Consider The Lilies (from Real Gods)

I am still looking forward to the world premiere of the complete ‘Real Gods’! While ‘Real Gods I’ has been successfully performed and broadcast (in 1996 in Ljubliana, Slovenia by APZ Tone Tomsic and in 2001 in Auckland by Viva Voce), the much shorter and more lyrical ‘Real Gods II’ has had many more performances in its alternative form ‘Consider the Lilies’.

Unfortunately I have no recordings of ‘Real Gods I’ yet. But here are two very contrasting recordings of ‘Consider the Lilies’.

The first is from a fine performance in 2000 by the Orlando Singers conducted by Anita Banbury in the clean acoustic of the (wood panelled) First Church of Christ, Scientist in Auckland.

The second was recorded in the Congregational Church in Needham Massachusetts in 2002 by the Eastman Chorale, conducted by William Weinert. In this much slower version in a more resonant stone building, the choir was positioned around and outside the audience. Unfortunately the same factors that made this such a magical performance make for a rather unsatisfactory recording. However, by overlooking the vocal imbalance and the distracting audience noise, hopefully it will be possible to recreate the atmosphere.