The Neubeuern miracle

For music lovers and connoisseurs the name Neubeuern is inseparably connected with the internationally celebrated choral society of that town. Both German and international press have commented on the achievements of this ensemble as "The Neubeuern phenomenon", "The Neubeuern miracle", "The authority on choral music". - One could go on quoting.

Under the direction of Enoch zu Guttenberg this group from Neubeuern was now known as, one could almost say fanatical interpreters of the works of J.S. Bach: the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion, the B minor mass, as ardent Mozart admirers and as musicians very much at home with Beethoven, Stravinsky and Verdi. And the more famous the Neubeuern Choral society became and the more international their venues, the greater was the danger of forgetting who they actually were and where they really came from. 
They were, and wished to remain singers of folk-music in the best sense of the word; a society grown out of numerous folk-music ensembles. They have never denied or broken from their origins. 

In Neubeurer Advent Singing, the diversity which is central to them becomes clear. The choir performs as one unit, but they open up to reveal in the Trio, three, four and five part singing, the whole spectrum of their talents.
But for all this, the aim of the Neubeurer Advent Singing is to convey more than just musical diversity. The choir presents a musical and at the same time theological programme. The story of the birth of Christ is related in both text and melody. Even the Passion,- the objective of the Holy Night, prevails. The old Bavarian carols reveal their poetry, their earthy, sometimes grim humour. But they also show the sombre gloomy side.

The Advent Singing, therefore is no mere choral excursion into a folksy idyll. It reveals the roots from which Neubeuern's approach to interpretation grew.