Music as sacrament

Commonweal, Nov, 1998 by Keith C. Burris

RELATED ARTICLE: Top of the Ninth

In September, I attended performances of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony, Choral Fantasy, and Missa Solemnis at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The National Symphony Orchestra and the Choral Arts Society of Washington presented a Beethoven festival, led by Mr. Shaw.

Although the maestro had canceled appearances during the summer for reasons of health, Shaw seemed quite fit at the Kennedy Center. Reviewing the performance, Washington Post critic Tim Page described Shaw as being "at the peak of his powers," and noted that "after some thirty-five years of exposure to the Ninth, ! cannot remember having heard the choral finale sung so magnificently...big, booming, full-throated, eternally exultant, yet impeccably nuanced." I concur. I do not expect to hear such a performance again in my lifetime.

K.C.B.

Keith C. Burris is editorial page editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester, Connecticut, and the editor of Eugene McCarthy's No-Fault Politics (Times Books).