By Lois van Buren
Junior high school often saw me directly square between the speakers of my parents’ box stereo, tearfully listening to Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto. The Romantic period did its work to evoke emotion which, for a young teen, was the emerging understanding of the world outside the adolescent self. It wasn’t long before Mozart, then Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and many of the composers of our current Christmas concert – Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Mendelssohn, Telemann, Britten – became part of my listening repertoire. Emotional ears gave way to those of the intellect and classical music became for me, as I’m certain it did for you, a respite from that world I was fast learning of. Later, much later I’m a bit reticent to admit, came the deeper appreciation of the architecture underlying the beauty.
As the Chorale rehearses this year’s Christmas concert, each piece gradually takes on its individual contour. The intent of each composer’s – indeed, each architect’s! – structure is coming into focus. What I’m realizing more than ever, though – and what you, our faithful audience, probably recognized long ago – is that the overall structure of our programs is akin to the architecture of an individual composition; and that Santa Cruz Chorale’s architect is its esteemed conductor, Christian Grube. Christian’s studied attention in choosing each composer is conscious; his decision of the final pieces chosen, purposeful; the outcome a complete musical effect given to us all to enjoy.
Join us this Christmas season! Let the grace and symmetry of the structure that is Holy Cross Church surround your being. Let the shape of music fill your heart and mind.
Concert Time and Place:
Saturday, December 16, 2017 8:00 pm
Sunday, December 17, 2017 4:00 pm
Holy Cross Church, 126 High Street, Santa Cruz
Tickets can be purchased at http://santacruzchorale.org/tickets or at the door.
See you at the concert!