I attended an unusual concert tonight.The composer was Sergei Rachmaninov, a famous Russian composer who died in 1943 and who is famous for his piano concero no 2. Because “The Vespers” is a Russian orthodox religious piece, there could not be musical instruments, only voices. This particular choir was composed of over 100 singers who managed to carry up to 11 different “tunes” in parallell at certain times…and all in Russian!
I was happy because the concert was held in a church that I had never visited before. I was taken aback when I got there because the church was dark. Only a few candles burning at the front of the church helped us find our pews. When the singers entered the church they did so from the back, each holding a lit candle. It was beautiful to see the church slowly light up, it reminded me of the Easter eve service. Once they were all lined up along the aisles they started lighting the candles of the specators, so the light intensified. The candles lasted one hour which was the lentgh of the concert. I was transported in another time and place…imagining cathedrals in the middle ages…a wonderful experience.