piece seemed flawless. Mozart wrote the Requiem in 1791 while foreseeing his own death, and thus infusing it with his own sorrow, fears and hope for salvation. To hear the voices mix the balance of heaven and hell is spine-chilling, especially in the Confutatis and Lacrymosa. First the deep, foreboding male voices set the stage -- in this case, the end of the world -- and remind us that damnation is real. Then, the sweet, floating female voices calm us with the words "Voca me cum benedictis," or "Call me with the blessed." The effect, when the notes and pace and voices and instruments are just right, is like hearing the comfort of the angels, as surely Mozart intended. Perhaps most amazing of all, considering the level of achievement, is that many of the musicians embrace this as an avocation. One might recognize a friend's retired grandfather or your eye doctor on the risers. Their long, after-hours work has paid off well. Program notes distributed at the hall included the Latin (which was sung with excellent pronunciation) as well as English translations, allowing listeners to follow. But who would want the distraction? As Kesling led the musicians from a powerful Kyrie through the Domine Jesu and on to the Sanctus and Benedictus, each section added to the whole. One wanted it not to end. But it did, unfinished, in one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the arts. One wonders how Mozart would have completed this soaring work if he had not died, at age 35, leaving us with the Agnus Dei and the lines, "Quia pius es" -- because thou art merciful. A repeat performance of the Requiem will be May 11 at Davis High School
in Kaysville. It will be worth the trip. |
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