Schubert Mass in A Flat - Crickhowell Choral Society and Brecknock Sinfonia

Saturday 23rd November, 7:30pm

Schubert: Mass in A flat

Mendelssohn: Singet dem Herrn (Sing unto the Lord)

Haydn: Insanae et vanae curae

Brecon Cathedral is soon to resound again with a glorious feast of great choral classics, courtesy of the Crickhowell Choral Society and the Brecknock Sinfonia.

Their sumptuous programme of works by Schubert, Mendelssohn and Haydn is something special, encompassing the realms of transcendent beauty and high drama.

Although it appears that Schubert never heard it performed, he believed his setting of the Mass in A flat to be his finest. The result apparently of his "extended labours", the work was composed and revised over a period of some seven years (1818-1826) and was no doubt intended as proof of his mastery of sacred musical idioms; although ignored in the composer's own lifetime, it has come to be regarded as a truly remarkable work, full of radiant tunefulness and deep emotion at every turn.

The programme also features a rousing and rarely heard Psalm setting for double choir and soloists by Mendelssohn, Singet dem Herrn, an iridescent piece composed to inaugurate the composer's appointment as musical director at Berlin Cathedral in 1844. This is a real choral tour de force, the psalm's ecstatic words cast in the great Handelian oratorio tradition.

By contrast, Haydn's short motet Insanae et vanae curae is a highly-charged stand-alone piece derived from the composer's first oratorio "The Return of Tobias"; it has long been a firm favourite with choirs.

We are delighted to be collaborating again with the Brecknock Sinfonia for this project and are very much looking forward to hearing these great pieces reverberate around the Cathedral's sacred space. Do join us for this sonic journey!

Tickets £15 [£15.50 online], free for under-18s and students

Buy tickets online, at Webbs of Crickhowell, from choir members, email tickets@crickhowellchoralsociety.org or call 07816 991501