 |
 |
I saw the premiere, with Tilson Thomas conducting. Aside from the triviality of the music, there's no evidence that Reich speaks the English language. Otherwise it's OK. Anyway, Williams is past caring. I didn't mention Ligeti because for so many decades he did exactly the same thing. Even the prettiest tone clusters get old. Throw in Alexander Nevsky. There's also some fine Vaughn Williams. Satie's Oedipe. Rachmaninoff's liturgical music. The problem for modern choral music is that the major consumers are churches and schools, neither particularly interested in the unfamiliar. And most composers couldn't care less about religion. Mark At 07:45 PM 5/20/2005, you wrote: >20th c choral music is almost an oxymoron, but the Glagolitic Mass is a >glorious exception. There's also the fabulous Ligeti music Kubrick used for >2001, and also a central-eastern European tradition that Penderecki captures >in his St Luke Mass. > >Pace Mark's comments about minimalism, there's also Steve Reich's Desert >Music, which I think is wonderful. Based on W. C. Williams poems. > >Oh, and let's not forget Carmina Burana. > >P > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to > > poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On > > Behalf Of Mark Weiss > > Sent: 20 May 2005 18:55 > > To: [log in to unmask] > > Subject: Re: Snap - Jones > > > > To name a few, teh masses and oratorios of Haydn, especially > > The Creation, and the Mozart Requiem. > > > > Most 19th century choral music does get pretty soppy. > > > > In the 20th century check out the Ives Harvest Home Chorales > > and his psalm settings, Martin. I'm also fond of Janacek's > > Glagolotic Mass. There's an amazing setting of some of > > Neruda's Canto General by Theodorakis. A live performance at > > a post-junta outdoor rally in Athens was acoustically > > challenged but is the one to get if you can find it. Latin > > American idiom translated into Balkan folk. Nonetheless > > moving. There's a lot. But Bach reigns. > > > > I love vocal music because of my love of the spoken word. > > > > Mark > > > > > > At 11:46 AM 5/20/2005, you wrote: > > >Yes, it is, it swoons quintessentially, perhaps a little too > > much for > > >frequent listening, whereas the Piano Quintet has > > everything, ardour, > > >swoon, abrasion, gaiety - definitely on my Desert Island Discs. > > >I like very little choral music after Bach, until the 20th > > C. The Missa > > >Solemnis, Berlioz & Verdi are exceptions, in every way. And > > Schumann's > > >Faust Scenes. > > >mj > > > > > >Joanna Boulter wrote: > > > > > >>Best of all is the Clarinet Quintet. Music to die to, that. > > >> > > >>best joanna > > >> > > >>----- Original Message ----- From: "Douglas Barbour" > > >><[log in to unmask]> > > >>To: <[log in to unmask]> > > >>Sent: Friday, May 20, 2005 3:18 PM > > >>Subject: Re: Snap - Jones > > >> > > >> > > >>Hey Joanna > > >> > > >>I like Brahms, too, but mostly his work for small groups > > (as we say in > > >>jazz). > > >> > > >>I am always happy to hear comments on choral music as it's not my > > >>major interest, & I tend to listen to instrumental most of > > the time.... > > >> > > >>Doug > > >>On 19-May-05, at 1:47 PM, 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 > > >>Douglas Barbour > > >>11655 - 72 Avenue NW > > >>Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9 > > >>(780) 436 3320 > > >> > > >>Words cling to other words > > >>As we have seen, although even these are Migratory and the > > forgotten > > >>shows through as correction. > > >>This noun has been defunct for centuries. > > >> > > >> Ann Lauterbach > >