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out with the jpop
Jun. 1st, 2007 15:47in with the classical. ever since listening to those youtube performances with their miserable sound, i've been on a beethoven kick, with upgraded sound. unfortunately my classical record collection has never recovered from the transatlantic move and the later switch to CDs, so i've been piratey and downloaded lots to help me decide what i want to buy.
and i came across a missa solemnis by bernstein. he did more than one, and i don't know which one this is, but it's exquisite -- i think the tenor might be rene kollo, which would make it the recording with the concertgebouw orchestra, which i definitely should buy anyway.
i sang in a performance of the missa solemnis, 33 years ago. i've never worked so hard musically before or since then (certainly not since then because i gave up making music soon thereafter). it was so difficult, and not made easier by me switching from alto to tenor partway through rehearsals (we lost 2 of our tenors and the balance was all off, and back then i could cover the entire tenor range down to the C below middle C). i still remember how awesome it was when it all came together. i have no idea how good we were in the grand scheme of things, but to my mind, we were damn good; it FELT good. *little smile*.
what's really surprising is how much of the score i still know. not so much the text (my latin has rusted badly), but the music; i can still sing large sections of it, and i actually even still know much of the alto part for the kyrie. that's a long time for remembering something that hasn't been refreshed much (i've listened to the work since, but not a lot, and not in the last 10 years at all). i generally have a good memory for music, but i didn't realise it was this good. that's a cheering thought -- maybe when i go senile, music will stay with me the longest.
which leads down a morbid road, and i better stop it. :)
i haven't thought about that in such a long time, and extra bits and pieces are coming back now -- i used to ponder the text a lot because i was wrestling with singing religious music when i was no longer religious at all, but beethoven's brilliant musical treatment of it (which is quite unusual for a mass) helped a lot with allowing me to come to some sort of peace with it.
and i came across a missa solemnis by bernstein. he did more than one, and i don't know which one this is, but it's exquisite -- i think the tenor might be rene kollo, which would make it the recording with the concertgebouw orchestra, which i definitely should buy anyway.
i sang in a performance of the missa solemnis, 33 years ago. i've never worked so hard musically before or since then (certainly not since then because i gave up making music soon thereafter). it was so difficult, and not made easier by me switching from alto to tenor partway through rehearsals (we lost 2 of our tenors and the balance was all off, and back then i could cover the entire tenor range down to the C below middle C). i still remember how awesome it was when it all came together. i have no idea how good we were in the grand scheme of things, but to my mind, we were damn good; it FELT good. *little smile*.
what's really surprising is how much of the score i still know. not so much the text (my latin has rusted badly), but the music; i can still sing large sections of it, and i actually even still know much of the alto part for the kyrie. that's a long time for remembering something that hasn't been refreshed much (i've listened to the work since, but not a lot, and not in the last 10 years at all). i generally have a good memory for music, but i didn't realise it was this good. that's a cheering thought -- maybe when i go senile, music will stay with me the longest.
which leads down a morbid road, and i better stop it. :)
i haven't thought about that in such a long time, and extra bits and pieces are coming back now -- i used to ponder the text a lot because i was wrestling with singing religious music when i was no longer religious at all, but beethoven's brilliant musical treatment of it (which is quite unusual for a mass) helped a lot with allowing me to come to some sort of peace with it.
