Looking back when I see this

This promotional video for a recent concert in Moscow by Collegium Musicum may sound innocent and for most would not be of interest.  But I noted something after reading social media posts this week in my world that I had to "welcome to it" something that had me looking back at my ten years of college-level singing each summer (which I'm continuing my second half season with more spectacular works that have made it evident ditching the church choir's Top 40 hits in favour of singing real material is worth it).


Now much of this in in Cyrillic, of course, but I saw one peculiar reference in the promos, after observing a recent poster.

22 июля / воскресенье 19.00 Американская классика: Ритм и Госпел Вокальный ансамбль Ex Oriente Lux римско-католического кафедрального собора Непорочного зачатия девы Марии под управлением Дэвида Кокрейна (США). При участии Сьюзан Келли (сопрано, США) и Алана Бейкера (баритон, США). лауреат международных конкурсов Анна Орлова, орган.

Whoa!  Note the part in bold italics.  Next to it is her husband.  But who is listed in the starring role?

Сьюзан Келли

That name does sound familar.  Ah it does for a good reason.  As a doctoral candidate in conducting, she conducted a Summer Chorus that I sang in which we did a piece we called one of the greatest compositions in the Western musical canon.  As Mitchell eloquently wrote years ago, "There's always a section in the Dias Irae, the Lacrimosa (Ah! that day of tears and mourning!/From the dust of earth returning/man for judgment must prepare him;/Spare, O God, in mercy spare him!), that makes me stop whatever I'm doing and just listen."

Yes, she conducted a 2011 performance of Mozart's Requiem.  That name just piqued me when I saw it in the promotions.

Dress code redux and copyrights

A few years ago, I remember my experience at a friend's church in singing a one-off with their choir, as our church's choir has degraded its quality with weekly karaoke performances of Top 40 hits that has grown worse, forcing me to ask why they think such hits have more virtue than sacred choral songs such as Te Deum variants from Haydn and Elder (of which our leader in Summer Chorus debuted in Carnegie Hall), and the Son of God Mass that the Summer Chorus sang this past weekend.  Choir is not for singing top 40 hits with a karaoke machine, folks.  Have the entertainment giants become such powerful groups where they want to control churches with their hits, and dumb leaders down by not letting them see over 500 years of church music from masters such as Bach?

The entertainment giants' material plays on KLVR Radio, but, it's not suitable for church.  One easy rehearsal, they boast, of the karaoke choir.  I did not join the choir to sing in a karaoke bar each week.  The choir is not backup singers for a pop soloist, as some books are pushing.  Instead of each section being its own and working with each other, the modern pop choirs have become soloists first, and teamwork of the choir is last  But sometimes, could it be the advancement of KLVR, the "modern worship" movement of Saddleback, Willow Creek, Newspring, and others, be for the detriment for those who studied choral singing?

Speaking of the Summer Chorus, the dress code issue I noticed years ago with the one-off is no better in the summer.  We saw everything from a blazer and leggings, to blouses and slacks, to the Little Black Dress, and various sleeveless looks without any consistency.  And even the men were now going over the edge, as one singer wore track pants and white sneakers when the rule was black slacks and black dress shoes.  There is no standard choral dress for summer it seems, and churches have decided the standard choral dress gives way to anything.   What has happened?  It's just as bad as the degrading of rules where golf in practice rounds the dress code no longer applies for PGA of America sanctioned events (not the USGA or PGA TOUR).  Can you imagine Phil Mickelson dressing in the same way was the women of this week's KPMG Women's PGA Championship when he does the Skills Competition as three stars of women's golf compete in a KPMG-sponsored skills challenge against a male golfer three years and change away from the Champions Tour?

As for copyrights, two of the tree pieces we sang in choir are protected by copyright, as one was written in 2001, and the other 2013;  the latter's "World Without End" was debuted by our leader's college choir a few years ago in Carnegie Hall.  As we finished our first practice, I had to warn a few attendees that cell phones (and video cameras, except for the conducting candidate's evaluation) were prohibited because they could be used to record the concert in violation of the organiser's agreement that it not be recorded without express written consent of the publisher.  These people who record the copyrighted "Son of God Mass" and "World Without End" face legal issues, and it was decided to warn them of the phone prohibition and the copyright warnings.  Most people would never record copyrighted material, but in today's relativistic world, we sadly have to warn people of such.

