Classical Music

[Ornelírë Mistë]

Hate to spam, but who is Georg Solti?

[Elfhelm]

Sir Georg, to us lowly unknighted folks... He's one of my favorite conductors. He lead the Chicago Symphony for a while and made them one of the best orchestras in the universe. I'm sure you can google for Sir Georg Solti and find a bio, but if you want our opinions, I vote yes for letting Sir Georg have some time with the baton in the great gig in the sky.

(((The Great Gig in the Sky, a Pink Floyd title, is my hope for the ultimate afterlife eternal fun get-together. We can assume Bach is still kapelmeister in heaven... see where I'm going with that? I hope to slip unobtrusively into the baritone section and I will try as hard as I can not to ask silly questions about certain notes that have been in dispute over the years...)))

[Ornelírë Mistë]

Ah yes, I know that song well. I hope I could join the viola section. I'm no good, but I try.

[jellyfishannah]

As for me, I can't really play any instrument (except some piano). I can sing! sorta....


Is anybody familiar with Rossini's Stabat Mater? Such a beautiful peice.

[Elfhelm]

Yes, it IS beautiful, in my opinion. I am sure they'll be taking requests in the Great Gig, so be sure to call this one out... but wait till I get there! I don't plan on leaving soon, y'know.

[hectorberlioz]

isnt Solti pronounced with an 'h' after that 's'? Sholti, right?

I'm gonna call for Dvorak's Stabat Mater . now that is an excellant piece.
oh no! wait, instead i'll call for the symphonie fantastique.

[Alqualaure]

Ah, well - I believe in Heaven we will all be able to sing like birds (or Pavarotti, as the case may be!)

Speaking of singing - by chance did anybody hear the World of Opera show on npr last Saturday? I missed the opera (Salome) while decorating the house, but afterward caught a touching tribute to Franco Corelli. He truly was a magnificent tenor.

Hector - yep, nasty case of the flu, ugh. No energy at all, very unpleasant!

Cheers!
Alqua

[hectorberlioz]

i've had the flu for a while now myself.
its pretty hard to sleep nowadays.
oh, well i better not get off topic to much....

[Elfhelm]

Trouble sleeping? Try the Goldberg Variations!

(How's that for a segue back onto topic?)

http://acoma-co.com/MP3/GBAriaexc.mp3

Pete

[hectorberlioz]

Oh relaxing music, good Idea...

I've been listening to Brahms. He composes such relaxing music....ahhhh....
I usually wouldnt listen to any the soft music if I was not sick.

[hectorberlioz]

what would you guys think if you one day found out i was a famous conductor?
in the future of course...

Bach, Beethoven, Brahms.
these are the three 'B's.

however, originally they were....

Bach
Beethoven
BERLIOZ!


ok, who changed it!?
show me the person! *starts punching imaginary person*

[jellyfishannah]

Originally posted by Elfhelm
Yes, it IS beautiful, in my opinion. I am sure they'll be taking requests in the Great Gig, so be sure to call this one out... but wait till I get there! I don't plan on leaving soon, y'know.

Hey! Well, I don't plan on it, either! Unless you know something I don't...*looks suspiciously at Elfhelm*

Originally posted by Hectorberlioz
ok, who changed it!? show me the person! *starts punching imaginary person*

OK, Ber. That's enough. We don't want anybody seriously injured now, do we?


Ahhh....Mozart's requiem. So glorious.....

[Hasty Ent]

Heard the most magnificent performance Sunday evening, "a program of cutting-edge modernism by the Chicago Chamber Musicians under Pierre Boulez." "...Edgard Varese, Elliott Carter, Anton Webern and Harrison Birtwistle, each of whom was represented by a landmark work. Their contrasting scores made up as rigorously difficult a program as could be imagined. Few groups would even have attempted it."

source

I'm still shivering with pleasure at the memory.

[Elfhelm]

Hasty Ent, the link is a subscription only link. Which Carter piece? Which Varese? Which which which. It's a pity Pierre didn't include one of his own works like Pli Selon Pli. I'm going to guess he went with Carter's Concerto for Orchestra. I won't even guess the Varese. I bet the percussion section was sweating bullets!!! And I think, by comparison with the other pieces, the Webern was probably the easiest. What did they do, Three Pieces?

oh duh... you said CHAMBER MUSICIANS!...

[Hasty Ent]

sorry about the bad link, here's the text (by the way, the two Webern pieces were heartbreakingly beautiful, absolutely transcendent):

Harris Theater up to conductor's challenge

By John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune music critic, Published December 16, 2003

It seemed fitting that the first concert of ensemble music to be given in the new Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance downtown on Sunday evening should be a program of cutting-edge modernism by the Chicago Chamber Musicians under Pierre Boulez.

What better music to explore the auditorium's sonic properties from a variety of perspectives? And who better to lead the exploration than one of modernism's most influential avatars, who has long been involved in the creation of performing spaces in which new music can thrive.

If the $52.7 million Harris Theater blithely thumbs its nose at tradition, so did the composers Edgard Varese, Elliott Carter, Anton Webern and Harrison Birtwistle, each of whom was represented by a landmark work. Their contrasting scores made up as rigorously difficult a program as could be imagined. Few groups would even have attempted it.

Thanks to the X-ray-like clarity and precision of Boulez's direction and the virtuoso skills of the CCM players and guests, however, the music spoke persuasively for itself.

The various ensembles were positioned deep within a wooden stage shell, and the aural evidence suggested the enclosure did its job just fine. I sampled the sound from seats in two locations, the first fairly close to the stage, the second roughly in the middle of the auditorium. The acoustics seemed uniformly good in both places.

