Sandström’s “Messiah”

Recent adventures with SDG included a meeting with John Evans, President and Executive Director of the Oregon Bach Festival. My contact with Mr. Evans and his counterpart at the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, Christian Lorenz, has fixed my attention on something very special taking place this summer in Oregon. On July 9, the world will welcome a major new work of sacred music by Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström, jointly commissioned by the Oregon Bach Festival and the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the death of George Frideric Handel. But this is not merely a commission in honor of Handel. Imagine being asked to rewrite Handel’s most famous work, Messiah. That’s exactly the challenge put before Mr. Sandström, and, amazingly, he accepted! Not only that, I learned last week that Sandström completed work on the piece three months before it was due! Believe me, early completion on a work of this scale is a rarity in the business of new music—brings to mind the legendary speed with which Handel composed the original Messiah! Sandström’s new piece sets the very same libretto that inspired Handel’s iconic masterpiece. Here’s a bit of promo from the festival:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NCqudXzGt8

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I plan to be at the Oregon Bach Festival in July to take in this historical moment. My excitement is sparked in part by hearing a bit of Sandström’s music, specifically his Magnificat, an excerpt of which is featured in the video above. Seldom does a piece of music grip me as quickly and deeply as this little fragment has managed to do already! I searched the web in vain this morning looking for a complete recording of the Magnificat. The closest thing I could find was a 2-minute mp3 file available for download on the Oregon Bach Festival’s website (click here to visit the page).

Congratulations and thanks are owed to Maestro Helmut Rilling and his colleagues for their vision and bravery in fostering this new work. What a pleasure it will be to join in welcoming it into the world!