8.08.2005
brahms
Yesterday I took to the stage again with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the other members of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for three little-known choral works by Johannes Brahms, led by Maestro Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. By the way, I'm amused by the maestro's program booklet biography, which opens with the sentence "Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos was born in Burgos." Insightful.
We sang the first half of a Brahms-Beethoven concert: Nänie, Gesang der Parzen, and Schicksalslied by Brahms, then Beethoven's 5th symphony. It was really very moving. Not a lot of people know Schicksalslied, even fewer know Nänie, and fewer still the Gesang der Parzen. I can say that I didn't know any of them except Nänie, and that was because it was the extra track on a favorite CD of mine: Brahms Symphony No. 1, and incidentally, Nänie as well. So it was a new rush of activity trying to learn and memorize all of the German for the concert. Got it done though, as did my two brothers, my father, and the rest of the chorus.
No reviews have been posted online or printed yet, but I'd like to see what they have to say about these very little-known choral works. Brahms is a master of choral writing, I think, and it's a shame that there's not a lot of it. The music was really very moving, and it was a treat to perform it. One thing that I have missed about being in Boston is singing these massive choral works: I sing a lot of small works with the choir at Queen's or with Magdala, but I don't get an opportunity to sing things like this.
As an aside, I didn't give the name of the LA Times Columnist who had died: it's David Shaw.
Also, RIP Peter Jennings, who I always liked, even though he was Canadian.
And finally, because ending a post on two mentions of death is depressing (even considering the oddly coincidental lyrics of the three Brahms pieces all having to do with fate and the fate of all humans being death), here's a fun email I just received from the University Club in Oxford.
"The final of the Jack Cox Memorial Trophy Interdepartmental Cricket Competition will be played between Pathology and Medicine at the University Club tomorrow (Tuesday 9th) starting from 5.30. It promises to be a great final between two exciting teams and the weather forecast is warm and sunny. All members are welcome to either cheer on your favourite department or simply enjoy the atmosphere."
Excellent.
We sang the first half of a Brahms-Beethoven concert: Nänie, Gesang der Parzen, and Schicksalslied by Brahms, then Beethoven's 5th symphony. It was really very moving. Not a lot of people know Schicksalslied, even fewer know Nänie, and fewer still the Gesang der Parzen. I can say that I didn't know any of them except Nänie, and that was because it was the extra track on a favorite CD of mine: Brahms Symphony No. 1, and incidentally, Nänie as well. So it was a new rush of activity trying to learn and memorize all of the German for the concert. Got it done though, as did my two brothers, my father, and the rest of the chorus.
No reviews have been posted online or printed yet, but I'd like to see what they have to say about these very little-known choral works. Brahms is a master of choral writing, I think, and it's a shame that there's not a lot of it. The music was really very moving, and it was a treat to perform it. One thing that I have missed about being in Boston is singing these massive choral works: I sing a lot of small works with the choir at Queen's or with Magdala, but I don't get an opportunity to sing things like this.
As an aside, I didn't give the name of the LA Times Columnist who had died: it's David Shaw.
Also, RIP Peter Jennings, who I always liked, even though he was Canadian.
And finally, because ending a post on two mentions of death is depressing (even considering the oddly coincidental lyrics of the three Brahms pieces all having to do with fate and the fate of all humans being death), here's a fun email I just received from the University Club in Oxford.
"The final of the Jack Cox Memorial Trophy Interdepartmental Cricket Competition will be played between Pathology and Medicine at the University Club tomorrow (Tuesday 9th) starting from 5.30. It promises to be a great final between two exciting teams and the weather forecast is warm and sunny. All members are welcome to either cheer on your favourite department or simply enjoy the atmosphere."
Excellent.
