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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #15 on: 14:06:24, 13-11-2007 » |
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Incidentally: At the same time, it can be stimulating to hear another interpretation within a few days of each other but 'Carmina Burana' and its endless repetition on commercials when you were but a toddler!
Just wondering whether you hate ALL of it on this basis, or just the beginning and end. I particularly like the second-half sequence, from "Amor volat undique" to the end. I could listen to it quite often and not get tired of it. I've always been a sucker for the rhythms and sensuality, and all those mediaeval texts about drinking and sex  I know academically speaking it's no musical masterpiece, but I love its character. |
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« Last Edit: 14:50:34, 13-11-2007 by Ruth Elleson »
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #16 on: 14:20:31, 13-11-2007 » |
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GG,
I would have been about seven or eight when I first heard it (on a 10" Classics Club LP), at which point my twentieth century musical horizons were bounded by Britten's Young Person's Guide and Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia, Sibelius's Finlandia and a couple of movements from the Firebird Suite: the modality of the slow movement was strange and wonderful, and the intermittent jazziness of the finale, not to mention the fact that it was the first piece I'd ever heard where I couldn't count the beats, brought it a freshness which was most appealing to a lad already starting to kick against the diet of the classical standards which were the usual household fare. It's not a great masterpiece exactly, yet, as with other works by the same composer, it's a work that speaks easily to folk who don't often listen to 'classical' music, and the slow movement (with or without the musical saw, theremin, or other appropriate alternative) has an ability to haunt. For me in doesn't yield much to its obvious companions by Shostakovich and Prokofiev.
I'd not heard it in a long while, but found a copy in a charity shop recently. Rehearing favourites from the distant past can go two ways: you either wonder what on earth you saw in it, or you're captivated all over again. For me, it was undoubtedly the latter, but I won't be at all offended should a soul of your taste and discernment still remain immune to its charms....
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #17 on: 17:00:52, 13-11-2007 » |
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# 14 Thank you, George, for reminding me of the RFH concert when Khachaturian conducted. I sat on the Platform enthralled by his virtuosity and range, as well as the sense of a legendary presence.
# 15. I've attended a couple of performances of "Carmina Burana", Ruth, and indeed, did an off-air TV recording only a year or two ago but, somehow, I cannot engage with the sheer earthiness of the work and remain distinctly underwhelmed. Don't know whether it's sheer determination or masochism which makes me go back to performances. Perhaps I'll dig-out the off air recording and have another go.
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George Garnett
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« Reply #18 on: 17:14:37, 13-11-2007 » |
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# 14 Thank you, George, for reminding me of the RFH concert when Khachaturian conducted. I sat on the Platform enthralled by his virtuosity and range, as well as the sense of a legendary presence.
Good heavens, Stanley! Another occasion when our paths more or less crossed. Nicolai Petrov was the pianist on that occasion I discover, having just been grubbing away in my old programmes with my anorak on. |
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #19 on: 17:16:05, 13-11-2007 » |
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Meanwhile I'm toddling off to St John's Smith Square this evening from my office in London Bridge, which conveniently takes me right past the box office of the Royal Festival Hall. I think the cop-out of "both" takes the prize.
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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Janthefan
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« Reply #20 on: 17:05:07, 14-11-2007 » |
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Go for it, Ruth ! You know you can't resist ! One of my main grumbles about orchestras not consulting each other is when they are on tour. Living down here I've lost count of the number of times I've sat in the "Hall for Cornwall" and listened to The Introduction and Allegro for Strings, and Mozart's Flute & Harp Conc !! Off to Truro Cathedral on Saturday for this: http://www.stmaryssingers.org.uk/html/future_performances.html(Worthy of St Martins in the Fields, eh?) x Jan x |
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Live simply that all may simply live
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time_is_now
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« Reply #21 on: 17:32:51, 14-11-2007 » |
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My C18th analysis lecturer at university caused a bit of a ripple once by casually admitting that he'd never heard Mozart's flute and harp concerto. I don't think I had either at the time, although I've heard it once since (never live in concert though, I think).
Haven't had an evening at home for about 2 weeks, although I was at my parents' at the weekend for a couple of days. Decided at lunchtime that I'd stay home tonight rather than going to the LSO concert at the Barbican, but just realised there's already a ticket waiting for me so I'll head off there after all, which means I don't get an evening at home till at least Friday, more likely Saturday.
