At the beginning, the stage is completely empty except for the conductor; the solo baritone is placed on the balcony with the three boy soloists on the opposite side. The baritone begins alone with a rhapsodic melody on a Hebrew text and is answered in antiphon by the three boys. This theme is varied in eight vocal and instrumental movements, which expand from intimate moments of chamber music to full and powerful sonorities with the entire ensemble. More and more singers and instrumentalists progressively enter the stage until the final amen apotheosis when the entire hall is filled with music and performers, thereby inhabiting and consecrating the space. Stefan Heucke