(no subject)
I went to hear the St Louis Symphony tonight...it was a good concert. And after the extremely crappy day that was yesterday, it was a welcome and timely reminder of why we "do" music.
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Anna Christy, soprano
Stanford Olsen, tenor
Lucas Meachem, baritone
Saint Louis Symphony Chorus
St Louis Children's Choirs - Concert Choir
They opened with Stokowski's orchestration of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565. I think the toccata is a bit overdone (why do certain pieces seem to pop up EVERYWHERE? See below for more on this...), but it is one of my guilty pleasures. Tonight was the first time I heard the orchestrated version, although apparently it was used for the opening sequence of Disney's Fantasia (where was I, that I missed that? All I remember are dancing hippos). It's quite a different piece with the tone colors of the orchestra...very pleasant. But I still like to hear it barrelling out of a huge pipe organ.
Jumping to the third piece (I'll get to #2 in a bit), the reason I went to the concert was because they were doing Orff's Carmina Burana. I had never heard the piece live, and in fact had never heard it all the way through from start to finish, and knew several choir members who said good things about it, so I went. It was quite impressive just for the sheer volume that the STLSChorus put out, and their agressive singing. The german pronunciation of the Latin threw me...I'm not used to it, and don't really like it...but I dealt with it...my problem, not theirs...they sang it very well. And the diction of the choir was amazing. It's definitely a piece about the choir...and, to a lesser degree, the soloists. I found I seldom focused on the orchestra. The soloists were a bit "hammy," especially the baritone, which annoyed me at first, but when you consider the texts they are singing (such as a swan lamenting his no longer being beautiful as he spins on the rotisserie), I would think it would be hard NOT to ham it up. Which brings us to O Fortuna...speaking of overdone pieces. If there's a movie trailer with an epic battle scene, or some such nonsense, 9 times out of 10 O Fortuna will be blaring away...even though it's seldom used on the actual movie soundtrack. Find another piece to run into the ground! Still, I must confess that I do have a small collection of techo "remixes" of it. Anyway, I thought that it would be the best part of the piece, but I have to say that, for me, Blanziflor et Helena blew it away.
And now, back to that second piece. A totally unknown work to me...Christopher Theofanidis's Rainbow Body. Thirteen minutes of Amazing. Heaven on a stick. The first occurence of the main theme, a chant of Hildegard von Bingen, is in the violins, and was as beautiful and stunning as music can get. (the clip on his website is of that section, but it feels rushed...the performance tonight was slower, and had a more "yearning" feel to it) When it returns later in the piece, it's in the violas, and a bit stronger. Near the end, it returns in full, glorious (and I mean GLORIOUS!) orchestration, and the fragile, delicate chant from the beginning has become a force of nature...complete with shouting musicians (that was one of those "What the heck is making that sound?!" moments). The piece is based on the Tibetan Buddhist concept that "the 'Rainbow Body' is the form an enlightened person takes after escaping the cycle of reincarnation. Once the individual has attained release from this world, the 'subtle body,' something akin to our notion of the soul, returns back to the universe as light and energy." Light and energy indeed. And very much like a film score. I now must get the CD and learn how to pronounce "Theofanidis." If I could get back to hear it again, I would, but I hear ticket availability is scarce tomorrow, Saturday is sold out, and Sunday is Mother's Day, and I've been summoned to appear for dinner. There WILL be wine, so it's ok. I'll have to pick up a few bottles of my most recent discovery...Pierano Estate Barbera 2004.Lodi - the Heritage Collection.
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. What was up with the moron and his wife sitting behind me talking through the entire performance, and then bellowing "BRAVO" over and over like a constipated cow at the end? Clods. I don't understand why people can't SIT STILL AND SHUT UP for 60 minutes. Unless your head (or your companion's) has fallen off and there's blood spewing onto your neighbors, there really is NO reason for you to open your mouth.
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Anna Christy, soprano
Stanford Olsen, tenor
Lucas Meachem, baritone
Saint Louis Symphony Chorus
St Louis Children's Choirs - Concert Choir
They opened with Stokowski's orchestration of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565. I think the toccata is a bit overdone (why do certain pieces seem to pop up EVERYWHERE? See below for more on this...), but it is one of my guilty pleasures. Tonight was the first time I heard the orchestrated version, although apparently it was used for the opening sequence of Disney's Fantasia (where was I, that I missed that? All I remember are dancing hippos). It's quite a different piece with the tone colors of the orchestra...very pleasant. But I still like to hear it barrelling out of a huge pipe organ.
Jumping to the third piece (I'll get to #2 in a bit), the reason I went to the concert was because they were doing Orff's Carmina Burana. I had never heard the piece live, and in fact had never heard it all the way through from start to finish, and knew several choir members who said good things about it, so I went. It was quite impressive just for the sheer volume that the STLSChorus put out, and their agressive singing. The german pronunciation of the Latin threw me...I'm not used to it, and don't really like it...but I dealt with it...my problem, not theirs...they sang it very well. And the diction of the choir was amazing. It's definitely a piece about the choir...and, to a lesser degree, the soloists. I found I seldom focused on the orchestra. The soloists were a bit "hammy," especially the baritone, which annoyed me at first, but when you consider the texts they are singing (such as a swan lamenting his no longer being beautiful as he spins on the rotisserie), I would think it would be hard NOT to ham it up. Which brings us to O Fortuna...speaking of overdone pieces. If there's a movie trailer with an epic battle scene, or some such nonsense, 9 times out of 10 O Fortuna will be blaring away...even though it's seldom used on the actual movie soundtrack. Find another piece to run into the ground! Still, I must confess that I do have a small collection of techo "remixes" of it. Anyway, I thought that it would be the best part of the piece, but I have to say that, for me, Blanziflor et Helena blew it away.
And now, back to that second piece. A totally unknown work to me...Christopher Theofanidis's Rainbow Body. Thirteen minutes of Amazing. Heaven on a stick. The first occurence of the main theme, a chant of Hildegard von Bingen, is in the violins, and was as beautiful and stunning as music can get. (the clip on his website is of that section, but it feels rushed...the performance tonight was slower, and had a more "yearning" feel to it) When it returns later in the piece, it's in the violas, and a bit stronger. Near the end, it returns in full, glorious (and I mean GLORIOUS!) orchestration, and the fragile, delicate chant from the beginning has become a force of nature...complete with shouting musicians (that was one of those "What the heck is making that sound?!" moments). The piece is based on the Tibetan Buddhist concept that "the 'Rainbow Body' is the form an enlightened person takes after escaping the cycle of reincarnation. Once the individual has attained release from this world, the 'subtle body,' something akin to our notion of the soul, returns back to the universe as light and energy." Light and energy indeed. And very much like a film score. I now must get the CD and learn how to pronounce "Theofanidis." If I could get back to hear it again, I would, but I hear ticket availability is scarce tomorrow, Saturday is sold out, and Sunday is Mother's Day, and I've been summoned to appear for dinner. There WILL be wine, so it's ok. I'll have to pick up a few bottles of my most recent discovery...Pierano Estate Barbera 2004.Lodi - the Heritage Collection.
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. What was up with the moron and his wife sitting behind me talking through the entire performance, and then bellowing "BRAVO" over and over like a constipated cow at the end? Clods. I don't understand why people can't SIT STILL AND SHUT UP for 60 minutes. Unless your head (or your companion's) has fallen off and there's blood spewing onto your neighbors, there really is NO reason for you to open your mouth.