Mormon Tabernacle Choir excels in pioneer tribute

It's not always easy to condense 100 years of history into an hour-and-a-half. But the Mormon Tabernacle Choir did just that at its annual Pioneer Day Concert on Friday night.

With glorious music, spoken word and video clips, it did it in a way that not only highlighted significant periods and achievements but also captured the spirit of the choir's own mission and purpose to uplift and inspire.

The choir is celebrating 100 years of recording history — and all of the pioneers in the field who came before them.

"One word flowed through my mind throughout this concert," LDS President Thomas S. Monson said in brief remarks at the end. "That word is wonderful — wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. We are richly blessed by this choir and orchestra, which stands shoulder-to-shoulder with choirs above in singing praises to a just God."

President Monson commented on the choir's spirit and worldwide presence. "There is no way to measure all the lives that have been touched and the hearts that have been uplifted," he said. "Praise to our music pioneers."

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has been on the cutting edge for 100 years, said choir president Mac Christensen. "Few music groups can claim such a legacy."

That legacy became clear throughout the evening. With video clips to set the stage, the story began in 1910, with the very first recording "on a wax disc that was kept warm by a lightbulb," choir director Mack Wilberg noted. That first recording was "Let the Mountains Shout For Joy." As the original recording blended into modern-day sound, it was easy to see where the choir had started and where it has come.

There were other stories of other recording sessions, other milestones reached. The choir participated in the first demonstration of stereophonic sound, it sang for the first trans-Altantic satellite broadcast, it recorded for early movie soundtracks and documentaries.

Its repertoire has always included the gamut: classical works, hymns and spiritual music, songs from the theater and patriotic favorites. That depth and breadth was evident in numbers presented by the choir, including Gounod's "Unfold, Ye Portals," Jerome Kern's "Look for the Silver Lining" and Richard Rodgers' "Climb Ev'ry Mountain."

Two of the choir's signature pieces, "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (which won a Grammy) and "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's "Messiah" were show-stoppers, as were the choir's international-flavored "Betelehemu," a Nigerian carol; and "Amazing Grace," complete with bagpipers from the Wasatch & District Pipe Band.

That international impact was also noted by the choir's general manager, Scott Barrick, who talked about how the choir is moving into the digital age with its own Facebook page and how the place with the second number of page hits is Santiago, Chile.

Tribute was paid to the Tabernacle Organ with a rousing "Festival Toccata on Saint Anne." There were messages from past choir directors and announcers and clips of choir performances with some of the world's great musicians: Bryn Terfel, Renee Fleming, Sissel, The King's Singers.

The choir marks not only a century of recording but a century of excellence, as well. Its determination to be the best under any given circumstances clearly prove the choir deserves its place aside the others who broke new ground, created what we have today as "blessed, honored pioneers."

e-mail: carma@desnews.com