Mozart and movement

My only concert this month was this past weekend. This time it was
like going home - the concert was in Dillenburg, where I've performed
probably 10 times since I moved to Frankfurt. The church musician
Joachim, is always a pleasure to work with - one of the few catholic
church musicians who actually does interesting projects. He usually
hires a baroque orchestra (or instrument ensemble) and chooses
wonderful music. This time it was Mozart, it's been a long time since I
performed any Mozart (probably since college in Madison!) and I think
my voice has really grown into his music. I enjoy singing it, it's not
hard work. Joachim had hired a small group of instrumentalists the
core of which (cello, organ and first violin) I'd sung with in Dillenburg
before. I also knew one of the trumpet players who recently moved to
Berlin from Frankfurt. I also know a few of the choir members and it's
really nice to see them again.

The program was the Credo Mass with readings from a book "Would
like to have been Mozart? - Meditations on Mozart's Credo Mass KV
257" by Peter Bichsel. THe readings were short - 5 minutes maybe -
between most of the mass parts, and were very interesting. I wonder
if the book has been translated into English? At any rate, it would be
an interesting read. Some ideas from the book: the more he listened
to the mass the less he could think of to write about it - Music defies
language; music is unsuccessful.

The Alto soloist, Claudia Ramroth, was fun to sing with. She was at
Elysium's concert recently in Gemünden and said she loved it. It's
amazing that we should cross paths again in this way. And wonderful
to hear that a singer was so moved by our performance.

So, having sung Mozart with Joachim, he's hired me for 2 more
projects next year. Mid-March we will be performing the Passion
according to St. Luke by Telemann, which is a big chunk of music for
the soprano soloist. Five big da capo arias! I ordered the music today
and I'm looking forward to delving into it. Then we will do a repeat
performance of the Hildegard von Bingen program with the women's
chorus the end of April. The Hildegard program is what brought us
together in the first place, so it's always a joy to do it again.