PAUL MCCREESH conducts
SUSANNA PHILLIPS soprano
SARI GRUBER soprano
NICHOLAS PHAN tenor
DALLAS SYMPHONY CHORUS
PARRY Blest Pair of Sirens
MENDELSSOHN Lobgesang (A Symphony Cantata)
Paul McCreesh joins the DSO to conduct a grand spiritual concert including vocal soloists, the Dallas Symphony Chorus and the Lay Family Organ. Also known as his Symphony No. 2, Mendelssohn described the work as a “symphonic cantata.” Bearing a superficial similarity to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, it begins with three instrumental movements although on a much smaller scale and closes with a cantata-like structure for chorus, solo voices and orchestra.
Blest Pair of Sirens is a short work for choir and orchestra by English composer Hubert Parry, who was commissioned to compose a piece for the Bach Choir of London to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The Glories of our Blood and State was to be used, but subsequently scrapped possibly due to lines including “Sceptre and crown must tumble down” not being the most suitable for the event.
Parry then decided to set Milton’s At a Solemn Music garnering immediate success and eventually being recognized as an outstanding English choral work.
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