Verdi: Te Deum (Quattro pezzi sacri) | KSO & GC | CM Berlin

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

I sang Verdi’s TeDeum in my high school’s concert choir, 47 years ago. Gave me goosebumps then, gives me goosebumps now. This is one of those works that you really need to perform to get the full charge from it. There are parts in there that are so chaotic it just makes you swim. Then there are the seven other lines going on at the same time and you want to cup your ear so you can really tell if you’re on track but you can’t and then you catch one of Verdi’s rest breaks he so thoughtfully put in there for you. Everybody gets one or two and everybody gets their 4-bar time-to-shine breaks, even the bass line has a couple. And the ending….triple forte! The boss wants you to scream if you can. I think we practiced this a hundred times-but not once with the orchestra! We did have a great recording of it so we knew what the orchestra was going to do but it’s different when they’re sitting in front of you but facing away! We had a couple of practices with the conductor and it’s a good thing because he definitely had his own idea of the way the piece should sound. If you find the written notes for TeDeum you’ll see it’s supposed to be performed like a chant with an even tempo. I have yet to hear it performed that way. It was good of our conductor that he ignored that weird rest and let that high note soar over the sopranos-just like Mozart. I smile every time I hear that. Wish I could sing like that again. Our teacher drilled this into my head so I don’t expect I’ll ever forget it. Well worth getting the sheet music for it even if you don’t sing. You can find it on ebay.

[@kathystein411]

Goosebumps 😮😊😇