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Music

The majesty of Christmas music

Concert spotlights sacred songs
Vocalist Gemma Kavanagh performs during “The Majesty of Christmas” concert Friday night at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.

When a holiday concert includes a bristling, new rendition of the very old “Patapan” and a somber unspooling of “Silent Night,” you know you’re in for something unusual.

On Friday, the newest version of “The Majesty of Christmas” took place at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church – with a daunting program of 27 selections performed by eight professional musicians.

The concert has a distinguished pedigree. Thirty years ago in Farmington, C. Scott Hagler and flutist Rochelle Mann started giving serious Christmas recitals in the midst of the holiday din. Time and life interrupted that effort, but they have revived the idea in the last few years at St. Mark’s under the banner of the 3rd Ave. Arts organization.

From the look of Friday’s program, the most recent iteration intimated a long evening – and there was a reception to follow.

Before the concert started, Cheryl Birchard – stalwart mastermind of St. Mark’s receptions – asked a church colleague for advice on when to set out food. Looking at the lengthy, two-page program, Dale Wingeleth said maybe after “In the Bleak Midwinter.”

Overhearing this, I thought if you added applause, we’d be at St. Mark’s until midnight.

Well, it turned out differently. When Hagler welcomed the audience, he asked everyone to hold applause until the end of the concert.

“It helps the flow of the music,” he said.

Durango Herald readers know that a pet peeve of mine is the contemporary habit of applauding everything. So, it was refreshing for a host to request no applause. That shift created a different atmosphere.

The concert unfurled seamlessly, with the focus entirely on the music. It lasted about 80 minutes and was the best concert experience I’ve had all year. Here are other reasons:

Performers – Professional musicians from the area included pianist Kristen Chen, cellist Katherine Jetter, soprano Gemma Kavanagh, flutist Kathryn Shaffer, tenor Curtis Storm, violinist M. Brent Williams, flutist Mann and Hagler on piano and organ. Each had selected and polished unusual arrangements, making this a sit-up-and-listen concert.

Range – The program opened with a 16th-century dance, arranged by Hagler, and proceeded through familiar and unfamiliar carols from the medieval period to the present.

A number of Christmas lullabies truly lulled the audience under the spell of the singers in particular. Kavanagh sang “Maria Wiegenlied,” by Max Reger. Tenor Storm comforted with Vaughan Williams’ “Wither’s Rocking Carol” and the Czech lullaby “Rocking” – sung in English, as if to a child. It’s worth noting that Storm and his wife will celebrate their son’s first birthday in the new year. Shaffer and Chen created a waltz-tempo for the beautiful instrumental lullaby, “No Soft Cradle.”

Williams and Hagler reawakened the familiar “Coventry Carol” via a slow, poignant arrangement by Robert Powell. This was followed by Shaffer’s brisk piccolo wake-up call in Douglas Brooks-Davies reinterpretation of “Patapan.”

Variety – Selections varied from bright to somber. Jetter and Hagler performed an almost mournful interpretation of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” Later, the duo offered an equally dark and mysterious three-movement arrangement of “Silent Night.” Among the upbeat works, I’d include Mann’s “Brightest and Best” and the joyful “In Dulci Jubilo.”

Most selections lasted a mere two or three minutes. The longest – “Three French Noels” (eight minutes) – presented unusual textures with Hagler on organ and Chen on piano. Light, bell-like tones shimmered over darker and reedier lines in a complex arrangement by Edward I. Good.

Kavanagh closed the concert with Hagler on piano, performing an energetic version of the American Spiritual “Behold That Star.”

Well-earned applause erupted at 8:20 p.m., and the 3rd Ave. Arts Board reception was a communal delight. We all went home well before midnight.

jreynolds@durangoherald.com. Judith Reynolds is a Durango writer, art historian and arts journalist.

Review

“The Majesty of Christmas,” St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, sponsored by 3rd Ave. Arts, C. Scott Hagler, executive director, with area musicians, Friday.



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