Concert Review: The Heavy Weight of Faith

Sacred Music in a Sacred Space presents Bach's Mass in B minor.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

K. Scott Warren leads the Choir of St. Ignatius.
Photo by Joshua South Photograpy © 2015 Sacred Music in a Sacred Space.

Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B Minor was the composer's final great choral work, an enormous setting of the Catholic liturgy that was never performed complete in his lifetime. (In fact Europe waited until 1859 for the first performance under the leadership of Carl Friedrich Zelter, a key figure in the Bach revival of the 19th century.) Although its history is complex, its power in performance cannot be denied.

Concert Review: Recipe for Heavy Matzah

The U.S. Premiere of Haggadah shel Pesach at Carnegie Hall

American Symphony Orchestra maestro Leon Botstein. Photo by Dan Porges

In New York homes, the celebration of Passover is often a quiet, family affair. On Thursday night, though, Leon Botstein led the American Symphony Orchestra, the Collegiate Chorale, and 13 vocal soloists in the U.S. premiere of Haggadah shel Pesach, a thunderous choral work by the obscure German-Jewish composer Paul Dessau.