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Sep. 19th, 2004 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phineasjonesi should stop being groggy now, as it's almost 11. but last night when we got home, we put the flannel sheets on the bed and this made getting up this morning nearly impossible. it's the most beautiful of fall days out there, but i don't plan on being out in it much at all. alas.
because, right, performance #2 is today. i think last night went well. everyone stepped up, paid attention and all that. no big mistakes that i can recall.
my dad found this review:
September 19, 2004
By MATTHEW ERIKSON, Courant Staff Writer
The Hartford Symphony began its 2004-2005 pops season Saturday evening at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts with Howard Shore's "The Lord of the Rings Symphony." No doubt you're familiar with the recent films. And maybe you know the "symphony" Shore based on the films' Oscar-winning soundtracks and has had performed all around the world since its premiere in New Zealand last November. Hartford was the latest stop in an American tour that has included Columbus, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Houston and Seattle.
Half of the difficulty of Shore's work - at least for anyone with any classical music knowledge or appreciation - is the title. In full, it's "The Lord of the Rings Symphony: Six Movements for Orchestra and Chorus." Symphony is, of course, a loaded term, weighed by time-honored tradition and ironclad meaning. Sure, one might marvel at the brazenness of referring to a work based on programmatic film music as a symphony. But what's next, you wonder, "Spiderman: The Oratorio"?
In truth, Shore's "symphony" is a very ambitious pastiche. That's not meant as a slight. The music has moments of inspiration, specifically, wonderful orchestration (including exotic instruments from all over the world) and a wealth of musical ideas. Yet typical of film music, many of those ideas are derivative. For instance, the first and second movements of the "symphony," which come from the first film, "The Fellowship of the Rings," sounded like Carl Orff with its heady combination of powerful choral singing and colorful orchestration. (It suggested "Carmina Burana" for hobbits.) The martial music of the next two movements for "The Two Towers" evoked Holst. Then there was the potent brew of Wagnerian leitmotifs and harmonies that suffused the work from start to finish.
The Hartford Chorale and the Connecticut Children's Chorus lent their talents, singing in six Tolkien-derived languages. In spite of their big numbers, they were amplified, as were the soloists: soprano Jennifer Ferrand and baritone Bruce R. Jones from the Chorale, and boy soprano Kenneth Brand. Bigger voices such as operatic soprano Carolyn Betty and Broadway singer Susan Egan were also miked. Altogether, the singers crammed the stage with the Hartford Symphony - swelled by an extensive percussion section - in a way not seen before in a recent HSO concert. They were all under the skilled baton of Alastair Willis, resident conductor of the Seattle Symphony and a substitute for Shore.
As further indication that the performance is more spectacle than symphony, less concert than show, extensive lighting was used. Mortensen Hall's stage was often aglow in bright red to accompany the music's urgency. Projected images were also used: a lot of maps and sketches that paled in comparison to the live action of the films. Indeed, divorced from the films, Shore's music lost some of its impact, making you wonder if the price of the ticket might have been better spent revisiting the movies on DVD.
"The Lord of the Rings Symphony" will be performed again today at 3 p.m. at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts.
that i think is lame. not for the questioning of the 'symphony-ness' of the symphony - though hi, ever heard of a wee thing called the symphonie fantastique, mr. snotty? programmaticism does not disqualify something from being a symphony. however, i would accept his term, 'very ambitious pastiche' because that doesn't seem like a bad thing to me. the real lameness of the review though, is that it doesn't actually review the performance. he tells us that the chorus and all the soloists were miked. and that's all he says about them. k, thanks. also, is that supposed to be criticism of some sort? we all know that this piece was written to be recorded in a studio. there's no shame in needing amplification. also, i don't really agree with the holst thing. and shore himself said he looked to wagner for inspiration on this. so there, weenie reviewer.
anyway, my experience was mostly positive. the only not positive thing was my own vocal distress. i think there are a combination of factors in play here - i'm been having nasty allergies lately, i'm pre-menstrual, and i am feeling like i have to sing extra extra to keep the people around me on the right pitches and on their entrances. which is not something one is supposed to do, because it wrecks one's voice. somewhat ironically, i had no problem screeching out the high Bs in the last movement, but i think the screeching and above-mentioned factors blew out my mid-range. what noise i was making was scratchy and a bit painful. so i experienced a low-level of stress about this through most of the performance. i am determined not to repeat that today. the fact that i feel like i may have a full-on cold will not get in my way. no. i am going to enjoy this, damnit.
