Mormon Tabernacle Choir touring Midwest

Last night the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed in Kansas City, their
fifth city on a seven city tour of the Midwest United States. They
perform Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma and then next week in Denver
before returning home to Salt Lake City. http://www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/

I heard the Tabernacle Choir live for the first time forty-one years
ago when I attended my first General Conference of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. I've attended their concerts and
broadcasts on Temple Square in Salt Lake City numerous times since
then and in 2005 I heard the choir on tour in Boise, Idaho. Their
Sunday morning CBS broadcast (now in its 80th year) focuses mainly on
sacred music. These tours (like last night's concert) combine the
sacred and secular in a mix of music that will suit most everyone's
taste.

Ten years ago the Mormon Tabernacle Choir began performing with the
Orchestra at Temple Square. On previous tours and previous occasions
the choir might have joined with other orchestras for one or two
concerts. However, this is a permanent situation. Although the
product is excellent, I think the arrangement has changed the nature
of the choir presentation. At times the orchestra takes over and
becomes the dominant feature, dwarfing the choir. For example, when
the music reached a crescendo in last night's presentation, the force
of the orchestra dominated the choir, so at times they could barely be
heard. Nothing is more beautiful as when the voices in a choir show
true range and flexibility as was demonstrated on several of their
pieces last night which were sung acappella such as "Rock-a-My Soul."
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic," their signature number, was weak
in comparison because the orchestra overshadowed the choir.

This problem may have been increased because we sat on the top row in
the back of the Sprint Center in Kansas City. The Sprint Center seems
to have acoustical problems. We had to rely on a poor public address
system rather than hearing the true sounds of the choir and orchestra.
My experience in Boise was much better, probably because the venue at
Boise State University was smaller and we sat closer to the choir and
musicians.