Gurrelieder reviews

I don’t always go back and gather links to the reviews of concerts that I’m in, but it’s a habit that I’m trying to get into. Not because I’m egocentric (though as e.e.cummings once wrote, I have yet to run into a peripherally situated ego), but because for years I sang in groups that didn’t get reviewed and I’m trying to make up for lost time.

This time the first review I saw was Sunday’s Albany Times-Union story, which was Page 1. The New York Times and Boston Globe reviews followed yesterday. Mercifully, all three avoided the temptation to use the common review of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, “as usual, the chorus sang superbly and from memory.”

  • Albany Times-Union: Cantata by BSO, singers classy: “The huge male chorus (and the women when called upon) sang superbly, especially in the “Wild Hunt” section. By the time, the final chorus to the sun rang out, the music of “Gurrelieder” was anything but ugly or boring.”
  • New York Times: At Tanglewood, James Levine Transforms Students Into Pros (about both the Gurrelieder and the following night’s Strauss Elektra performance): “Even in the orchestral prelude, which evokes the natural world with plangent harmonies, glowing strings and twittering woodwinds, Mr. Levine paid heed to the harmonically restless bass lines, glints of dissonance and ominous stirrings amid the musical bliss. The orchestral and choral textures are often daringly thick in this music. Schoenberg had to manufacture special manuscript paper with 48 staffs to notate the work. (That oversize manuscript is on display this summer at the Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan.) Yet though the textures are dense, they are never gloppy. In a good performance all the inner voices and details should come through, and this performance was superb. The Boston Symphony continues to sound like one of the glorious ensembles of the world under Mr. Levine. He was joined by the impressive Tanglewood Festival Chorus and some noted vocal colleagues from the opera world.”
  • Boston Globe: BSO’s ‘Gurrelieder’ is luminous, heartfelt: “The men of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus really pumped out the sound in their demanding music. The work is a favorite of Levine’s; he knows how it works and how to make it work. The orchestra responded to the conductor and to the challenges of the music with playing that told the story and bathed it in an ardent glow.”
  • The Patriot Ledger: CONCERT REVIEW: Levine carries off grueling task with a flourish: James Levine is definitely back. Just a week after his return to the podium after months-long recovery from a fall and rotator cuff surgery, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s music director led thrilling back-to-back performances of two blockbuster scores during the weekend at Tanglewood, a daunting feat for any conductor… orchestra and chorus sounded glorious in this opulently orchestrated score richly depicting nature and a vast range of human emotions. The love theme bloomed with memorable depth and sheen, while the Wild Hunt with the ricocheting men’s chorus sounded frighteningly unleashed. The mixed chorus made the concluding sunrise a stunning soundburst.
  • Berkshire Eagle: Unforgettable Schoenberg: “John Oliver’s festival chorus — and especially the men, who sang in three antiphonal groups and carried most of the choral burden — wakened heaven and earth with its outcries and murmurs. But perhaps the real star of the performance was the BSO, which, under Levine’s knowing ministrations, took a narrator’s role of its own and delivered it in sonic splendor. The delicate opening invocation to nature, the shouts of passion, the eerie rumblings and seethings: All told a tale of undying love.”

Friday Random 10: Is it Saturday yet?

I knew that my residency in the Berkshires was no vacation, but between rehearsals, calls for work, the concert tonight, and driving home afterwards (ETA: 1:30 am), I’m gonna be dead tired. So here’s to the Friday Random 10, which is hopefully going to do its job and take my mind off the next twelve hours:

  1. Smashing Pumpkins, “Stumbleine” (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness)
  2. Nada Surf, “Concrete Bed” (The Weight is a Gift)
  3. Dead Can Dance, “Song of the Nile” (Spirit Chaser)
  4. Hank Williams, Sr., “Hey, Good Looking’”
  5. Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, “Leap Frog (alt tk)” (Bird and Diz)
  6. Wynton Marsalis Septet, “Marthaniel” (Citi Movement)
  7. Wynton Marsalis Septet, “Spring Yaound&eacute” (Citi Movement)
  8. Elvis Costello and the Attractions, “13 Steps Lead Down” (Brutal Youth)
  9. London Chamber Orchestra (James MacMillan, composer), “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” (MacMillan: Seven Last Words)
  10. Radiohead, “Faithless the Wonder Boy” (Anyone Can Play Guitar [single])

Pictures from Tanglewood

chamber music hall, inside and out

Just posted a new set of photos from the Tanglewood grounds from the last few days of rehearsal for Gurrelieder. Hopefully it will stop raining soon and tomorrow’s will be a bit brighter.

Many of these photos were taken in the formal gardens on the Tanglewood grounds, which are well hidden near the theatre building and seem a bit forgotten (though the hedges are cleanly clipped, they’ve grown to the point of beginning to obscure some pathways).

Incidentally, the photo to the right may help provide some context for why Maestro Levine had difficulty being heard over the rain. Imagine him sitting just inside the building near the open side, with a 120-voice men’s chorus facing him; then imagine a torrential downpour on the outside.