and then, after today, it's all over. wah.
because, right, performance #2 is today. i think last night went well. everyone stepped up, paid attention and all that. no big mistakes that i can recall.
my dad found this review:
September 19, 2004
By MATTHEW ERIKSON, Courant Staff Writer
The Hartford Symphony began its 2004-2005 pops season Saturday evening at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts with Howard Shore's "The Lord of the Rings Symphony." No doubt you're familiar with the recent films. And maybe you know the "symphony" Shore based on the films' Oscar-winning soundtracks and has had performed all around the world since its premiere in New Zealand last November. Hartford was the latest stop in an American tour that has included Columbus, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Houston and Seattle.
Half of the difficulty of Shore's work - at least for anyone with any classical music knowledge or appreciation - is the title. In full, it's "The Lord of the Rings Symphony: Six Movements for Orchestra and Chorus." Symphony is, of course, a loaded term, weighed by time-honored tradition and ironclad meaning. Sure, one might marvel at the brazenness of referring to a work based on programmatic film music as a symphony. But what's next, you wonder, "Spiderman: The Oratorio"?
In truth, Shore's "symphony" is a very ambitious pastiche. That's not meant as a slight. The music has moments of inspiration, specifically, wonderful orchestration (including exotic instruments from all over the world) and a wealth of musical ideas. Yet typical of film music, many of those ideas are derivative. For instance, the first and second movements of the "symphony," which come from the first film, "The Fellowship of the Rings," sounded like Carl Orff with its heady combination of powerful choral singing and colorful orchestration. (It suggested "Carmina Burana" for hobbits.) The martial music of the next two movements for "The Two Towers" evoked Holst. Then there was the potent brew of Wagnerian leitmotifs and harmonies that suffused the work from start to finish.
The Hartford Chorale and the Connecticut Children's Chorus lent their talents, singing in six Tolkien-derived languages. In spite of their big numbers, they were amplified, as were the soloists: soprano Jennifer Ferrand and baritone Bruce R. Jones from the Chorale, and boy soprano Kenneth Brand. Bigger voices such as operatic soprano Carolyn Betty and Broadway singer Susan Egan were also miked. Altogether, the singers crammed the stage with the Hartford Symphony - swelled by an extensive percussion section - in a way not seen before in a recent HSO concert. They were all under the skilled baton of Alastair Willis, resident conductor of the Seattle Symphony and a substitute for Shore.
As further indication that the performance is more spectacle than symphony, less concert than show, extensive lighting was used. Mortensen Hall's stage was often aglow in bright red to accompany the music's urgency. Projected images were also used: a lot of maps and sketches that paled in comparison to the live action of the films. Indeed, divorced from the films, Shore's music lost some of its impact, making you wonder if the price of the ticket might have been better spent revisiting the movies on DVD.
"The Lord of the Rings Symphony" will be performed again today at 3 p.m. at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts.
that i think is lame. not for the questioning of the 'symphony-ness' of the symphony - though hi, ever heard of a wee thing called the symphonie fantastique, mr. snotty? programmaticism does not disqualify something from being a symphony. however, i would accept his term, 'very ambitious pastiche' because that doesn't seem like a bad thing to me. the real lameness of the review though, is that it doesn't actually review the performance. he tells us that the chorus and all the soloists were miked. and that's all he says about them. k, thanks. also, is that supposed to be criticism of some sort? we all know that this piece was written to be recorded in a studio. there's no shame in needing amplification. also, i don't really agree with the holst thing. and shore himself said he looked to wagner for inspiration on this. so there, weenie reviewer.
anyway, my experience was mostly positive. the only not positive thing was my own vocal distress. i think there are a combination of factors in play here - i'm been having nasty allergies lately, i'm pre-menstrual, and i am feeling like i have to sing extra extra to keep the people around me on the right pitches and on their entrances. which is not something one is supposed to do, because it wrecks one's voice. somewhat ironically, i had no problem screeching out the high Bs in the last movement, but i think the screeching and above-mentioned factors blew out my mid-range. what noise i was making was scratchy and a bit painful. so i experienced a low-level of stress about this through most of the performance. i am determined not to repeat that today. the fact that i feel like i may have a full-on cold will not get in my way. no. i am going to enjoy this, damnit.
and then, after today, it's all over. wah.
