STORY AND PHOTO BY KENNETH FITZGERALD

The evening was warm and hazy, but the Sun Valley Pavilion provided a bucolic setting in a strikingly beautiful cradle of nature as the Sun Valley Music Festival Orchestra and American Festival Chorus performed Brahms’s German Requiem on Sunday, Aug. 9.

Music director Alasdair Neale was in perfect command of the impressive forces before him on the Sun Valley Pavilion stage. He marshaled the surprisingly powerful and supple voices of the American Festival Chorus with terrific aplomb, coaxing the tenors to break through the texture in climactic moments, and otherwise drawing out the different registers at all the right times.

He unleashed the impressive full power of the chorus in the climactic moments with focus and control. The singers from Logan, Utah (Logan, Utah – who knew??) were masterful – singing with consistently accurate pitch and purity of timbre. Even in the loudest sections, they never sounded harsh.

In the quiet and lyrical sections, they evoked pathos and tenderness with admirable ensemble cohesion. Chorus director Craig Jessop worked wonders with this group. Put simply, they were dazzling.

Neale paced the long, seven-movement work with intelligent design and architectural integrity, giving the work a patient and deliberate airing that never bogged down under the weight to its own grandeur. From the first “Blessed are those who mourn” in movement one to the last “Blessed are the dead, who die in the lord” in movement seven, the work unfolded in a dramatic narrative arc that felt like one long and luminous melodic line.

The orchestral playing in the first movement was reverent and subdued – beautifully poignant for the most part but bordering on careful and veiled at times. But in the second movement, third horn player Tod Bowermaster’s ominous octave calls ushered in the chorus in the first powerful fortissimo passage (“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of humankind is as the flowering of grass”). From then on, the veil was off.

A stirringly defiant and glorious proclamation of “Aber des Heron Wort bleibet in Ewigkeith (But the word of the Lord endures forever)” unleashed the brass, whose power derived from tonal purity rather than sheer volume – complimenting but never overwhelming the chorus.

Trumpeters Aaron Schuman and Michael Tiscione used rotary valve trumpets to produce warmly powerful Germanic timbre in the heralding moments and woodwind-like delicacy in the soft echoes. By the end of the second movement, the orchestra was letting go with the relaxed passion I had heard in the rehearsals (when the acoustic was naturally louder and brighter in the absence of all the soft human bodies in the seats at the concert).

By the climactic sixth movement, all hell was breaking loose, musically and thematically. “Death, where is your sting? Hell, where is your victory?” rang through the valley like a defiant proclamation for the ages – loudly declaring life and survival for man and the environment, no matter all the challenges of our current circumstance.

Baritone soloist Benjamin Appl sang with a purity of power and a power of purity that nearly stole the show. He is the real deal.

Soprano soloist Christina Pier sang with a luminous tone and generous phrasing. Her bright but rich timbre was a perfect complement to the exquisitely voiced woodwind section, led beautifully and brightly by principal flutist Andrea Kaplan and principal oboist Erik Behr. The gorgeous woodwind passages throughout the piece – and there are many – were like spiritual oases in a harsh and divided world.

The orchestra’s low strings furnished a strong and richly warm foundation throughout the entire performance. There was cohesion throughout the violins and violas. The delicate trombone choirs were rendered with assured solemnity and perfect balance.

This all-star orchestra – with players from major orchestras around the country – gels beautifully. They stayed focus and full of intention throughout the performance, despite a long afternoon rehearsal preceding the concert, and notwithstanding the uncomfortable heat on their un-air-conditioned stage.

While chorus and orchestra performed in fantastic manner, the Sun Valley Music Festival audience was rapt and quiet throughout the performance. They stayed silent between movements and for a blissful few seconds after the final exquisite chord at the end of the final movement of the deeply moving performance.

Their attentive appreciation and active participation in the reverent silences was testament to connection between performers and listeners, and the true community they have formed together.

Brahms’s “German Requiem” was a deeply humanistic piece, which celebrates life and extols the hope of eternal life with God. It is not didactic or preachy; rather, it blesses the listener with beauty and grace.

In these challenging times on a fragile planet plagued by war, deadly heat waves, and wildfires, this week’s Brahms’s “German Requiem” performance was a breath of fresh air. I felt more human and hopeful for the beauty it imparted, and I’m confident everyone lucky enough to have been there caught the same musical blessing.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Ken Fitzgerald is a writer, musician and trial lawyer living in Coronado, Calif.