Après moi, le déluge

It’s not a promising start when you’re standing in the second row of singers and you can barely hear James Levine’s comments over the pounding rain.

To back up: I’m at Tanglewood this week, and we’re up to our eyeballs in water as we prepare for the Gurrelieder performance on Friday. So far it’s playing out weatherwise like a replay of last year, though I feel much more part of the group this time around. (It helps that I already know the music too.)

Hopefully it will dry off soon. Then I can relax and enjoy myself a little.

Remembering Lorraine Hunt Lieberson

Boston.com: Obituary: Lorraine Hunt Lieberson; her luminous voice lifted Boston Symphony Orchestra, transported listener. I had the rare privilege of singing in the chorus behind Ms. Hunt Lieberson during the Gurrelieder this spring. She stole the show, quietly stepping on stage during the tenor’s penultimate aria in the first half to announce the downfall of his love and set the stage for the rest of the action.

I got word this weekend that our performance of the Gurrelieder on Friday at Tanglewood will be prefaced by the fourth movement from the Brahms Requiem, “Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen” (known in many churches by its English title, “How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place”). We rehearsed it last night on stage and chills went up my spine. I can’t think of a more appropriate tribute for an artist who moved so many lives with her voice.

Friday Random 10: Tanglewood Kickoff

Lisa and I took today off and we’re heading out in a little while to see the new, improved James Levine leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the opening concert at Tanglewood. Should be fun. In his honor, I’m bending the rules a little and doing a shuffle of all-classical tracks—not that they’ll be all-orchestral, given how my collection goes.

  1. Dieter Goldmann (Frederic Chopin, composer), “Nocturnes Op. 27/2 Des-Dur” (Masters’ Classic: Chopin #2)
  2. Hilliard Ensemble (William Byrd, composer), “Mass for Four Voices: V. Agnus Dei” (Masses for 3, 4 & 5 Voices)
  3. The Sixteen (François Poulenc, composer), “Un soir de neige, II” (Chansons francaises)
  4. Peter Schickele and the New York Pick-Up Ensemble (P.D.Q. Bach, composer), “II. Andante alighieri” (Concerto for Two Pianos vs. Orchestra, S. 2) (Two Pianos are Better Than One)
  5. Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (Franz Liszt, composer), “Les Préludes, S 637” (Liszt: Les Préludes, Hungarian Rhapsody)
  6. Hilliard Ensemble (Carlo Gesualdo, composer), “In II Nocturno, Responsorium 2” (Gesualdo: Tenebrae)
  7. Hilliard Ensemble, “Three songs of St. Godric: Crist and Sainte Marie“ (Sumer is icumen in (Chants médiévaux anglais))
  8. Steven Drury (John Cage, composer), “Suite for Toy Piano” (In a Landscape)
  9. Les Violons du Roy (J. S. Bach, composer), “Sinfonia” from the Peasant Cantata, BWV 212 (Bach: Secular Cantatas)
  10. Theatre of Voices/Paul Hillier, “Sangilio (Organ Solo)” (Hoquetus)

Friday Random 10: Big day edition

A big day indeed: it’s finally sunny (cause for celebration in and of itself), it’ Friday, it’s the end of the quarter, and we’re about halfway through the year. Our company shipped some major products this week, though for various reasons the press release won’t be out until the second week of July. And I have some other news that will have to wait until Monday, for various reasons.

In the meantime, it’s a good sort of day to sit down and shuffle through the iPod and see what comes up:

  1. Bob Dylan, “Hurricane,” (Desire)
  2. TartanPodcast, “Sleepy Sunday Show #10”
  3. Moby, “Memory Gospel,” (Play: The B Sides)
  4. Eva Cassidy, “Songbird,” (Eva By Heart)
  5. M. Ward, “Oh Take Me Back,” (Transistor Radio)
  6. Neko Case, “Knock Loud” (Fields and Streams compilation)
  7. Robert Shaw Festival Singers (Arnold Schoenberg, composer), “Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth), Op. 13” (Evocation of the Spirit)
  8. John Coltrane, “Blue Trane (alternate take),” (Blue Trane)
  9. Clem Snide, “Moment In The Sun” (The Ghost of Fashion)
  10. The Stills, “Love and Death” (Logic Will Break Your Heart)

MusicThing?

I think Last.fm wants to be for music what LibraryThing is for books. Because it’s track and playcount focused, it’s a different experience. But I think if it could give me a similarity list for the contents of my library, it would probably turn up my Seattle friend Tom Harpel, on the basis of his recent Favorite Records list. Thanks for the listening suggestions—I’ll have to check the thirteen albums on the list that aren’t already in my library.

Friday Random 10: Oh thank god edition

I can honestly say I’ve never been so glad to get to the end of a week as I am today. Of course it’s not over; I have a stack of calls and meetings this afternoon. But as I look at the window in my new office at work I can already feel my blood pressure dropping. Bring it on, rainy weekend! I pwn j00z!

