Much of Brahms' vocal music is pretty wonderful.--the four last songs, the
alto rhapsody, a large number of pieces or female chorus, the lieder, and
the Requiem. As you say, we all have blind spots--I've yet to sit through a
minimalist piece (and boy have I tried) without wishing for cyanide.
At 04:47 PM 5/19/2005, you wrote:
>I was quite prepared to find myself out on a limb with Brahms, and am used
>to this. However, the composer that carries the biggest blank for me is
>one whom many people consider the most religious of all, Bruckner. Not to
>put too fine a point upon it, he bores me. 'Oh, Bach, Bach without any
>doubt. Bach every time for me.'
>
>I'm sorry you blank at George Eliot though -- I find her as vividly full
>of life as so many seem to find Dickens (but not me there either I'm afraid).
>
>best joanna
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "MJ Walker" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 9:16 PM
>Subject: Re: Snap - Jones
>
>
>Joanna, I knew someone would say that - quite rightly, though I could
>argue that it's not a true Requiem. But, what the hell, I just cannot
>warm to it, though I love much of Brahms's music, some of it
>compulsively, like the D minor piano concerto, of which I collect
>recordings, the Piano Quintet or Opus 78. Everybody has these blanks, I
>know. I have a lot. Dvorak, most of the time. Dickens, though I think I
>might now feel differently if I try him again; Robert Graves; George
>Eliot...I've a history of blanks, blankness at the heart of moon, in
>fact, to quote Bob, having nothing of my own:
>Darkness at the break of noon
>Shadows even the silver spoon
>The handmade blade, the child's balloon
>Eclipses both the sun and moon
>To understand you know too soon
>There is no sense in trying.
>
>Boy, do I blank out. :-\
>mj
>Joanna Boulter wrote:
>
>>----- Original Message ----- From: "MJ Walker" <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 8:27 PM
>>Subject: Re: Snap - Jones
>>
>>
>>>.Actually, Ken, Fauré was not so religious as all that; I quote from a
>>>convenient website
>>>(http://members.macconnect.com/users/j/jimbob/classical/Faure_Requiem.html):
>>>Fauré spent much of his life in the service of the church, but his
>>>personal views on religion were unconventional at best, downright
>>>cynical or agnostic at worst. These are his thoughts on spirituality in
>>>the /Requiem/:"Everything I managed to entertain in the way of religious
>>>illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from
>>>beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal
>>>rest."< Nox est perpetua una dormienda. And Verdi was an atheist, I
>>>believe. Berlioz wasn't too croyant, either, so that more or less wraps
>>>up 19th C requiems of genius...(Well, OK, Cherubini, Dvorak...)
>>>mj
>>
>>
>>Will no one speak up for Brahms? He wasn't much of a believer in a
>>regular church, and wrote his Requiem to texts from the German bible,
>>hence its name, 'A German Requiem'. I happen to think it's a magnificent
>>work, both in the music and in his choice of texts; but then, I like and
>>admire Brahms.
>>
>>best joanna
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