April 30, 2003
Singers create musical masterpiece
Haydn's 'The Creation' this Sunday at First Congregation Church
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
The choral and musical community will give area residents a monumental treat Sunday: a performance of Franz Joseph Haydn's oratorio "The Creation."
Conducted by Mel Larimer, director of music at the First Congregational Church, the performance will include 150 singers from the First Congregational Church Sanctuary Choir, the Grand Traverse Chorale, the Northwestern Michigan College Chamber Singers plus two area soloists and one from the University of Michigan. In addition, members of the Traverse Symphony Orchestra will accompany the performance.
The Creation is a technically challenging piece that celebrates the seven days of Creation as described in the Bible. Haydn wrote the piece in German and English over a two-year period, completing it in 1798. The piece immediately garnered critical and popular acclaim that has endured through the centuries.
Larimer, who has been music director at the church since 1997, last conducted The Creation 12 years ago at the Interlochen Arts Academy. He is thrilled to bring the music again to the community, having honed his team with intensive rehearsals for the past four months.
"It's a wonderful piece of music, a very happy piece of music," said Larimer, who in his career has sung it a six times with other conductors. "I thought it was time for us to get to something much lighter and brighter, since I've been conducting at the First Congregational Church we've done mostly requiems."
Larimer is also pleased with the broad range of musicians and groups participating in the concert.
"This is a bringing together of all the musical resources we have in the area to one major composition that is worthy of all the efforts that you have to put in to do it," he said. "It is just wonderful, it should be a wonderful group."
The opportunity for the members of the various chorales is huge. The piece is long and technically challenging, requiring a singing style not typically found in today's choral productions.
"This has been hugely exciting for my choristers, it is a great opportunity and a great challenge," said Mark Puchala, director of choirs at Northwestern Michigan College. "It's a great opportunity because it is one where they get to perform a major, major, major piece of music from the historical period of the classic era and secondly they have to approach the work in the classical style, with a lightness and a buoyancy of style."
Members of the Traverse Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of concertmaster Paul Sonner, will also participate in the concert.
"Having orchestral accompaniment is fabulous, the work just has so much more depth and dimension because of the orchestra," Puchala noted.
The choral group began rehearsing in January, the monthly meetings gradually picking up pace to this week's intensive schedule of four rehearsals. Despite the temporary frenzy, Larimer finds conducting and working with musicians invigorating and inspiring. His work with the church is another step in his long chorale career that spans decades and classrooms from high school to college level.
"The singers inspire me, they very much do with their commitment to doing great music and their enthusiasm about it," Larimer said. "We've got some wonderful voices here."
"The Creation is challenging musically," he noted. "It is a different style than they are used to singing, one that is hard to teach."
Soprano Grace Hanninen has been involved with the First Congregational Church Sanctuary Singers for 13 years. She said the choir's members love to sing and devote many hours of their free time to rehearsals and concerts, all for the joy of making music together. Pulling together The Creation has been a challenge for the singers, but they have risen the task.
"The challenge of this is it's not like Brahms, a smooth romantic piece," said Hanninen, who sung the piece years ago while at the University of Michigan. "This is a more classical piece and it is not easy, very technical with lots of runs and you have to sing together. There's a pattern to it, lots of repetition. You really have to count and get this beat."
Hanninen credits Larimer with setting a tone of excellence and accomplishment for the singers.
"There are a lot of details and Mel is a marvelous man, absolutely just wonderful," she said. "He knows his music, the composers and the details and he can get it out of us."
Franz Joseph Haydn's oratorio "The Creation" will be presented at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 4 at the First Congregational Church, 6105 Center Road. A free will offering is suggested. For more information, call 947-6698.