After the previous successful exchanges in 2011, 2014 and 2017, the Glasgow Chamber Choir is coming to the Netherlands for the fourth time in March for joint concerts with the St. Joris Chamber Choir. This time the monumental Messe in e-moll by Anton Bruckner stands for eight-part choir and fifteen wood and brass instruments as main part of the program. Bruckner wrote this mass in 1866 on the occasion of the construction of the votive chapel of the new cathedral in Linz; mass was first heard in 1869, in the open air and under the direction of the composer.
In addition to this mass, three transcripts are also performed for eight to no less than sixteen-part choirs by Clytus Gottwald (* 1925) of songs by Gustav Mahler. The choral arrangements of Gottwald are also characterized as recreating the beautiful sounds of the instruments in question to the unique qualities of the human voice. And in contrast to all these late 19th-century choral works, the choirs each perform a work by a contemporary composer: the Glasgow Chamber Choir with ‘Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae’, written in 1997 by the Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi (* 1963) with inspiration the shipping disaster with the MS Estonia in 1994, and the St. Joris Chamber Choir with the Miserere by the Scottish composer James MacMillan (* 1959). Both pieces also fit well with Lent.
For some instrumental intermezzi, the arrangements for wind players from our choir member Frits Gombert on orchestral works by Anton Bruckner.
The complete program:
– Anton Bruckner / arr. Frits Gombert:
* Marsch in d minor (WAB 96)
* Drei Orchesterstücke (WAB 97):
– No. 1 – Moderato
– No. 3 – Andante con moto
– Jaakko Mäntyjärvi – Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae
– James MacMillan – Miserere
– Gustav Mahler / Clytus Gottwald:
* from: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen: “Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz”
* from: Des Knaben Wunderhorn: “Urlicht”
* from: Rückertlieder: “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen”
– Anton Bruckner – Messe in e-moll (WAB 27), for eight-part choir and wind instruments:
* Kyrie
* Gloria
* Credo
* Sanctus
* Benedict
* Agnus Dei
The concert starts at 8 p.m. The entrance fee is € 15.00 / young people up to 18 years free.
The Messe in e-moll will also be performed on Sunday morning 22 March during the Latin high mass in the Obrechtkerk, Obrechtstraat 30 in Amsterdam (then (due to Lent) without Gloria and without Credo; starting at 11:00 a.m.).