bunrab | great music should always be played loud

We went to a concert Tuesday evening, a Holiday Brass Concert which was a fund raiser for the International Women's Brass Conference. It was right down the street from us, a block away, at a large Lutheran church, and because it was so close and we like brass music, we were planning to go anyway, but then I was the 9th caller and won free tix from WBJC, the local classical station.

Anyway, the concert program included the church's choir, as well as a large pick-up group of brass musicians. Now one of the big advantages of living in the suburbs of Washington DC - and yes, most of the state of Maryland, including Baltimore, qualifies as suburbs of Washington DC - is that there are tons of musicians from the various military bands available for things like this, as well as assorted other professionals, grad students, etc.

Because the concert was sponsored in part by the church, we had to put up with a short sermon from its pastor, which I could have lived without. However, that was more than made up for by some of the music. In particular, the piece which closed the first half of the concert:
Highland Cathedral, by Michael Korb and Ulrich Roever

Now, the piece itself is amazing, as you might expect for a piece for full brass band and highland bagpipes. However, the particular performance this time was also a wow! moment. The band were all seated up near the alter. The piper - in full dress, of course - came in the back door, and stood there playing a few bars, then marched up the center aisle and stood there a bit, then marched back to the back door, playing all the while, and here's one of the amazing things: he was completely, 100% in tune with the band. Then, once he got to the back door again, a new strain entered the piece: an antiphonal part played by two trumpets who were up in the corner of the choir loft, unseen until they came in.

It was just beautiful. It was so together, and so loud, and so harmonious. Despite being, much of the time, completely out of each other's line of sight, the band with its conductor and the piper and the two trumpets were completely together. Despite that this was a pick-up ensemble with only a short rehearsal together ahead of time, it went off perfectly.

Normally, I think giving standing ovations is way overdone these days. People at symphony concerts seem to give standing ovations to a soloist just for showing up, and to orchestras just for all managing to finish a symphony together. I tend to sit those out; I don't think we should be debasing the currency, or inflating the grades, or whatever you want to call it. But for this piece of music, I was, I think, only the third person in the entire hall in jumping up to applaud - that is, the leading edge of the standing ovation.

It definitely made it worth putting up with the sermon.