new constellations: Marienvespers

I wanted to post about my favorite concert from the first half of my time in Vienna. It was the Monteverdi Marienvespers, performed by Concentus Musicus conducted by Nicholas Harnarncourt with the Schoenberg Choir, a boys choir, and the singers of the Vienna Hofburgkapelle (they sang the psalms in between movements).
I bought myself a ticket to be my reward of sorts for getting through my crazy week of six concerts sick as a dog. Sunday evening, after napping to recover from a long, cold chamber singers concert that afternoon, I got dolled up again and headed over to the Musikverein. I love the Handel and Haydn Society's Messiah at the Boston Symphony every year, but nothing could quite compare to this concert.
For more background information about the text of this piece, check this out.

One of the coolest aspects of this performance was the staging. There were five soloists, and they were constantly moving for different movements. The first appearance of the female soloists was up in the balcony, stage right, singing down to the audience. For the Duo Seraphinem, they had one soloist in the balcony stage right, the other down below him, and the third that sings near the end of the piece on the ground way stage left. The effect was amazing.

The next day in my opera class I had a long conversation with all of the older people who are taking this class for fun about it, and felt very sophisticated. We all agreed that it was an outstanding performance, that Harnarncourt is a genius, and that we now felt prepared for Christmas to come.