David Lang at Northwestern: The Little Match Girl Passion

In need of an aural lobotomy to expunge saccharine holiday music overload? David Lang's devastating setting of Hans Christian Andersen's tale of child death should do it. The Little Match Girl Passion snagged Lang a well-deserved Pulitzer, and the piece remains one of the composer's most exquisite and melancholy. The Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble has its work cut out for it with the score's delicate balances and spiraling lines, but the ultra-wet acoustic of Alice Millar Chapel is an ideal setting for this haunting music. Fans will be happy to hear that Lang will be on hand at the show to introduce his work, and in an inspired bit of programming on the part of the ensemble, Antoine Brumel's Missa et ecce terrae motus provides a Renaissance complement to the evening.