The acid test of the hall's ability to convey the softest possible dynamics of a string quartet was Webern's Five Movements (1909) and Six Bagatelles (1913). The music's delicate wisps and sudden flurries of atonal sound, as played by members of the Chicago String Quartet and cellist Stephen Balderston, emerged with a clean, even startling immediacy.

At the other end of the sonic spectrum were the two large ensemble pieces, Varese's "Integrales" (1925) and Birtwistle's "Secret Theater" (1984). Both are scored for roughly the same number of players--15 winds, brass and percussion in the Varese, 14 strings, winds, brass, piano and percussion in the Birtwistle.

Under Boulez's steady, decisive hand, the eruptive blocks of sounds in "Integrales" took on a highly charged intensity that was echoed by the wordless drama of "Secret Theater."

The Birtwistle divides its cast into a seated Continuum group and a standing Cantus group, and various players move from one ensemble to the other. The music percolates with dense, florid instrumental activity that is always tightly controlled even when it sounds hectic. Piling many layers of rhythmic and metrical complexity on top of one another doesn't make it easy for the ear or mind to follow, but Boulez made doing so a challenging and bracing adventure.

The ever-productive Carter, who turned 95 last week, was represented by his song cycle, "A Mirror on Which to Dwell" (1975). These settings of six rather oblique poems by Elizabeth Bishop are framed by a busy web of splintery, often delicate instrumental gestures through which Valdine Anderson wove her bright, vibrant soprano. Fortunately, she had the accuracy and the high extension needed to nail the jaggedly leaping intervals. It was gratifying to see such a large, enthusiastic turnout for a tough contemporary program that refused to make concessions to audience members who might have sought more comforting sounds at holiday time. No "Jingle Bells" here, not even in an Elliott Carter arrangement.

[Elfhelm]

Wow, that had to be awesome.

I saw the premier of the Carter piece. It was given by a soprano who teaches voice at Eastman School of Music. But I bet Boulez found details that the music school orchestra didn't even know existed. The sung part is dang near impossible. I'm glad they found someone who can do it, and that you got to hear it.

I wonder if there will be a recording. I love Boulez's conducting, provided the piece is from the 20th century. I can go back as far as Debussy with him but no further. I don't think he understand the Romantics, but neither do I!

Similarly, I would love to hear what he finds in the Varese. It seems all the performances of that I've heard were mostly banging and clanging, but Boulez no doubt sees the math in Varese's approach, as well as the pathos.

I'm not familiar with Birtwhistle.

And I have the Boulez Complete Webern, so I can guess that the quartet was well coached. I haven't heard the Chicago String Quartet yet. It sounds like they impressed the reviewer. Are they principals from the orchestra? I think Chicago's string section is one of the top five in the country (and your brass section is the best in the hemisphere!)

[Hasty Ent]

Yeah... it blew my mind all right.

The CSO is not what it was under Solti (I was privileged to see him conduct a few times) but it's still pretty good. I rarely attend the regular CSO performances, but instead I subscribe to a series called Music Now: http://www.cso.org/sat_musicnow.taf

One of the cellists, Katinka Kleijn, turned me on to it. It's proven to be far more successful than anyone anticipated. The first few years they used a rehearsal space called Buntrock Hall, but due to the enthusiastic response, they're now in Symphony Center itself. Nice to know there's a growing audience in Chicago for new music!

I miss going to the opera. I had a subscription to the Lyric for almost 10 years, but finally gave it up this year. Under Ardis Krainik they were truly progressive, but since her death they have abandoned that direction. Now it's just Verdi/Rossini etc ad infinitum (and old productions, too, to boot) with some pitiful musical trotted out as their "contemporary" production. I have fond memories of Wozzeck, LuLu, Satyagraha, and a particularly interesting Tannhaueser produced by Peter Sellars. Ah well....

[Elfhelm]

Perhaps you were a little hasty in your assessment of the direction the LO is going, hehehehe.

I was distressed to hear it because the LO broadcasts make such a great counterpoint to the Met broadcasts and a season of Met imitation would have been a bore. So I went to their site and they are not doing anything by either Verdi or Rossini this season. Admittedly, sticking a G&S in there is a bit, ermmm, odd, but it IS the "Lyric" after all.

And next season they are doing the entire Ring Cycle! Wouldn't that be great? If I lived there I would be saving my pennies!

As to what you lose with Solti's death (and we all lost him) versus what you gain from bringing in Boulez... I don't know. There is a part of me that wants the best of both worlds, but when someone does that, it comes off like Bernstein, so... I guess one or the other gets you the best quality for some things. Maybe another great Mahler conductor will come along for ya. At least you get awesome guest conductors. And you don't have to put up with Szell anymore.

[Hasty Ent]

And we have Barenboim!

Ahhhh....the Ring cycle... I saw it last time around. It was f**king amazing! Aerialists and acrobats... I may scrounge for tix again, but if I'm going to see a live performance, I want to see and hear something I haven't seen or heard before. *shrug*

As for Pirates of Penzance.... that was the proverbial straw. I thought Sweeney Todd was as low as they could go, but apparently I was wrong. What do you suppose will be their contemporary production next year? Cats? LOL

[Elfhelm]

Aaaaaahhhh! I see! Yeah, that would stick in my craw, too. Maybe it's a money thing, you know, like theatrical companies doing A Christmas Carol when the funds start to run out. Hopefully it will be a unique occurence of taste loss. hehe