Saturday 22 November 2014

7.30 pm

The Apex, Charter Square, Bury St Edmunds

Mozart:        Mass in C minor

Bach:           Cantata BWV56 (Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen)

Bruckner:   Three motets (Os Justi, Locus Iste, Christus factus est)

Sarah Fox soprano

Fae Evelyn soprano

Austin Gunn tenor

Tom Asher baritone

Bury Bach Choir

Prometheus Orchestra

Philip Reed conductor

Mozart’s Mass in C minor is the most grandiose and dramatic of his choral works.   It is also the most demanding.  He composed it initially as a ‘half mass’ in accordance with the liturgical practice of the day, as a wedding present to impress his wife Constanze, who sang one of the solo soprano parts at its first performance.  He also left sketches and material suitable for the remainder of the full mass.  This evening we are performing Philip Wilby’s reconstruction of the full work. Though Mozart is the most frequently performed classical composer in the world, in this one composition we experience a different Mozart, a supreme composer at his most mature.  Breathtaking in its beauty, passion and drama, it explores the deepest levels of human feeling.   The listener is unfailingly swept up in the music’s steady progression from tragedy through celebration to ever-increasing exaltation.  

The concert opens with three of Bruckner’s motets which variously, through his innovative use of plainsong and blocks of contrasting sounds, build unexpected harmonic tensions that drive the music to exciting and memorable climaxes.  This is followed by Bach’s cantata Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, a joyful piece which invokes an image of life as a sea voyage, with heaven as the final destination.  

Tickets £23, £19.50 and £14 (all seats reserved)

Booking opens 8 September 2014

Early booking discount £1 off all tickets booked by 25 October 2014