Wiener Sängerknaben
Tonight C and I went to the Esplanade again, to catch the world-famous Vienna Boys Choir for their one-night-only performance. This was all the more poignant, especially after missing the chance to listen to them at their homebase of the Wien Hofburg in July.
I. Sängerknaben
We only found out about their concert quite late, so we couldn't get tickets for the conventional seats. Turns out it was a blessing in disguise, as we managed to get tickets for the gallery-which was directly behind the boys.
The choir entered in procession singing the mediaeval chant of Veni Creator Spiritus. From then on, it promised to be a fantastic performance. They sang their rendition of O Fortuna, which was surpassed moments later by my favourite piece of the first half: Josef von Eybler's Omnes De Saba Venient. The Heilig Sanctus by Schubert (who was himself a member of the VBC in the 18th Century) was sung beautifully in solo by this cherubic boy-who was extremely talented for he later proceeded to play the violin for a traditional Uzbek song. The VBC also displayed their latitude of their repetoire by singing songs from Hungary, a Pakistani Qawwali, an Indian Bhajan, and a traditional Uighur song.
Later in the second half, they put up a fantastic performance, singing Strauss's Wiener Blut (C's favourite), Franck's Panis Angelicus (solo by the talented boy again), and a whole series of songs from Johann Strauss. We were pleasantly surprised by the conductor turning the choir around to sing towards the galleries for one song, and also by the humorous dance some of the boys performed during another.
The VBC closed with An Der Schönen Blauen Donau, which never fails to impress. After the curtain calls, they surprised us yet again with two encorés: the first wowed the crowd as it was distinctly Chinese. It was Mo Li Hua (quoted by Puccini in Turandot), and after thrilling the crowd with flawless Mandarin enunciation, they amazed us once again with A Li Shan Di Gu Niang. I mean, WOW! I have never heard that performed live before, and not least by the VBC!
Overall, the VBC was well worth every single cent. And if they came back, I'd surely surely go again! reisende, you don't know what you missed!
II. Reizenknaben
Unfortunately, the only thing that marred the enjoyment of the concert was our neighbours. Next to us were a man and his two sons. I had already suspected that the sons were too fidgety to be able to survive a full concert from the start, and my suspicions were proven right.
Now, I personally do not like any piece which requires audience participation-not least because the audience usually fucks it up. The boys were already chattering and chattering during the singing, but when the VBC sang this particular song which involved some clapping (by the choir), I was astounded to see the man clapping along with great gusto. And I don't mean in accompaniment to the singing, it was so loud and enthusiastic, it was drowning out the singing. What's worse, that only encouraged the sons to clap along with him. My god, what is the point of attending a choral concert if you're going to clap so loudly until you can't hear the singing at all???
I glanced at the trio and could scarcely believe what I saw. The man was clapping so loudly, his entire body was bobbing up and down on the seat. When the choir stopped clapping, you could hear him giving a couple of extra claps before he realised they'd stopped. And you could see his hands raised in anticipation, eagerly awaiting the cue from the choir. And the moment they started, so would he in a flash. It was really as if his entire purpose there was engineered towards clapping along, like Glenn Ong's clappers or something.
Once was already bad enough. Twice was worse. And when the VBC sang this particular song that involved clapping in an intricate pattern, fortunately the man had the brains to realise that there was no way he would be able to clap along without ruining the entire piece. And in between the clapping, I had to contend with his sons fidgeting, murmuring, folding the programme sheet into a megaphone and smacking each other with it. Even a couple of stern glares from me couldn't stop them.
Seriously, if you can't control your kids, don't bring them along. And there should be some designated area to seat those whose chief purpose in life is to clap at performances, so that they can clap far away from me, and not ruin my enjoyment of the singing, which I paid good money to listen to, dammit.
Oh, and distractedfish, I saw your red slippers at the Esplanade concourse. You should go ask the Esplanade to return them before somebody else claims them, though I seriously think that's extremely unlikely.
I. Sängerknaben
We only found out about their concert quite late, so we couldn't get tickets for the conventional seats. Turns out it was a blessing in disguise, as we managed to get tickets for the gallery-which was directly behind the boys.
The choir entered in procession singing the mediaeval chant of Veni Creator Spiritus. From then on, it promised to be a fantastic performance. They sang their rendition of O Fortuna, which was surpassed moments later by my favourite piece of the first half: Josef von Eybler's Omnes De Saba Venient. The Heilig Sanctus by Schubert (who was himself a member of the VBC in the 18th Century) was sung beautifully in solo by this cherubic boy-who was extremely talented for he later proceeded to play the violin for a traditional Uzbek song. The VBC also displayed their latitude of their repetoire by singing songs from Hungary, a Pakistani Qawwali, an Indian Bhajan, and a traditional Uighur song.
Later in the second half, they put up a fantastic performance, singing Strauss's Wiener Blut (C's favourite), Franck's Panis Angelicus (solo by the talented boy again), and a whole series of songs from Johann Strauss. We were pleasantly surprised by the conductor turning the choir around to sing towards the galleries for one song, and also by the humorous dance some of the boys performed during another.
The VBC closed with An Der Schönen Blauen Donau, which never fails to impress. After the curtain calls, they surprised us yet again with two encorés: the first wowed the crowd as it was distinctly Chinese. It was Mo Li Hua (quoted by Puccini in Turandot), and after thrilling the crowd with flawless Mandarin enunciation, they amazed us once again with A Li Shan Di Gu Niang. I mean, WOW! I have never heard that performed live before, and not least by the VBC!
Overall, the VBC was well worth every single cent. And if they came back, I'd surely surely go again! reisende, you don't know what you missed!
II. Reizenknaben
Unfortunately, the only thing that marred the enjoyment of the concert was our neighbours. Next to us were a man and his two sons. I had already suspected that the sons were too fidgety to be able to survive a full concert from the start, and my suspicions were proven right.
Now, I personally do not like any piece which requires audience participation-not least because the audience usually fucks it up. The boys were already chattering and chattering during the singing, but when the VBC sang this particular song which involved some clapping (by the choir), I was astounded to see the man clapping along with great gusto. And I don't mean in accompaniment to the singing, it was so loud and enthusiastic, it was drowning out the singing. What's worse, that only encouraged the sons to clap along with him. My god, what is the point of attending a choral concert if you're going to clap so loudly until you can't hear the singing at all???
I glanced at the trio and could scarcely believe what I saw. The man was clapping so loudly, his entire body was bobbing up and down on the seat. When the choir stopped clapping, you could hear him giving a couple of extra claps before he realised they'd stopped. And you could see his hands raised in anticipation, eagerly awaiting the cue from the choir. And the moment they started, so would he in a flash. It was really as if his entire purpose there was engineered towards clapping along, like Glenn Ong's clappers or something.
Once was already bad enough. Twice was worse. And when the VBC sang this particular song that involved clapping in an intricate pattern, fortunately the man had the brains to realise that there was no way he would be able to clap along without ruining the entire piece. And in between the clapping, I had to contend with his sons fidgeting, murmuring, folding the programme sheet into a megaphone and smacking each other with it. Even a couple of stern glares from me couldn't stop them.
Seriously, if you can't control your kids, don't bring them along. And there should be some designated area to seat those whose chief purpose in life is to clap at performances, so that they can clap far away from me, and not ruin my enjoyment of the singing, which I paid good money to listen to, dammit.
Oh, and distractedfish, I saw your red slippers at the Esplanade concourse. You should go ask the Esplanade to return them before somebody else claims them, though I seriously think that's extremely unlikely.