The parish Maria Himmelfahrt had now invited to a very unusual program in the Tölzer parish church.
The audience was enthusiastic about the result.
Bad Tölz
- The parish Maria Himmelfahrt had now invited to a very unusual program in the Tölz parish church.
The sacred evening music combined works for vocal ensemble and string trio - two completely different genres that can usually be experienced in different concert genres.
The Bad Tölz Chamber Choir opened with three motets from the "Sacred Choral Music 1648" by Heinrich Schütz.
His vocal works are the milestones of the pre-Bach era and demand a lot from the interpreter.
With five male and twelve female voices, the vocal ensemble, which is really small, entered a terrain that is mostly trodden by professional ensembles specializing in early music.
Because here everything is completely open and audible.
Absolute security and a high degree of creative power are required from each individual.
Concert in the parish church of Bad Tölz combines works for vocal ensemble and string trio
Christoph Heuberger's band of singers dared - and won.
"Grant us peace" developed conjuring power.
Floating unfolded "Our walk is in heaven" its filigree mesh.
In a well-chosen, moving pace, “I know that my Savior lives” made the extremely joyful certainty of faith wonderfully clear.
Anyone who still had doubts whether sacred choral music and chamber concert could actually go together was taught better after the Allegro from Franz Schubert's string trio D 471 at the latest.
Despite the different epoch and the different genres, this deeply moving movement took up the gesture of the last Schütz motet and continued its inner jubilation.
Elisabeth Heuberger (violin), Markus Wolf, concert master of the Bavarian State Orchestra, here on the viola, and Jakob Stepp, academician of the Herbert von Karajan Foundation of the Berlin Philharmonic on the cello, impressed with the beautifully balanced ensemble sound and subtle musical design.
The chamber choir with Anton Bruckner's “Locus iste” came up with an astonishingly dense, closed sound, despite the small cast and large distance, and offered wonderfully supporting and clean piani.
A loud riot in front of the church door affects the concert
The strings then followed Schubert's complete Trio D 581.
The Allegro opened with cheerful exuberance, but also revealed abysses.
The andante brought a thoughtful, doubtful tone into play, like anxious questions.
The musicians let the minuet unfold its dance-like swing without losing its depth of expression.
The final rondo brought a kind of satisfied résumé that made highs and lows happen again.
In the final piece, the singers and strings united, reinforced by second violinist Ales Lavrencic, and played Samuel Barber's “Adagio for strings” in an arrangement by the composer as “Agnus Dei”.
The final connection of the vocal and instrumental ensemble sets a highlight in every respect and became a moving climax.
There was a deep silence before the applause broke out.
As an encore, Josef Gabriel Rheinberger's deeply touching "Abendlied" ("Stay with us, because it wants to be evening") was played again and again.
The end of the concert was impaired by loud rioting in front of the church door.
Apparently a homeless man had been listening to the concert in the open church door and was asked to leave.
As a reaction he later disturbed the progress of the concert loudly from outside.
It remains to be seen whether he might have continued to listen quietly without intervention - and would have enjoyed the concert like everyone else.
In any case, the musicians continued to play.
Also read:
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A new round of the Quartettissimo concert series starts in the Kurhaus
Sabine Näher