  1. Mitch Hedberg, “Candy Bars” (Mitch All Together)
  2. Beth Orton, “Absinthe” (Comfort of Strangers)
  3. They Might Be Giants, “Narrow Your Eyes” (Apollo 18)
  4. Brodsky Quartet (George Crumb, composer), “Black Angels I: Absence: Threnody II. Black Angels (Tutti)” (Death and the Maiden)
  5. Choir of Trinity College, “Gloria sei dir. v. 3” (In Dulci Jubilo)
  6. Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny, “Message to a Friend” (Beyond the Missouri Sky)
  7. Luscious Jackson, “Under Your Skin” (Fever In Fever Out)
  8. Sufjan Stevens, “Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois” (Illinoise)
  9. The Velvet Underground, “White Light/White Heat” (White Light/White Heat)
  10. The MDH Band, “Satellite of Love (reprise)” (The Million Dollar Hotel)

Misson of Burma in the Berkshires

Hat tip to reader Kate, the blogging intern at MASS MoCA, who commented on a recent post that unfrozen rockers Mission of Burma will be playing a gig at MassMoCA on Saturday, July 1:

Mission of Burma has an upcoming show you may want to check out. It’s at MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), Saturday July 1 at 8:00 pm. It will be outdoors in Courtyard C if the weather permits, otherwise in the Hunter Center. Tickets are $22 advance, $26 day of show.

If you’re not familiar with MASS MoCA, it’s in North Adams, in northern Berkshire County. Directions are available on our website at www.massmoca.org.

Tickets may be purchased online or by calling the box office, (413) 662-2111.

Normally I don’t really post commercial advertisements in this space, but hey, it’s Burma. Thanks to Kate for the info.

Friday Random 10: Sir Nose edition

So I get all jazzed up about Funkadelic and what does the iPod turn out for the Friday Random 10? With two exceptions, the most unfunky collection of tracks that never moved a booty. Somewhere Sir Nose is laughing. At least Gil Scott-Heron and the Felaesque Talking Heads track are holding him at bay.

  1. The Mendoza Line, “Throw It In the Fire” (Fortune)
  2. Gil Scott-Heron, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” (Evolution (And Flashback))
  3. Gemma Hayes, “Day One” (Night On My Side)
  4. Brodsky Quartet (Dmitri Shostakovich, composer), “String Quartet No. 12 in D flat Major: I. Moderato” (Shostakovich: String Quartets 11, 12, 13)
  5. Talking Heads, “Double Groove (unfinished outtake)” (Remain in Light)
  6. Paul Westerberg, “Looking Up in Heaven” (The Wired Cd)
  7. Robert Shaw Chorale, “Medley: Good Christian Men, Rejoice; Silent Night; Patapan; O Come, All Ye Faithful” (A Festival of Carols)
  8. Dave Brubeck Quartet, “Pick Up Sticks” (Time Out)
  9. R.E.M., “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” (Monster)
  10. My Computer, “Hole in the Road”

Standing on the verge of downloading

As if eMusic’s value proposition wasn’t already compelling (subscription prices as low as $0.22 a track, DRM-free 192bps MP3 downloads, a wide catalog of jazz, indie rock, and classical offerings), there’s now an even more compelling reason: many of the classic Funkadelic recordings on the Westbound label are now available for download from eMusic.

That includes the absolute masterpiece Maggot Brain, the fine self-titled album, the political party album America Eats Its Young, and the finest album title ever, Standing on the Verge of Getting It On, which features some really tasty Eddie Hazel guitar work as well as the stone classic “Jimmy’s Got a Little Bit of Bitch in Him.” Missing are Funkadelic’s earlier classic “Free Your Mind…And Your Ass Will Follow,” and the late “One Nation Under a Groove,” “The Electric Spanking of War Babies” and “Uncle Jam Wants You.”

There’s a lot to explore in what is there, though. Standing on the Verge and Maggot Brain alone should keep me occupied for weeks. Now if y’all will excuse me, I need to free my mind.

Friday Random 10: Not on a damned plane edition

I can’t stop grinning. This may be because I arrived home after 2 am this morning because of delays flying back from my business trip in Milwaukee and therefore am operating on a massive sleep deficit. But it may also be because of the juxtaposition of “Hey Ya!”, “Word Up” and “The Rubbers Song.” Heh.

  1. Louis Armstrong, “2:19 Blues” (Louis Armstrong of New Orleans)
  2. Elvis Costello, “You Turned to Me” (North)
  3. Neko Case, “Knock Loud” (Canadian Amp)
  4. Shannon Worrell, “Jefferson’s Lament” (The Moviegoer)
  5. Neko Case, “Things That Scare Me” (Blacklisted)
  6. Cameo, “Word Up” (Word Up!)
  7. OutKast, “Hey Ya! (Radio Mix)” (The Way You Move/Hey Ya! [single])
  8. New York Chamber Symphony, Gerard Schwarz (Richard Strauss, composer), “V. Le Trophée” (from Divertimento (after Couperin) (Schoenberg: String Quartet Concerto/Strauss: Divertimento)
  9. The Postal Service, “Against All Odds” (Against All Odds [single])
  10. The Pharcyde, “The Rubbers Song” (Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Blue)