Guilty Pleasure

On this last day of guilty pleasures before Lent, I have to admit that I've been watching over and over again with glee this little video from the new movie 'Music and Lyrics'. I actually think the song is quite catchy. Enjoy.

The Rose, the Lily and the Whortleberry

Although there are a lot of classical music events going on in and around Philadelphia, and the critics from the local dailies no doubt have to pick and choose which concerts to attend, I was somewhat surprised to see the appearance of the Orlando Consort at Haverford College this past weekend pass by with little to no coverage. One would think that a world class vocal ensemble performing in Philadelphia for the first time in some years would warrant some attention. In fact the only mention in the Inquirer, in a weekend arts preview, was erroneous, implying that the Orlando Consort was an instrumental group (click here for the link). I guess, to be fair, because the concert was part of Haverford's concert series and not part of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society or Kimmel Center Presents it was not afforded the luxury of a massive advertising campaign. Still, the advertising couldn't have been all bad; I became aware of the concert after hearing about it on WRTI.

This was not my first Orlando Consort concert experience (try saying that five times fast). I saw the group in York Minster Chapter House last year in, if I recall correctly, a medieval mass reconstruction. That environment was much more conducive to the Consort's sound than the somewhat dry acoustic of Haverford's Marshall Auditorium, though that concert featured slightly different personnel than normal. I remember enjoying the York concert, but was not blown away. I felt kind of the same way about this one.

The program was a fairly interesting tour of Medieval and Renaissance music dealing with gardens and flowers (hence the title of this posting which was also the title of the concert). Each singer introduced a set which allowed the audience to know more about the forthcoming music as well as humanising the singers. A nice touch I thought. The group took a bit of time to adjust to the hall, suffering a few minor intonation and blending issues at the start. The overall sound was very good -- crisp and clean from each member of the quartet. Many of the pieces featured duos or trios which showcased individual members. The singers shone most brightly in the more homophonic pieces such as Brumel's "Sicut lilium", where they could focus on blend and illustrating the text.

After the interval, I moved upstairs to the balcony for a different sonic perspective. Not surprisingly, the overall sound of the group was more evenly blended and not as top heavy as it seemed downstairs (which isn't a terrible thing with this group, as alto Robert Harre-Jones has a stunning voice). The highlight of the concert for me were two pieces from the Franco-Flemish Renaissance by Clemens non Papa and Nicolas Gombert. These beautiful settings of the Song of Songs combine a madrigalian lushness and sensuality with the smooth polyphony of the church. The singers responded to the texts with lovely tone, sensitivity and communication.

If only more people had shown up...

Evensong with Piazzolla

"...But “On Wenlock Edge” is a prime example of how Englishness in English music can be illusory. The piece checks all the necessary boxes — Housman, landscape, passing time — and presents it as quintessential English art. But strip away the textual packaging, and you hear music that sounds French. Vaughan Williams had just been to Paris to take composition lessons with Ravel, and the “little French polish” that he said he had brought back was actually a thorough technical enhancement that would pervade his later work.
There are many instances of comparable ethnic camouflage in music of the period. Howells’s High Anglican cathedral music comes charged with rhythms only a shade away from tango. Much of Delius slithers toward the chromaticism of Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde.”"

-From an article by Michael White in the NY Times yesterday about the development of English music in the early 20th century.

Vaughan Williams and Ravel, okay I've heard that before. Delius and Wagner, check. Howells and tango? That's a new one. Although I rank Howells among my favourite Anglican church music composers and find his rhythmic complexity stimulating, I've never felt compelled to strut my stuff in the middle of worship.

Also, has anyone published a musicological paper that argues that there was good English music between Purcell and Stanford?

I Love You Porgy?

One of the lovely perks of singing with the Opera Company of Philadelphia is getting free tickets to dress rehearsals of shows. This week I took in OCP's production of 'Porgy and Bess' opening this week. Since I am affiliated with OCP I figured it's best not to talk too much about the actual performances or the production (which for the most part I liked) but rather talk about the show.

This was my first 'Porgy' experience. Granted, I know all of the "hits" (can you think of any other opera which has had at least five songs that have infiltrated the ranks of pop?) but I had never sat down before to listen to the whole thing. Now I know why: 'Porgy' is a problematic show with as many musical gems as there are moments of musical and dramatic stagnation. The overall impression I took from the show was that of a flashy composer with some brilliant ideas who is attempting to do too much. I am not the first person to accuse Gershwin of this. I was impressed by how well Gershwin absorbed all of the music of the South, from the many church-like scenes to the occasional snatches of hawker's and boatmen songs. It's kind of nice to see a show with so many comprimario roles. However, his attempt to capture everything partially contributes to the show's weaknesses; it occasionally comes across like musicological research rather than a cohesive music drama. I've been thinking a lot about Puccini's "atmospheric" music in 'Tosca' and in particular the shepherd boy's song before the final act. In the context of the drama, at dawn before Cavaradossi is about to be executed, the simplicity and purity of the boy's voice is haunting in juxtaposition to the violence that has come before and will come after. As an audience we need this (false) sense of calm in order for the final act to have dramatic punch. Compare this to Gershwin's use of the crab-man's song in Act II of 'Porgy' - the drama literally just stops for no reason. The song provides atmosphere, but 'Porgy' is so full of atmosphere anyway that it's superfluous. This is a common problem in 'Porgy'. We are not propelled from scene to scene and there are very slow stretches in the score. I also got a bit sick of Gershwin's palette and wished he could have "dirtied" up the score a bit with strident harmony or deft orchestration. Britten does this very successfully in 'Peter Grimes', another 20th-century small-town sea-village opera. Of course, I'm a bit biased towards Britten anyway, but he is also much more adept at building drama. It's interesting to note that Britten mentioned 'Porgy' as one of the many influences on 'Grimes'.

I guess I should try to remember that 'Porgy' was Gershwin's first and only opera. He probably would have grown as an opera composer had he attempted another one. 'Porgy' is important in American musical history for its attempt to fuse the vernacular and the academic. It's also pretty potent socially as well, tackling subjects like racism, classism, drug-addiction, religion and sex. It doesn't quite reach the level Gershwin wanted it to, but it's a noble effort.

I love what I do

For all the times I complain about bad conductors, being overcommitted, singing with professionals who don't always know what they're doing, crappy music and lack of certain other good music, there are times like tonight that remind me how much I really love ensemble singing. We were singing Rheinberger's sublime Mass in E-flat at church with just our paid core singers. Oh the thrill of sight-reading a tricky piece, realising that I do actually hear all of the sexy harmonic shifts (and believe me, there are a ton in this piece) and listening to my fellow singers who get it making the most beautiful sounds...at 10:00 at night after a 2 1/2 hour rehearsal! It doesn't happen often enough, but when it does, wow.

Spamming out of control

OK, so the spam has gotten pretty bad here in the comments section. I've deleted most of it. I think I've sorted out the security settings and I hope people with something reasonable to say will continue to comment on here.