Berlioz: Te Deum, Op. 22

For this performance, which was captured live in this recording, the Voices of Ascension were augmented up to a total of 140 of New York's finest professional singers, probably the largest all-professional chorus that has ever sung this work. Another 140 members of The Young Voices of Pennsylvania sang the children's chorus part. There was an orchestra of over 100 players, including a double number of winds and brass, and four pairs of cymbals and military field drums. Tenor John Aler was the vocal soloist, and Mark Kruczek was at the great Aeolian-Skinner organ at St. John the Divine. Berlioz's requirement of a vast performing space was certainly met on this occasion. The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City is the largest Gothic space in the world. It is so vast, in fact, that a fortissimo orchestra or organ chord will reverberate in the cathedral for several seconds, even when the cathedral is packed with thousands and thousands of people, as it was the night of the concert.