New York Choral Society Brings "A Joyful Noise" to Carnegie December 9, 2009

The New York Choral Society launches its 51st season with a festive opening night concert, "A Joyful Noise", on December 9 at Carnegie Hall, 8:00 PM. The esteemed chorus, performing under the baton of Music Director John Daly Goodwin, is joined by the Brooklyn Philharmonic and guest soloists Ellie Dehn, soprano; Heather Johnson, mezzo-soprano; John Bellemer, tenor; and Brian Kontes, bass. The program of festive choral classics includes: Randall Thompson's Alleluia, a celebrated a cappella gem; Vivaldi's Gloria, a favorite of choral music lovers; the "Hallelujah! Amen" from Handel's Judas Maccabaeus; and Haydn’s last major work, Harmoniemesse, a masterpiece presented this season in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death.

Randall Thompson is one of the most celebrated twentieth century American choral composers. Alleluia, one of the most widely known and loved of all Randall Thompson compositions, was commissioned by Serge Koussevitsky for the opening of the Berkshire Music Center (Today’s Tanglewood Music Center) in 1940. Thompson sat down to write the requested ‘joyful choral fanfare’, but his passionate concern over circumstances in Europe – particularly the fall of France – moved him in such a way that the final result was a masterpiece of introspection. Thompson said that his inspiration came from Job 1:21: "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Haydn’s Harmoniemesse or "Wind-band Mass" was written in 1802 and was the last large-scale work Haydn was to produce. It meets and often exceeds all the expectations one may have of a "final" work. As its name implies, the Harmoniemesse makes extensive use of the instruments found in the wind-band of the orchestra. Constructed on a large scale, soloists play important roles at significant textual moments, but this work of grandeur allots the bulk of its power to the chorus. Haydn biographer Elaine Rochelle Sisman describes the work’s “striking” Kyrie: “in the middle of a quiet descending sequence the entire chorus and large orchestra bust in on an unexpected diminished-seventh chord. The outburst subsides at once—but this only enhances the sublime effect. Like Longinus’s thunderbolt, it is as astonishing as it is inexplicable.” (Haydn and his world, 1997)