From Jerusalem's mayor to the music critics to the men and women on the street, the Tabernacle Choir received praise during its concert tour in Israel Dec. 26-Jan 6.
The choir sang in five public concerts and one private concert in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The private performance was held at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies for specially invited guests living in the vicinity.Additional coverage and photos of the choir's tour will be included in the next issue of Church News.
After hearing the choir perform, Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek noted that it had not been a mistake to invite the LDS singers to Israel. Proclaiming himself a big fan of the choir, Mayor Kollek told the Church News, "There is no other choir that compares with it. I've heard many other choirs and I just have to say, there is no other."
The showpiece concerts were with Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in "Classical Winter in Jerusalem - Liturgica 92," performing Hector Berloiz' "Requiem Mass, Opus 5," a Catholic Mass that describes the day of judgment and the glory of God. The musical work is known for its difficulty to perform, but, according to Israeli music critics, the choir and orchestra "did it very well."
David Shallon of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra directed the two groups in the requiem, along with three other Israeli orchestras, in Jerusalem's Binyanei Ha'Ooma Convention Center and in Tel Aviv.
The liturgica series is sponsored by Israel's Education ministry, tourism ministry, and Jerusalem Foundation.
Critics as well as audiences received the choir with enthusiasm and praise. At each performance, the audiences applauded unusually long and enthusiastically.
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra chairman Yeheskell Beinish said he had never heard such a spontaneous and prolonged response from an audience as that given the choir and orchestra in Jerusalem.
"The applause of the audience was very unusual in Jerusalem," he said. "Usually they applaud once or twice, and they rush out of the concert hall to go home. But after this performance, every one was sitting and applauding for minutes and minutes and minutes, asking again and again for the performance to be extended.
"This is very, very unusual here. Acceptance by the audience was 100 percent," he said. "Any time the choir members want to come back, they will be more than welcome. Everybody knows them; everybody would be more than happy to welcome them again. And I hope that they do [come backT.
"The choir looked at home on that stage. I think they should come again and again."
Director Shallon, noting that the choir qualifies as an amateur group of musicians on the basis of not being paid to sing, said: "I wish for more amateurs like that in the music world. If it means higher quality, more dedication, more devotion to music making, then amateurism is the best word for making music. This group has those on the highest possible level.
"It was a wonderful experience to work with them. Sometimes the fact that people don't make money on making music gives them the most motivation. If it is the love of making music and the love of communicating with other people that motivate this choir, then that's the best thing we can aim for in the music world."
Mr. Shallon described directing the choir as "one of the greatest experiences I have had in the many years I have been conducting. It was a great joy, both on the human level and the musical level. The orchestra was happy, the audience was happy. We are absolutely delighted."
And music critics were delighted. One critic, Hanoch Ron, in writing for a Hebrew newspaper, reported, "It was a spectacular sight. About 300 singers in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, covered the stage in a checkerboard of black and [fuchsiaT. One giant orchestra on the stage and four more distributed around the gallery. You sit in the middle, the sound wraps around you in human stereophonic harmony and the singing opens the gates of heaven.
"The Jerusalem Orchestra did it last night [Jan. 30T very well: it stole the show from the other Israeli orchestras in a wonderful performance. And the Mormon choir was a great surprise, a giant choir, performing Berlioz' dramatic, colorful Requiem with gentleness and wonderful sensitivity.
"If you thought that hundreds of people have to shout, you would be wrong. Not with the Mormons. They sound like an opening flower. In piano (soft portion of the Requiem) it is like a charming bud and gradually, with the fortissimo, (very loud portion of the Requiem) it opens into a spectacular flower.
"Their sopranos have come down from heaven, and the tenors have voices out of this world, pouring out so easily. The altos and basses are deep and velvety. Together, their music is like crystal dipped in a flow of warmth. . . . This was a landmark in the history of the Jerusalem Orchestra, a human musical prayer."
Yitzhak Shor, in writing for Al Hamishmr, noted: "The Mormon choir is a religious group. Its members surely believe in the ancient text of the Requiem, which is a Catholic burial prayer. Their singing was focused, pure, full of expression and sublime. To sum up, this performance of Berlioz' Requiem was a grand, rare and emotional experience."
Another critic, Ora Bino, wrote in the Hebrew newspaper Ma'Ariv: "This was indeed a requiem of intimacy and internal excitement. The Mormon choir, despite its size, sounded almost like a chamber choir and left us with many real emotional moments. The tenor, Robert Breault, seemed to be praying with musical concentration while singing "Sanctus" (one of the numbers in Requiem). The requiem, in which David Shallon's hand was strongly evident, is a very respectable musical achievement for Liturgica 92 in Jerusalem. This experience, with its abundant intimacy and emotion, must not be missed on Sunday [Jan. 3]. in Tel Aviv."
Apparently readers took the critics suggestion seriously. The Tel Aviv audience not only filled the concert hall's 2,640 seats, but also many of its aisles and standing room areas.
In its public concerts without the Jerusalem orchestra, the choir presented selections from several categories, ranging from classical works by Handel, to American folk songs to songs of adversity, such as "Come, Come, Ye Saints," and "By the Waters of Babylon," to African-American spirituals.
These concerts were conducted by Tabernacle Choir director Jerold D. Ottley and associate director Donald Ripplinger. The choir was accompanied by Tabernacle organists John Longhurst, Clay Christiansen and Richard Elliott on the piano and synthesizer. Ron Brough was the percussionist.
Mayor Kollek said he began a year ago to bring the choir to Jerusalem. He extended an official invitation to the choir in February when he met with President Howard W. Hunter and Elder James E. Faust of the Council of the Twelve while they were visiting Israel.
Elder Faust and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Seventy, former president of BYU, attended the choir's performances in Israel, met with reporters in a press conference and hosted dignitaries at two receptions in conjunction with the choir's visit.
While in Israel the choir posed and sang for a documentary that was videotaped at several New Testament sites, including Shepherds Field near Bethlehem, a mount overlooking old Jerusalem, the Mount of Beatitudes and the Garden Tomb. Choir members had little time for sightseeing during their tour in Israel. On more than one occasion, they barely had time to eat dinner before rushing off to a concert.
In one case, they didn't have time to do even that. In Tel Aviv on Jan. 3, they had to leave the restaurant before their meal was finished being served.
However, on their last full day in Israel, Jan. 5, they visited Masada, the ruins of an ancient fortress near the western shore of the Dead Sea, and Qumran, the ancient community near which the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered.
