Most conductors would want a year’s worth of rehearsals, minimum, to take on Bach’s Mass in B Minor, said José Daniel Flores-Caraballo, conductor and artistic director of Albany Pro Musica, during a rehearsal break.
“This is the kind of work that a professional group fears because of the intensity, the high demands,” he said.
But Flores-Caraballo is not like most conductors, nor is Albany Pro Musica like most community choirs. The 70 singers are tackling Bach’s Mass in only eight rehearsals, only one with the musicians (a few workshops early in the season introduced them to the tome-like score). Sure, there are sections Flores-Caraballo considered tweaking to make them easier, but he decided not to. Challenge is part of his ethos.
“Why keep it simple if you could complicate it?” Flores-Caraballo told the choir, with a smile, during a recent rehearsal at the University at Albany.
