Tonight we’ve got the first of two performances of Mozart’s Requiem, which is a work I really love and which is also great fun to sing. The rest of the programme is pretty good too, with the theme of the whole concert being “eternity”. We’re doing the premiere of a new Australian choral piece, called Shadows and Light, by John Peterson. And there’s also an American work, by Morten Lauridsen, called Lux Aeterna.
Pretty cool. Good luck and enjoy.
I’ve got to pull that out and give it a listen tonight. For the last three days I’ve had this bit of tripe going through my head about every valley being exalted, and crooked places made straight. It’s too early in the year to start that up!
I hope the concert goes well for you.
My friend and I were so busy singing along to Dies Irae (sp?) at the beginning of X-Men 2 that we forgot to watch what was actually happening. 
The performances last Friday and Saturday night went extremely well. Here’s the review from this morning’s Sydney Morning Herald:
Mourning and the riches within
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
Opera House, Concert Hall
Friday 5 November
Reviewed by David Vance
If death and taxes are the only certainties of this world, the fringe benefits can bring some relief, if not to those who have paid their heavy dues.
Take, for example, the music of mourning: contemplating eternity has been a pastime for many a composer, with the result that we have a rich legacy of settings of the Requiem Mass in which to ponder death and an afterlife.
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs sought the opinion of three composers on the matter of music to die for, all of whom provided eloquent responses, beginning with Lux Aeterna (1997) by the American composer Morten Lauridsen.
Drawing on Latin texts from the requiem, the piece is cast in five movements for chamber choir and orchestra, and offers a sumptuously textured and reassuringly diatonic vision of infinity. The work of the chamber choir was splendid, sustaining perfect intonation in the lengthy a cappella setting of *O nata lux * and in the other unaccompanied passages. A warm, soothing tone throughout promised that one might go gently into such eternal light without the need to rage.
Rage, albeit controlled, underpins quite a deal of a newly commissioned and most impressive work, Shadows and Light, from Sydney composer John Peterson.
Alternating texts from the Latin requiem with material drawn from diverse sources including newspaper headlines, the words of Martin Luther King and Japanese lyric poetry, the piece is intelligently conceived and exciting to hear. Its rhythmic momentum conveys an urgency matching the dilemma of modern strife with apocalyptic chaos, paralleling the *Dies Irae * text with headlines about terrorism.
Replacing an ailing Ali McGregor, Adelaide soprano Teresa La Rocca made a notable, last-minute replacement, mastering the difficulties of the solo work with authority.
Peterson’s work deserves wide currency: it is surely crafted and a worthy addition to the repertoire, given it’s on this program besides Mozart’s Requiem, arguably among the greatest of all.
It would be difficult to improve the account of the Mozart where, under David Porcelijn’s secure leadership, soloists, choir and orchestra performed as if their lives depended on it. Pathos and fear, solace and hope, all stand side by side: taut, urgent, cataclysmic in places, the performance never lost sight of eternity. La Rocca again impressed and joined an ideal quartet with mezzo Sally-Anne Russell, tenor Jamie Allen and bass Douglas McNicol, while the choir was in peak form to deliver Mozart’s extraordinary and compelling intimations of mortality.
Congratulations! Also, this write-up confirms that it just wasn’t me, that the piece really is supposed to be played the way I’ve heard it played, and apparently, was successfully performed this weekend!
Wow! I hope our reviews are as good as that! Our choir is performing the Requiem (Sussmayr version) on Good Friday - we have started rehearsing now. We did the Hostias on Sunday just to try an “out of town” opening.
Glad your concert went well!
PS: Any OttawaDopers are welcome to come and listen to the St. John Evangelist concert at Easter!