Bloomington Chamber Singers presented Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa solemnis in D, op. 123, on Saturday, April 21st, 2012, at 8pm at the Evangelical Community Church, 503 South High St. in Bloomington. Music Director Gerald Sousa conducted the eighty-voice choral ensemble and orchestra. Joining BCS as guest artists were soloists Meghan Dewald, soprano; Sarah Ballman, mezzo-soprano; Michael Day, tenor; and Samuel Spade, bass-baritone.One of the pillars of Western choral-orchestral music, Missa solemnis was composed at the peak of Beethoven’s creative output, and is universally recognized as a work of extraordinary musical and spiritual importance.
Here is the review of our concert in the Bloomington Herald-Times:
Review: Beethoven Mass, one-act operas show dedicated workmanship
By Peter Jacobi H-T Reviewer | pjacobi@heraldt.com Apr 23, 2012Listening to Saturday evening’s performance of the Beethoven “Missa Solemnis” in Bloomington’s Evangelical Community Church, one could imagine the composer laboring over the score, a primary object of attention during four of his later years.Conductor Gerald Sousa, his Bloomington Chamber Singers and four young soloists from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, along with a gathered-together orchestra, really seemed to have gotten it. This very personal “Solemn Mass” comes from a composer who could no longer actually hear what he was writing except in his imagination, from a man who recognized a host of shortcomings in his character. The music seesaws from heralding shouts to God that he, Beethoven, be heard and beseeching whispers to God that he be forgiven.Sousa extracted from his musicians those desperate cries for attention and pleas for understanding. The climaxes expressing God’s glory shook the rafters. The supplications hovered in the air, almost haltingly, as if questioning acceptance from on high.What one heard from this community chorus was remarkable. Even its rough-around-the-edges moments were made to sound just right, remindful of Beethoven’s struggle with the score and his own conscience. Maestro Sousa’s grasp of the music and dedicated workmanship as choral leader made that possible, as also they brought about the quieter effusions, here imbued with smooth radiance.The soloists — soprano Meghan Dewald, mezzo Sarah Ballman, tenor Michael Day and bass-baritone Samuel Spade — proved a key ingredient in the performance’s success, lending their fine voices to the endeavor. They, too, appeared to be deep into the spirit of the occasion, aware of an interpretation designed to capture a composer’s internal and musical struggles.A fifth soloist was the orchestra’s concertmaster, Benjamin Hoffman. He played the important and extended violin solo in the Benedictus exquisitely. Hoffman did his share, too, as concertmaster, helping to make the orchestra a contributing element to the whole of this exceptional “Missa Solemnis.”...(link)
