tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post4855630234826191484..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Ending and beginning with BachDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-13098188244904079732018-01-09T21:43:37.660+00:002018-01-09T21:43:37.660+00:00Of course 'exotic' is usually where one is...Of course 'exotic' is usually where one is not. I'm sure I would find aspects of PEI exotic (not least the fact that every island, at least one smaller than England, Wales and Scotland, seems exotic to me).Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-3330805966605894022018-01-09T21:26:23.362+00:002018-01-09T21:26:23.362+00:00In PEI... I haven't left the Island now in a y...In PEI... I haven't left the Island now in a year.... time to go somewhere exotic...<br />Willymhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03652532356102638621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-17564637258854442992018-01-09T09:41:44.897+00:002018-01-09T09:41:44.897+00:00Canada, I see - so in PEI or Ottawa?Canada, I see - so in PEI or Ottawa?Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-12791453986629667312018-01-08T23:15:59.324+00:002018-01-08T23:15:59.324+00:00It was November 23 of this year. Here's a lin...It was November 23 of this year. Here's a link to a short video from their media site. They have several of these type of concerts in their repertoire.<br /><br />https://www.tafelmusik.org/media-room/js-bach-circle-creation<br /> Willymhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03652532356102638621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-49496977152474077532018-01-08T23:00:41.865+00:002018-01-08T23:00:41.865+00:00Where did this Tafelmusik event take place? Sounds...Where did this Tafelmusik event take place? Sounds fascinating. We need more events like this. Was just talking to the director of the London Handel Festival, who has an idea to have Prima Donnas rehearsing or warming up in various Georgian houses around Handel's Mayfair; the spectators are then asked to choose their favourite.<br /><br />I hope it only needs a nudge to love the cantatas. And if you love Arleen Auger - who could not, a compatriot of yours I believe - then splash out on the Rilling box and sample at leisure. <br /><br />I only heard the organ in the Thomaskirche, or rather one of them as a new 'Bach' organ has been funded in there. The story of October 1989 in the Nikolaikircher is an amazing and moving one, as I'm sure you were made aware when you were there.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-77387126595562524462018-01-08T19:07:30.275+00:002018-01-08T19:07:30.275+00:00I shall be following you on this religiously (hmmm...I shall be following you on this religiously (hmmm no joke intended) but as you know I don't have quite the enthusiasm for Bach as you do. But if anyone can convert me I'm sure it will be you.<br /><br />Your photo of that rather exotic interior of the Nikolaikirche reminded me of a music and word service we went to there. A splendid organ as I recall.<br /><br />The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra has created an interesting programme that we went to on our 39th anniversary - dinner and Bach! It looked at what went into making the music possible beyond the composing - instrument making, paper and ink making, clothing, social and class divisions in Leipzig of the time, venues, a fascinating segment on gut strings. A mixture of video, live narrations and excerpts from letters and newspapers but of course at the centre of it all was Bach and his music... they move around the stage in various combinations playing from memory. I've made it all sound a bit "tricky" but given the quality of the music, the music making and the research that went into it, it was quite a remarkable evening.Willymhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03652532356102638621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-52082013018541310442018-01-06T14:03:57.792+00:002018-01-06T14:03:57.792+00:00Which is why Shakespeare is the rightful heir of S...Which is why Shakespeare is the rightful heir of Sophocles and Euripides. The darkness never went away - think of all the horrors even in Renaissance Italy (the siege of Rome, for instance). Think of Gesualdo. And alongside Shakespeare there's Webster, always seeing the skull beneath the skin. Every age contains its opposite. And Mozart was so often dismissed as a playful child of the rococo, when he was giving us the demonism of Don Giovanni and the painful truths of Cosi. