CHORWERK RUHR | This Little Child
Christmas with style. In the old style, which fits the present like nothing else. Shepherd’s music, harp, and a choir that works wonders. And then invites you to sing along, in turn:
First, the cantata "Lauda per la Nativitá del Signore" by Ottorino Respighi. No shine & glory and no timpani & trumpets, the Italian composer - he had the misfortune of being a contemporary of Mussolini and was courted by him and his fascists, Respighi reacted quite sternly to their advances - and created a work “in the old style”: For the “Feast of the Birth of the Lord,” he calls upon Gregorian chant, the Renaissance, the early Baroque, and cloaks them in late romantic sound. A rarely performed work, rarely enchanting, rarely topical.
So also "A Ceremony of Carols" by Benjamin Britten, a cycle of Christmas hymns that Britten composed in 1942. And right in the middle of the Atlantic; his ship was taking him, the pacifist, back to the war he wanted to escape from but couldn't, he knew on which side he was composing. And what must be remembered when war rages, the image of a defenseless one, a child in the stable, at Christmas in the old style. Mildly dissonant, shaped by church modes, Britten creates a sonorous sensuality that calls back a truth: that it is defenselessness that overwhelms, and no heroic posturing.
Tuning into a truth that is defenseless? The third part of the evening: Chorwerk Ruhr, the choir of choirs, invites you to sing along, conducted by Florian Helgath. Invitations to join in singing are at every corner, this one is different, no clapping on the 2 and none on the 4, no standing stiffly before one’s own entry, instead, a feeling for the meaning, which only arises when one knows what is worth singing for. When Florian Helgath conducts, it is - in times like these - the only conducting one follows with dedication because it liberates you to raise your own voice. A Christmas concert in the old style.
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CHORWERK RUHR
Brass ensemble of the Young German Philharmonic
Soloists from the ranks of CHORWERK RUHR
Harp: MERET EVE HAUG
Piano: NICO KÖHS & TONI MING GEIGER
Conductor: FLORIAN HELGATH