Coincidence

Has anyone else noticed that the Philly Beer Week overlaps with the Bach Fest? Why is no one doing a "Bach and Beer" event? It would be great: a pub serving German beers with a chamber ensemble doing some trio sonatas or something. Oh well, maybe next time.

Parting is not goodbye...

So, regular readers of Choralation (all three of you) have probably noticed a marked slowdown in posting activity. I don't have a good explanation for this except that it takes time to write vibrant, relevant posts. Unfortunately, I have not really been dedicating any time to Choralation lately and have finally decided to go on extended hiatus. I may post occasionally, but I will not be able to keep up with any frequency. I am not shutting down the site, however, and archived posts will still be available.
I have enjoyed this experiment and am pleased that it managed to last for almost 2 1/2 years (far longer than I thought it actually would).
Thanks to readers, fellow musicians, and other writers and bloggers for inspiration. And, in a nod to the title of this post, we'll be together again.

Phillies! Playoffs! Yay!

Viva Pavarotti

In our house he was just Pav. It only seemed fitting that this amiable character, this familiar and personable voice should have an affectionate nickname. When he did his thing, we would just smile and shake our heads and say "That's Pav."

As a beginning singer, I marvelled at his smoothness of production, wonderfully tangible diction and, of course, that glorious golden placement. If there was ever a definition of 'squillo', this man was it. It's true I couldn't quite connect with him as I could with the Teutonic intellectualism of Fischer-Dieskau, but each time I listened to Pav it was like a singing lesson; every note was placed where it should be, every word clearly enunciated, the legato seamless. I remember playing certain passages over and over again to try to figure out just what he was doing. I never quite could. You know a singer is remarkable when you can hear two notes of something and know who it is immediately.

Unfortunately, I never saw him live and I would have thrilled to hear that voice in its prime. Still, the recorded legacy is substantial and, for the most part, quite good. The Boheme with Freni has got to be one of the greatest opera recordings ever. The Elixir, perfectly characterized with an affecting benign sweetness.

It was sad to see what he became in the last ten years of his life. He was reduced almost to caricature as the voice began to decline and his weight continued to rise. Pride prevented him from exiting gracefully and the career stretched on perhaps five years longer than it should have. He apparently had difficulty in learning new roles, effectively condemning him to repertoire best suited to men twenty years his junior. It was sort of like watching a great athlete try to replicate feats of youth while not quite having the tools to do it anymore or the resources to adapt and change.

But what is good far outweighs the bad. I'll always smile when I hear him toss off yet another fantastic high C. I'll just shake my head and say "That's Pav."

Popera

There was an interesting article in the LA Times about the whole rock-opera genre and various excursions of pop musicians into classical music and vice versa. I’ve often thought the best attributes of many pop composers get lost when they try to write “classical” music. Paul McCartney, an excellent miniaturist, sounds bloated and slightly ridiculous when he assumes the mantle of seriousness in his symphonic works. Most ambitious pop composers should think about churning out song cycles or concept albums where small pieces add up to form a cohesive whole. Elvis Costello has done this a few times, most notably with The Juliet Letters. His North, one of my favourite albums, is really closer in feeling to a song cycle. The albums of Sufjan Stevens are also song cycle-ish.

All-in-all I thought Mark Swed made good points. I did have some issues with this paragraph though:

In the end, pop musicians are songsmiths, and songwriters typically have not had an easy time with opera. Many of the great composers of song in the classical world -- Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, Fauré, Bernstein, Rorem -- are not nearly so celebrated for their attempts at opera. All the great opera composers wrote songs, of course, but that was a small sideline for Mozart, Rossini, Berlioz, Wagner, Verdi, Berg, Janácek, Berio, Rimsky-Korsakov and the rest. Gershwin and Poulenc may be the only two who managed to be major successes in both areas.

As I’ve said before, I’m not sure I’d call Gershwin’s excursion into opera wholly successful. Also where are Strauss and Britten on his list of successes? Debussy? Weill? They all wrote terrific operas and songs. Granted, Strauss’s songs often sound like they could be on the opera stage, but he still made a major contribution to the genre.

Also this is for Inky music columnist Peter Dobrin who, it seems, does not seem to be much of a cat person (read the bio on the right part of his page):

Mozart drives criminals away...and makes football players smarter

Two unrelated stories about Mozart, and the purported effects of his music.

Football

Crime

Incidentally, if I were an NFL player, I'd totally want to play for Mangini. His coaching creativity on and off the field is really fun to watch...

Parallel universe?

I've now heard Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 three times in the past day on three different radio stations. It's one of my favourite pieces, but still, what's going on here?

Been busy lately, moving into a new house. It's very exciting to graduate from an apartment to a house, but there is a lot of work ahead. At least the place was move-in condition.

What I've been listening to: Joanna Newsome, Ys. She sings like she's from outerspace (if Billie Holiday, Bjork, Tori, a five year old, and a bad children's folksinger got together, the result might sound something like this), and can make your ears bleed if you listen too much, but her rambling, lyrical songs are remarkable. The arrangements for strings and harp are just gorgeous and once you get over the initial repulsion at her voice this album gets inside you.

What I've been reading: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Okay, who's not reading this? It was enjoyable though. Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about how HP is an interesting literary phenomenon because the movies have been introduced at the same time as the books.

What I've been watching: Man vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel. I'm sure this guy must get some help from the crew, but it's still cool to see him hunt fish with his hands and bite into them raw and jump off 50 foot cliffs. If we dropped him off in North Philadelphia at 2 am, would that count as a survival situation?