'Gift of music' to community
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A rousing blend of show tunes and popular standards topped off with a generous serving of patriotic fervor characterized the latest O. C. Tanner Gift of Music Concert. Featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Utah Symphony, the concert was presented in the Conference Center on Sept. 19-20.
Guest conductor Erich Kunzel of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra directed both groups in a two-hour program featuring as guest soloists operatic soprano Denyce Graves and Tony Award-winning baritone Brian Stokes Mitchell.
"This community has long been blessed by the generosity of Obert C. and Grace Tanner, whose desire was to lift the hearts of all humankind with things of beauty," the First Presidency wrote in a message in the printed program. "Over the years, they have so graciously provided a concert program that everyone might be touched by the wonders of music.
"It was the combined vision of Obert Tanner and Gordon B. Hinckley, beloved past president of the Church,... that created this artistic vehicle to share performances of (the choir and symphony) as a free gift to the community. The professional association between these two great musical organizations spans many decades and includes a performance before the entire world during the opening ceremony of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City."
A composition created for that ceremony, "Call of the Champions" by John Williams, was among selections presented at the concert by the choir and symphony.
Other combined performances included a medley of George M. Cohan tunes and a set of patriotic selections — "This Land Is Your Land," "America the Beautiful," and a medley of songs of each of the armed forces of the United States.
The choir and symphony also performed Mack Wilberg's arrangement of "Come, Come, Ye Saints," followed immediately by John Rutter's arrangement of "When the Saints Go Marchin' In," punctuated with clarinet and trombone phrases in a Dixieland jazz style.
Guest artist Mitchell pleased the audience with his medley of music from the '30s and '40s, including "The Very Thought of You," and "Embraceable You." But it was his performance of "The Impossible Dream" from "Man of LaMancha," that brought an impromptu standing ovation.
Denyce Graves' medley called "An American Songbook," which served as the theme for the entire concert, included such titles as "Sound of Music," "A Grand Night for Singing" and "Night and Day."
The two artists and both groups combined for two selections from the Broadway show "Ragtime" and culminated the evening with Irving Berlin's musical setting for the Emma Lazarus poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty, leading into Berlin's well-known patriotic standard "God Bless America."
A prolonged standing ovation was answered with a performance of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as an encore, and a surprise treat at the end, the symphony's performance of "Stars and Stripes Forever," with the choir vocalizing the third verse of the John Phillips Sousa march.
Just after performing his opening selection, "Some Enchanted Evening," Mr. Mitchell said the occasion was a dream come true for him because one of his favorite albums from his childhood and youth was "Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir."
Conductor Kunzel, who since 1991 has led the National Symphony Orchestra on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol in July 4 concerts, introduced the choir and symphony's patriotic set by recalling the words of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan: "Truly, he said this is America's Choir."
The concert will be broadcast on BYU radio stations at a future date; check the Tabernacle Choir Web site for information: www.mormontabernaclechoir.org.
E-mail to: rscott@desnews.com
