A concert of sorts

The pilgrim Knights and Dames of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem were treated Saturday morning to a powerful and beautiful concert in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran after a time of prayer for Pope Francis.

The music performed for us spanned the past five centuries and included liturgical pieces, devotional hymns, and even three Christmas carols.  The combination made for a most enjoyable time.

These first two videos are of the choirs who sang for us.  First we have Antonio Lotti's (1667-1740) Crucifixus as sung by the Coro Musicanova:

Here the Coro Eos sings Benamin Britten's (1913-1976) arrangement of This Little Babe:

N.B.: The following videos are of some of the songs sung for us, but not the two choirs who sang for us.

We also were treated to Sound the Trumpet by Henry Purcell (1659-1695):

Palestrina's (1525-1594) Gloria (ex Missa brevis) was also featured:

By far, the favorite piece of the Knights and Dames was a performance of Steve Dobrogosz's (1956-) Kyrie (beginning at 1:06):

My favorite was Britten's arrangement of Adam Lay i-bounden:

I think I may have to look into more of his music.

Other pieces were also performed, but this gives you a good idea of the beauty that filled our ears.

Incidentally, watching the conductor, with his great range of expressiveness, was almost as enjoyable as listening to the singing:

From watching him, if someone had never studied music and could not read a note of music, I think he could them to do exactly what he wanted by his gestures and expressions.