Dom

There is a highlight once a year when It comes to concert : the Christmas concert by Rundfunkchor Berlin at the Dom. In German, Weihnachtskonzert, Berliner Dom. It is sacred music so we know the mood of the season will be fantastic. The one last year was absolutly fabulous (there is the recording on a previous post) but I'm still searching for one for this year's concert. It is planned to start at 8:00 p.m. but we know we are allowed a few minutes late because It is broadcasted live on German radio, after the news. Then silence comes and all stands still. We can, because we come from outside so we don't feel too much the cold of inside the cathedral yet. The Berliner Dom or Berlin Cathedral was built between 1895 and 1905. It faces the Lustgarten and the Berliner Stadtschloss (Berlin City Palace), soon rebuilt at the place of the Palaz der Republik, former DDR parliament, being destroyed at this very time. The first church built near here in 1465 was the court chapel for the Hohenzollern family within the castle complex. Later the church of the Dominican Order (Schwarze Brüder), located at the south side of the castle, was used as the first cathedral. The first church at this site was a baroque cathedral by Johann Boumann, which was completed in 1747 and in 1822, it was remodelled in the neoclassicist style by the Berlin architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The choir arrives from the right side and once in the center dispatches itself in four parts, front, rear, both sides. The conductor arrives and then it starts. Meaning you don't have the sound in stereo, but in quadriphonie. Amazing. Although the programm this year was very strong, It might have been maybe too difficult for us to follow sometimes. Last year, there was less difficulties but more emotion. I guess the children choir made a difference as well. This year was more intimate. Maybe the public was not as receptive (you know ...) as last year neither. We had this conversation with a friend and we thought the same. Nevertheless, high quality and a lot of pleasure. Always a must.