Cappella Romana: unexpected sounds

“On second thought, maybe I should go to the concert. Even if it is church music played in a church. Or maybe because it is church music played in a church – time to stretch yourself.”

Thus were my musings after a friend urged me to attend Cappella Romana’s The Vigil this weekend. Am I glad I did. I cannot even remember the last time I had goosebumps like this while listening to live music. Which tells you a) I had never before heard Cappella Romana, b) it was an unusually profound piece of music, sublimely performed all the way through (hard, because it is long and technically quite difficult) and c) I probably don’t go out to concerts often enough.

And so I sat on a Sunday afternoon in a church attempting to hold back tears and racking my brain trying to remember what I knew about Sergei Rachmaninov, about his choral work All-Night Vigil,op.37 just so the emotions wouldn’t overwhelm me.

Having now supplemented my meager recall with some reading, I am once again astonished about what some people pull off even if life is beyond difficult. Rachmaninov was born into a rich Russian family in the late 19th century, abandoned by his quickly bankrupted father at a young age and shipped off to live with a music teacher, who soon threw him out of the house. He had not just a way with music both as a composer and as a performer, he also had a way with words. Words that expressed with precision what he experienced as an artist.

Read full review at Oregon ArtsWatch