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #22 on: 17:38:24, 14-11-2007 » |
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I already did  (go for it, that is). You knew I would... I have a night in this evening... well, in a manner of speaking, as I need to go to the supermarket and the recycling bank and do all manner of other things. After that, my next night in is Sunday. Then the following Sunday. Then the following Sunday. |
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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HtoHe
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« Reply #23 on: 22:25:11, 14-11-2007 » |
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Pah…two in four days – that’s nothing. My programme collection tells me that when I saw de Burgos conduct the Philharmonia (12.06.94) in CB there was another performance of it on the same programme!! Actually, it was the New London Consort with Catherine Bott and Michael George performing eight songs from the original MS.
I remember the concert well (though I admit I had to go to my programmes for the details) and the Orff was very enjoyable. From the info you give us, Ruth, it would seem that CB is after the interval in both concerts; so if two in quick succession is a bit much you could always skip the 2nd half of one concert.
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #24 on: 00:33:05, 15-11-2007 » |
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Ah, but I couldn't, not really, because if it weren't for the irresistible CB soloists in both cases, I probably wouldn't have bothered booking for either. I could really push the boat out and go to THREE CBs in four days (as the LSO concert is repeated!) but frankly that doesn't appeal at all  I recall a Radio 3 broadcast from the later 90s (was it a Prom or from the Bridgewater Hall?) where the first half of the concert consisted of early settings from the same set of texts. Most of the texts which featured in this section of the concert weren't actually the same texts selected by Orff; the only one the two halves of the programme had in common was 'Tempus est iocundum' which had a rhythmic style remarkably similar to that set by Orff. |
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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HtoHe
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« Reply #25 on: 12:50:54, 15-11-2007 » |
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The concert I saw might well have had the same programme, Ruth. Certainly ‘Tempus est iocundum’ seems to have been the only one of the eight that is in the Orff setting. But then only two of the eight (‘Tempus est iocundum’ & ‘Veris dulcis in tempore’) are in the thirty-odd selections on my discs by Thomas Binkley and Studio der Frühen Musik. The eight were:
Clauso cronos - CB73
Ave nobilis - CB11
Virent prata biemata - CB151
Olim sudor Herculis - CB63
Ich was ein chint so wogeltan - CB185
Hiemali tempore - CB203
Veris dulcis in tempore - CB85
Tempus est iocundum - CB179
I didn’t really think you’d skip half a concert and I agree it’s a pity the two performances are so close together. I do like Carmina Burana (at the risk of seeming a bit chavvy I must confess I tend to enjoy the Orff settings much more than the ‘authentic’ ones) but one performance in a year is more than enough for me, so two in a week is certainly something of a surfeit.
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #26 on: 13:45:28, 15-11-2007 » |
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It does sound very similar, HtoHe. I meant to tape it off the radio but in the end for some reason I only recorded the second half - the Orff. Possibly the most enjoyable performance of Orff's CB in my memory was the televised Prom from 1994 (well before I was within reach of going to the Proms live). The soloists were Janice Watson, James Bowman and Donald Maxwell, and it was conducted by Hickox - I've still got the videotape somewhere. Other than the fact that I don't like hearing a countertenor as the roasting swan (I think it's far more effective sung by a full-bodied tenor singing as if he's got his b*ll*cks trapped in a vice ) I thought the singing was excellent - a real "edge" on the sound of the children's choir, and as for the soloists, the abiding memory is of the second of the baritone soli in "Tempus est iocundum" and the sight of Donald Maxwell with steam practically coming out of his ears! And the gorgeous sound Janice Watson made in "Dulcissime" with her lips barely moving... (I always like to imagine that it's the baritone who causes that wonderful cadenza. I'm not sure whether that's the intention, or whether you're supposed to think they're both singing about different people ) |
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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HtoHe
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« Reply #27 on: 20:53:27, 15-11-2007 » |
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I think it's far more effective sung by a full-bodied tenor singing as if he's got his b*ll*cks trapped in a vice LOL!! Oh dear, Ruth. Have you been hanging out with some of the 'Woman's Hour' board regulars; or have you just discovered "Bobby Brown Goes Down"? Actually, though I'm not a big fan of the counter-tenor voice I think it suits the roasting swan perfectly. |
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #28 on: 09:40:28, 19-11-2007 » |
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Concert 1 (Barbican) was ace. More details to be posted when I have more than 30 seconds available to do so.
Concert 2 (RFH) is tomorrow, and after an impulse-buy of a second row stalls seat (a return which hadn't been available when I booked my original seat) I have my original balcony ticket available for sale if anybody wants it, thanks to the South Bank Centre's stupid policy of not waiving the 48hr returns rule even for a seat upgrade. PM me with a reasonable offer if you are interested - the original price was £18 and it's seat E9 in the Balcony.
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #29 on: 10:38:04, 19-11-2007 » |
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My spare ticket is now, I think, spoken for  |
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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