Concert at the Basilica

On February 11th the Choir remembered the Pope with music by Mendelssohn, Reger and Brahms.
“Città di Desio”, homage in notes for Pope Pius XI.

Saturday February 11th was the 77th anniversary of the Patti Lateranensi (February 11th 1929), of which Pope Ratti was the real author. For the occasion the study-day “Pius XI and his time” ended in the evening, at the Basilica, with the Recital “Kirchenmusik” (Church Music), proposed for the occasion by Maestro Enrico Balestreri, in which the protagonists were the Choir “Città di Desio” and the organist Maestro Giorgio Parolini. In the program pieces across the Classic and Romantic periods, by F. Mendelssohn, M. Reger and J. Brahms. During the presentation Maestro Balestreri dwelled upon the three composers “who teached composing a repertory suitable to set the words of the Psalm to music”. “Austere music, music of high relief” was Maestro Adolfo d’Aniello’s comment, visibly fascinated by the interpretations. Marvellous was the organist Giorgio Parolini, who accepted the difficult challenge of the scores (Balestreri emphasized that in some of the pages played, the area of the black of the notes on the staff exceeds the void of the white), succeding in expressing the assurance of his exceptional technique. Particularly in M. Reger’s Fantasy and Fugue on “Halleluja! Gott zu loben” Op.52, the organist undertook on the interpretation of the music of the German Maestro with amazing play of timbres and sounds. So we had the impression of the music coming from the universe, from the sky and pouring over the audience. Just so. As for him, Maestro Enrico Balestreri, with the choir he conducted, who brings the name of our city, has reached sublime levels: in spite of the difficulty of the comprehension of the language (all the pieces were in German) he knew how to charm, because a moment of rapture was enough to lose the thread. At the end of the concert a vigorous applause sealed the success which repeated the one of Haendel’s “Messiah” some weeks ago. The performance of last Saturday came ahead of the début of the choir “Città di Desio” at Monza Cathedral, always under Maestro Enrico Balestreri’s direction, scheduled on March 31st. In program an engaging masterpiece: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Requiem”.

U.S. (« Il Cittadino »)