I can't really explain great musical experiences, but it involves some combination of right time and right place (in addition to excellent performance, of course). Patricia and I ran into a memorable combination just last Thursday evening (September 27).
It happened that we were in Salt Lake City, Utah - Patricia had been sent to an emergency nursing association conference there in recognition of the good work she's doing at Mayo Hospital (I'll post more about this excellent trip separately).
It was perfectly random that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practices on Thursday night, that the practices were open to the public, and that we were available to attend (with another Scottsdale Mayo nurse, Jackie). We also were able to walk around Temple Square in Salt Lake City for 20 m
inutes or so before lining up for the concert, so this helped set the mood. Here we were at ground zero for the Mormon religion on a beautiful evening as darkness set in, with a large crowd filing into the Tabernacle to hear this world-famous group. And the Tabernacle was filled.It turns out that it wasn't just a practice - the MTC actually did a 30+ minute concert. The reason for a concert (rather than the normal rehearsal) was that there were special guests in attendance - in particular, the president of the Czech Republic president, Vaclav Klaus (you can read about him here) and veterans of the 390th Bomber Group (World War II) who were in town for a reunion (you can read about them here, I suggest you check out some of the items in the "War Stories" link toward the bottom of their home page).
We enjoyed the opening numbers, which included "The Star Spangled Banner" and a very effective version of the traditional hymn, "Praise to the Lord." So the crowd was quite well warmed up. Then they introduced the Czech officials, followed by an introduction of the 390th. Perhaps partly because WWII is so present to everyone these days (thanks to the Ken Burns PBS series, "The War" (read about it here)), the crowd literally jumped to its feet and cheered for these old vets. All this was setting a nice emotional tone.
The MTC next performed a Czech folk song (for the Prez) that was quite nice. They they switched to the song that was memorable for us. It was an 18th century hymn - penned exactly 250 years ago - named "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." The tune is very familiar though I didn't know it by name.
I took a couple short (30 seconds or so) video clips on my camera, one of which is attached at the end of this post. But please also take the time to listen, a few times if you can, to the full version of the song as it appears immediately below (it's the exact arrangement that we heard, as performed by the MTC at the General Session on March 31, 2007). And turn up the volume - there's no other way to get a sense of this.
The crowd was in a highly receptive mood, as were we; the lead-up had been great; and the old hymn just worked.
Some comments on the song:
Verse 1 is performed by the women and verse 2 is performed by the men; each is a cappella and very beautiful. Verse 3 includes the full chorus; I think it is at the 2:35 mark in the video (where the organ enters) that it started to occur to us that this was going to build into something more powerful than a pretty song.
The real build happens in the organ lead-in to verse 4; including key change; listen for this to start at the 1:53 mark. Then the chorus starts in, and there is about a minute or so (starting at 1:33 on the video) where you could have pushed us over with the proverbial feather. I don't know how to describe how this sounded, or felt, or why so many folks had tears in their eyes as the tune built to its conclusion.
Listen for the sopranos' ascending line at 1:06; then I like how it sounds like this line will be repeated at 0:59, but instead the arranger has the sopranos stay on the same note while the altos get the ascending line. Neat!
Some suggestions:
1. If you want to experience this, don't always watch the video, just listen with a bunch of volume. It's hard to describe the setting inside the Tabernacle with lights down, but the listener at the live performance is not distracted with close-ups, pans, or other visuals. It's just the music at an enveloping volume - in this famous, darkened space.
2. It's helpful to read the lyrics, which are available here: scroll down to the version used by the MTC.
3. Enjoy. Don't get distracted by whatever images of the Mormon community have been (mis)communicated, that has nothing to do with this performance.
My final comment is that Patricia and I normally haven't much cared for the MTC. We only see the choir on TV; it always involves busy video, and it's often over-produced for my taste. Their repertoire also is iffy from my perspective, often including popular music - for example, they did a great job with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." But I don't want to hear them sing this stuff, leave it for Judy Garland or Jane Monheit. I want the choir to blow me away with songs like the old hymn discussed here.
Anyway, I will never complain about this choir again, nor will I soon forget the 30-minute gift we received in Salt Lake City.
And here's what we heard (from the climactic verse 4):
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