An MTS Update

​Well, it’s been just about 9 months since our last concert. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on the past 18 years of MTS. I thought about what we accomplished and what I would have liked to accomplish. When I think about it, we may not have set the choral world on fire, but, beside some good and effective performances, we made some really important and significant contributions to the world of choral music. It’s just too bad more people weren’t able to share it with us.
 
Perhaps we never really marketed ourselves properly. Perhaps what I thought would be interesting programming to audiences just didn’t have the appeal. I decided from the start that we would not be doing the usual chestnuts that a lot of groups do each year, especially the ubiquitous Messiah or Bach works. I have nothing against those amazing works and composers; however, there is a lot of literature out there from all different eras that should have their moments and be heard.  In addition to the 32 years I spent with William Ferris and the William Ferris Chorale, I also came from the “band world,” if you will, and might have been able to bring a different perspective, knowing of other composers who just might have written choral works. The fun part for me was researching such composers, and, at the same time, exploring the rarely heard works of mainstream composers.
 
Who would have known that Robert Russell Bennett, the eminent composer/arranger and orchestrator of over 300 Broadway Shows, as well as the TV series Victory at Sea, would have written stand-alone choral works? We did two of them: Crazy Cantata #1 – Three Blind Mice, and Crazy Cantata #2 – The Spanish Lesson. Both of them are fun, well-crafted works that are as much fun to sing, as to be heard, and should be performed regularly. I was able to track down #1, obtaining a photocopy of a long-ago published score from a choral conductor at a university in Michigan. After I learned Bennett wrote another cantata, I began to search the country to find it. I contacted places on both coasts; searched the internet; until I finally discovered that Robert Russell Bennett’s archive is housed at Northwestern University in Evanston. The #2 was in manuscript, and apparently never been published, so I had to transcribe his manuscript to something readable for our Singers. Both cantatas had additional instrumentation, which I used limitedly.
 
As I said, half the fun of running our organization, for me, was doing the research. I suppose there was a “thrill of the chase.” When researching the Bennett works, I also made phone contact with Bennett’s biobibliographer, George Ferencz. These first-hand contacts were thrilling for me and added to the excitement of the research and of the programming. Also, in the case of the Bennett works, I needed to obtain permission to perform them. This is often an important part of bringing to light some of these unique choral works and can often be a challenge in itself.  I’m sure there are people out there like me, who enjoy this kind of musical sleuthing and exploration; however, to be able to do the research, make the contacts, and eventually perform the works was exhilarating and was the ultimate. It takes time and effort and maybe even a passion. Among other reasons, this is what made MTS so special, i.e. to go beyond the usual choral works and uncover some choral gems that otherwise would not see the light of day.
 
Soon, I will look at other things that made what we did so special.