Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Cool day today. Class this morning was really intense. We went through the most notable British composers of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, including CHH Parry, Charles Stanford, Edward Elgar, Herbert Howells, Gerald Finzi, and Benjamin Britten.

The most notable composer/piece from the day for me was Elgar's “There is Sweet Music.” It is a piece that is written in one key for the women and another for the men. The effect is absolutely incredible. I was just totally blown away as we listened to it in class. It is a must-have in my opinion. The poetry, by Tennyson, speaks of music bringing sleep and by the end of the piece, the listener is almost guaranteed to be at total piece, and if given the option, would probably nod off.

Another incredible piece was Howells' requiem. Concert Choir did the first movement of it last year, “Salvator Mundi.” It was a really cool piece then and I really enjoyed it, but I had no idea it was such an amazing piece till today. It completely wowed me. Another must-have.

And the last was Finzi's “Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice.” Finzi is an absolute genius. He has such a way with rhythms that it makes it sound like there is no time signature and the choir simply knows when and how to move together at the exact same time. I noticed this in one of the pieces we sang this year in Singers, “Wherefore Tonight, so Full of Care.” He is masterful.

After class, I came home, made some lunch, and headed off to Tate Modern Art Museum. There was some really fantastic stuff there. There was, of course, a lot of stuff I didn't understand, but those things, I feel, give me such an opportunity to discover what the artist was thinking.

Today in class, someone made a comment that he connected emotionally much more easily with the 19th and 20th century composers' music. Dr. Staheli offered the explanation that the reason for that was that as music was becoming more and more contemporary, the composers had many more colors and musical ideas to choose from than earlier composers from the classical and baroque eras, so they could paint emotions much more easily. Perhaps we connect with the pieces because they better mirror modern thinking than older music. Anyway, having had that discussion in class, I think I discovered why I enjoy modern art so much—they have so many more media, ideologies, and colors (figuratively and literally) from which to choose. That makes their art, I feel, much more emotionally connected...or communicative. I feel like they can better express themselves because they have so much more on their palette they can use.

Anyway, I reinforced my affinity for Gerhard Richter, as well as a few other artists I've seen before, but whose names I do not presently remember. It was a really cool experience to go there. I loved going by myself; I think museums (shouldn't the plural of museum be musea? Medium → media, museum--> musea?) should be done alone because everyone has very different interests and preferences and moves at different paces. It's just too hard to please everyone and their likings, etc.

I had to leave the Tate a little early to get to the Holst Singers' concert of the Bach Motets at Temple Church (da Vinci Code). I was disappointed because I didn't get to see the entire museum and was really enjoying myself. I'll most likely go back another day.

The concert was really pretty good. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I meant to write this last week, but Bach is really redeeming the Baroque period for me. His choral stuff is really fantastic. There is tons going on all the time, but I no longer see it as just frills and superfluousness (osity?). Now that we have analyzed his music a bit, it makes much more sense to me and I can now understand what he was trying to do with his music. His cello stuff also is fantastic. The choir had a cellist playing the bass (vocal) line the entire time, in addition to the organ, and they broke up the motets with pieces from the Back Cello Suites, which I absolutely loved. The cellist was fantastic. Such a good Baroque player, though I thought his tempos in his first set made him a bit inarticulate and slightly sloppy.

I am starting to really enjoy the English choral sound. There is just so much color to it. Scott and I were talking about it today and we decided it is because they are so unafraid and are willing to take risks with their sound. In the States, many people in choirs are in choirs not because they are extraordinary musicians or soloists, but because they want to make music in a friendly atmosphere. Scott said today “you know, we are not as good as we think we are. We have the potential to be as good as we think we are, but we are not there yet.” And I agree with him. Many people back off of their own individual sound so they can blend into the choir. Blending is so important—don't get me wrong. But like I wrote about the Tallis Scholars earlier, I think creating a fusion of voices by singing into the blend is more important. And that takes guts to do. You have to really go out onto a limb, with your own sound, to do it. I started doing that toward the end of the year and as I listen to our recordings, I can tell a difference in our sectional sound. And frankly, I like it more!

Anyway, Scott, Michelle, and I stopped on our way home at this fantastic dessert place and got some ridiculously decadent desserts that basically blew my mind.

Then we watched “Stranger than Fiction.” Blessedly good film. Can't help but love Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffmann.

Whoah, that was a long blog entry. Hope you liked it.