After Adolphus Hailstork's brilliantly layered Fanfare on Amazing Grace comes a prayer in music by Ludwig von Beethoven, expressing his gratitude upon recovering from a painful illness. Conductor Andrew Koehler, who transcribed the Beethoven from the original version for string quartet, tells Cara Lieurance about "Transcendence," a concert at 7:30 pm on Saturday, Nov. 13 in the Dalton Theatre at Kalamazoo College.
Ethel Smyth's 1906 Overture to The Wreckers brings both swashbuckling mayhem and religious devotion. The opera's story is set in Cornwall in a pious community dependent on salvaging the cargo of shipwrecks. They've turned to deliberately leading ships onto rocks and ensuring there are no survivors.
The closing work is the Symphony No. 3, "Sinfonia espansiva," by Danish composer Carl Nielsen. It's filled with passion, humor, surprises, and even a celestial vision - all qualities that merge with the idea of transcendence.
