In 1989 I, along with many other singers and conductors from across the United States, had the privilege of gathering together in Souillac, France, for three weeks of intense choral study, preparation, performances, and recordings under the legendary choral giant Robert Shaw. After he retired as conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the idea of establishing a summer institute in France, where he had a home, came to fruition.
France was close to Mrs. Shaw’s heart, as she had pursued some of her education in Paris, so the prospect of having a home in France was very important to both of them, a summer place of refuge from the rigors of his musical life during the regular season. The Quercy region, which is where their home was located, had numerous Romanesque abbeys and churches that are inspiring places to make music. It was only fitting that a summer festival be established there, where young singers and conductors could be formed and grow in the choral art through preparing, performing, and recording great choral works, as well as to keep Mr. Shaw busy. Mr. Shaw saw this as an opportunity for him to revisit works that were a part of the repertoire of the Robert Shaw Chorale during the 1950s and 1960s, as well as an opportunity for him to explore works he didn’t yet know.
The first year that I was a part of the Institute was 1989, which was the second year that the Institute was in existence. (I participated in four of the six Institutes.) The repertoire in 1989 was in three separate programs: the first, works from the Renaissance and early Baroque, including compositions by Tallis, Lassus, and Schütz; the second, the Rachmaninov Vespers (All-Night Vigil, Op. 37); and the third, works by Poulenc, including his Mass and the Lenten and Christmas motets.
I was a young basso profundo/oktavist, only 34 years of age, and my voice was just then entering its young maturity. I missed out on auditioning for the ensemble, as I was on a six-month study trip abroad during that time. When I first heard about the Institute, I actually thought that I would never have a chance of being a part of this ensemble. Upon my return in the spring, however, I received a phone call from the Institute office saying that Mr. Shaw was not yet happy with the bottom end of the bass section—a section that in the Rachmaninov was of particularly great importance. “Just send a cassette recording singing from your mid-range to the bottom,” was their request, and not to worry about singing the solo repertoire that was a part of the audition. I sent my cassette.
So I went to France that summer, anxious and nervous, knowing that all of us were singing for the man who was the singular giant of twentieth-century American choral music. Our ears and souls were about to be changed forever. Mr. Shaw heard each and every one of us individually upon our arrival in Souillac at the Lycee, our home for the next three weeks. I was scared to death when it was my turn to enter the audition room (certainly everyone who had never sung for him before was just as terrified) where it was just Mr. Shaw, myself, and one of his associates.
Mr. Shaw sat at the piano, and after the initial introduction had me sing descending five-note scales starting in the middle of my voice and working down to the bottom. As we began to enter the range below the bass staff, I simply could not look at him, as the lower I went the more he chuckled. When we got to the low B-flat (the note that had to be rock solid in the fifth movement of the Rachmaninov) he laughed, stood up, and said, “Brother Miller, we can now do the piece,” and gave me a bear hug. That moment is forever etched in my brain and being, and with that my professional life as a singer was set on its course.
We sang two concerts of the Vespers that summer, and I will never, ever forget how the audiences were totally transfixed the entire time, not moving a muscle from the first downbeat to the final cut-off. We all knew this was truly a mountaintop experience of a lifetime that will never be surpassed.
We went on to make a recording that remains one of the greatest recordings of this work ever made, inspiring generations of choral singers and conductors and people in general because of the sheer beauty of the sound, even though it is truly an American and not a Russian sound.
I’ve sung countless performances of the Vespers since then and have made four other recordings, all fine on their own merits. But the Shaw recording stands out simply because of its sound, its pacing, its spaciousness, and its eloquence, which can only really be attained when one is in the stage of their life when they are keenly aware of their mortality. Many, many young aspiring choral conductors (many of whom are now well-established) have said to me that this recording was the reason they chose their career path. I’ve heard from numerous people how this recording got them through major life events, from difficult childbirths to the moment when a soul departs this life. Mrs. Shaw herself passed away as they played it over and over while keeping vigil by her bedside. I believe Mr. Shaw once said that of all his recordings this one was “The One.” I have a picture of him in his studio in France listening to this recording, motionless, lost in another world—a reminder of the holy ground we were chosen to share.
I owe my entire career as a professional choral singer to him. There is never a performance that I sing of the Vespers, or any other major Russian Orthodox choral work, when my mind’s eye and soul are not taken back to the summer in France that determined the course of my life. I will always see the light shining on his face when we reached the climatic moment in the “Bogoroditse.” It was The Transfiguration.
Thank you, Mr. Shaw. I’m looking forward to singing this work with you in heaven.
Biography
Glenn Miller is a renowned American choral oktavist, who has performed, toured, and recorded extensively with many ensembles, including the Robert Shaw Festival Singers, the Choir of Men and Boys of St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, Conspirare, Clarion, Skylark, Cappella Romana, the Yale Choral Artists, the St. Tikhon’s Chamber Choir, and the Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral, London.