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-44508561952501977702018-01-06T12:30:59.603+00:002018-01-06T12:30:59.603+00:00I appreciate that this is another of Damant's ...I appreciate that this is another of Damant's sidelines, but what Hamlet says is a statement of Renaissance man's confidence in mankind - even though Hamlet used it in the context you correctly mention. Man is the master of all things, said Alberti - I leap ! I bound !. In my youth I though that the Renaissance had updated the Greeks, but now I see that the Greeks were right, and we are under the threat of dark forces, in our minds, and in the madness of crowds, so that the rationality and supreme confidence of the Renaissance is overwhelmed. Thus I suppose that I come back to human frailtyDavid Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-70421987033121374652018-01-06T10:09:45.745+00:002018-01-06T10:09:45.745+00:00That is no dismissal. It is spoken by a man (Hamle...That is no dismissal. It is spoken by a man (Hamlet) who is out of love with life and who continues: 'And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me; no, nor Woman neither; though by your smiling you seem to say so.' If anyone understood human frailty, it was Shakespeare.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-53593565967561702742018-01-06T09:31:45.127+00:002018-01-06T09:31:45.127+00:00I think we agree. But I cannot resist drawing your...I think we agree. But I cannot resist drawing your attention to the Renaissance man's dismissal of human frailty<br /><br />"What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension,how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! " <br /><br />Alberti said much the sameDavid Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-5567016780176358842018-01-05T23:48:28.141+00:002018-01-05T23:48:28.141+00:00Fair enough. Still doesn't invalidate my other...Fair enough. Still doesn't invalidate my other response - whatever some branches of the church think of it, human frailty is all it comes down to. Mozart understands and forgives that, and in his own way he too transcends it.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-44422715594416626712018-01-05T17:21:59.479+00:002018-01-05T17:21:59.479+00:00Our common humanity is of course central. But I am...Our common humanity is of course central. But I am trying rather incompetently to make another point. The Church of England had in a baptismal vow the avoidance of " the vanities of this wicked world". The world is wicked in many ways, but the Church was pointing to attributes of grandeur, pleasure in success, elaborate cultures, some elements of pride. By "vanity" the church means I think that these elements are shallow and undesirable. I would suggest otherwise and accept these attributes as part of a true and as I would define it a moral life, which the ( protestant ) church does not, as witnessed by the misery caused over centuries by the Calvinist religion. With Bach one is translated to a world above, but in Mozart I would suggest an acceptance of worldly vanity similar to the one I have tried to describe.David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-54906479139788808492018-01-05T12:29:48.716+00:002018-01-05T12:29:48.716+00:00Which simply means our common humanity and frailty...Which simply means our common humanity and frailty, no?Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-38374294517716357912018-01-05T11:35:09.461+00:002018-01-05T11:35:09.461+00:00I think that in Mozart there is to a degree an emb...I think that in Mozart there is to a degree an embrace and even a welcoming of worldly vanityDavid Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-84944786192610479242018-01-05T10:38:27.693+00:002018-01-05T10:38:27.693+00:00Yes, naturally I thought about it, but it's no...Yes, naturally I thought about it, but it's not usually Mozart I take off the shelves - probably because the operas need to be listened through as a whole, and I still personally prefer Schubert's sonatas and chamber music to Mozart's, which isn't an objective stance. The late symphonies and piano concertos, certainly. I can only repeat the saw that Bach is God, Mozart is Man (though Bach can be very human too).Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-61321981174174542892018-01-05T10:33:43.586+00:002018-01-05T10:33:43.586+00:00Where does Mozart appear ?Where does Mozart appear ?David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-29911115739625913592018-01-05T09:05:27.506+00:002018-01-05T09:05:27.506+00:00Time with Bach is never wasted - in fact, the olde...Time with Bach is never wasted - in fact, the older I get, the more I think it's perhaps the greatest pleasure musical life can offer. Though Schubert and Richard Strauss will always be my personal first recourses for sheer delight.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-52464796506183610922018-01-04T23:37:40.201+00:002018-01-04T23:37:40.201+00:00Yes, I know what you mean, even from BWV 132, abou...Yes, I know what you mean, even from BWV 132, about the hit and miss. I didn't care for the contralto, e.g. I didn't, by the way, think you were sketchy, but rather giving some brief impressions to give a sense. I appreciated them, and also your pointing the way to these cantatas, all of which made for a pleasurable afternoon!Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15674930917585246294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-53268481967024276002018-01-04T23:16:32.465+00:002018-01-04T23:16:32.465+00:00Yes, his observations are superbly detailed and, o...Yes, his observations are superbly detailed and, of course, he's lived with the music, so they're bound to be perceptive. I realised I was being sketchy above. And while I haven't read Gardiner's notes to the new cantatas I'm listening to (there will be no repeats of those I followed in 2015), you remind me to get down from the shelves the instalments I have and make sure I read him. Happy I now have Rilling and his superb soloists as guides, though - JEG's became so hit and miss that I lost a bit of enthusiasm for him. Suzuki likewise. Soon I'll be back at the Klemperer approach...Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-39681946874647467642018-01-04T21:52:02.384+00:002018-01-04T21:52:02.384+00:00Whenever I put on a Bach cantata, as I did earlier...Whenever I put on a Bach cantata, as I did earlier today, I think of your earlier cantata project and now your resolution to begin again. At the time of your first go round, I collected on Spotify the Gardiner project CDs (with those magnificent photographs) and also found and collected the liner notes for many of the volumes. So, in honor of your renewed commitment to the project, I pulled out BWV 132, in particular to listen to that perfect aria you noted. I don't know what makes an aria perfect, but this one is certainly lovely. Gardiner's liner notes, as most likely you already know, but in case not, have this to say about it:<br /><br />"Yet in preparing the way of the Lord, Bach’s soprano has a much tougher task in her opening aria than Handel’s tenor, being expected to negotiate melismas of first 60 and then 84 continuous semiquavers that lead on to five further sustained beats, all with the insouciant grace and fleet-footed buoyancy befitting a slowish gigue or a French loure."<br /><br />I was also intrigued by the rough low accompaniment for the second aria, and Gardiner's commentary on that is typically deeply informed and astute:<br /><br />"Franck adapts the priests’ interrogation of John the Baptist in the Gospel reading – ‘Wer bist du?’ – to Christ probing the depths of the Christian’s conscience, which explains why Bach assigned the second aria (No.3) to his bass soloist, his lines criss-crossing with those of the bass instruments – cello, bassoon, violone and organ. There is nothing especially euphonious about such low-pitched tonal clusters, but one’s attention is held by Bach’s determination to express all that the text implies: the vigorous, declamatory denunciation of sin and hypocrisy and the insistent use of a questioning four-note figura corta (a device that pervades his early organ and clavier music), from which only the cello figuration manages to break away."<br /><br />An enjoyable listen, with thanks for the prompt.Susan Scheidhttps://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-228525012079462582018-01-04T19:20:16.883+00:002018-01-04T19:20:16.883+00:00I meant in the GDR. You're giving me the famil...I meant in the GDR. You're giving me the familiar bigger picture. You may be right that conditions at the top are what make the final change, but assembled millions set the ball rolling in parallel.<br /><br />Now, about Bach?Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-17143930789817546562018-01-04T15:41:06.952+00:002018-01-04T15:41:06.952+00:00In the presence of your as always splendid and in...In the presence of your as always splendid and indeed this lovely piece I find it difficult to enter my ( usual) point about real politik.....but the protests in Leipzig ( as in the case of the popular movements in Poland and the Baltic States and elsewhere ) did NOT lead to the fall of the communist regime. That was the result of the change in Moscow - the USSR Central Committee knew - to an extent - what they were doing when they elected Gorbachov as General Secretary. The whole system in USSR was not working - economically, socially and even militarily in the face of American wealth and therefore power. The small number of men at the top realised that they had lost. But not all agreed. Had the counter revolution in Moscow succeeded ( I was in connection with events at the time and the counter revolutionaries had no hope but they might have done had things been a bit different) the Russian tanks would have swept away any local protest as they did in Hungary (1953) and Czechoslovakia ( 1968) and in effect Poland ( in the 1980s). Of course once Soviet protection for the East German regime had been ( secretly) withdrawn the peaceful protest in Leipzig could succeed, as the door was open to a final push. But let no one assume that a ruthless regime in command of the army will not crush those who try to overthrow them however peaceful and however admirable the protest. Look perhaps at Syria. " I brook no doubt of my mastery. I rule until I die"David Damantnoreply@blogger.com