Flashback Friday: On the decline of orchestras (and classical music) today

I began taking voice lessons after being inspired by a few friends, and in February 2002 took my first official foray into vocal lessons. I never thought I would see the day that classical music became "the" music for me, yet for Serena LaRoche, Leah Hungerford, along with choral directors Jennifer Adam, Peppie Calvar, Susan Kelly, Keith Walker, Lillian Quackenbush, Alicia Walker, and numerous other choral singers (Rebecca Cunningham), soloists (Ashley Briggs, Sarah Rich, Jaeyoon Kim, Jacob Will, Kelsey Harrison), my musical attitude took a turn for the better, and as we learned three and a half years later, perfect for Our Word.

Having sung in four Summer Choruses, two one-offs at various churches, and a Governor's Carolighting in the hastily organised choir, the dearth of choral opportunities at home with pop drivel and karaoke replacing serious material and orchestras concerns me. While listening to a talk radio show, the hostess noted, "We need to pray for the survival of classical music not only because of its beauty, but also because it reminds us of the centuries when our society was so infused by the Christian gospel."

Patrick Kavanaugh in World magazine commented on such musical problems. While he noted it may be economic, market, the bullying of bad rock music in our culture, it was easily noticed that Biblical text and Christian theology dominates classical music, noting Brahms’ Requiem, Händel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Compare the difference between the Mass in C Major and that of a modern rock tune certain Life Enhancement Centres play in their buildings. Nolo contendere est. Keep in mind in our society today, humanism is the official state religion, and to advance the cause they have to prohibit classical works from performance in order to force us to carry humanism's dark agenda found through the modern pop tunes of society today.

Here is Mr. Kavanaugh's thought about the trouble with music today.

Originally published October 22, 2012

Bach's Christmas Oratorio: Day 3 - The Adoration of the shepherds

Bach's Christmas Oratorio: A celebration of three Sundays

In 2013, noted Protestant seminary president Albert Mohler discussed a panel that dismissed rap as "unworthy" for the church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In defending the dismissal of rap, he stated form matters in music, and the Biblical view was of good, beautiful, and of the "very being of God."  Specifically, he compared three composers in his column.
Mozart, in Dr. Mohler's view, was a genius, which interfered with art.  He also called out the Austrian composer's worldview, while it was not specifically mentioned in the original article, was found to have been Freemason-influenced, which Pope Clement XII had banned Catholics from participating.

His evidence was the well-known Requiem in D Minor, which I have sung twice in Summer Chorus, which is called an emotional piece but unsatisfying.  Beethoven, he noted, was deeply rooted in the Enlightenment and pantheism (a belief in many different deities), which the seminary leader calls it the primary reason why his music is highly inappropriate for the church.  However, Johann Sebastian Bach is the perfect example.  He called out the proportion and purpose where form and message are on target with an appropriate mix of all.  When pieces are written that include the note "Soli Deo Gloria" -- Solely for the Glory of God, it fits within his references.

In these words as written by Dr. Mohler, we present to you over the next few days the most appropriate series for Christmas, Bach's Christmas Oratorio.  Rejoice!  The Saviour is Born!  In Other Words celebrates Christmas the most appropriate way, with the greatest sacred musician of all time.

Work Cited:
Albert Mohler, "Thinking About Thinking About Rap -- Unexpected Thoughts Over Thanksgiving,"  December 1, 2013.

Flashback Friday: Beethoven edition

"What?"

- Ludwig van Beethoven, 1824

Originally published December 16, 2014

In memoriam: Dallas, et al

The Adagietto from Mahler's Symphony 5 in C sharp minor, with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

Poetry Wednesday

Our summer chorus finished off our season that had three songs -- a Mozart Missa Brevis (K. 140), Brahams' "Nänie," (Op. 82m, Schiller's elegy), and Corigliano's "Fern Hill" (a setting of Dylan Thomas' poem).

Over the next few weeks, we'll share some thoughts of one of the two poems.

As our chorus sang the Corigliano's "Fern Hill," I had to reflect the poem was published in 1945, and it was at the end of World War II.  I thought the poem, while a reflection of family visits, could at the time, have reflected on soldiers from their youth to the unpredictable life of war that was happening at the time. Let's look back at the poem itself.

NOTE:  Because of copyright claims that are technically on the edge of public domain (the poem has a 1945 copyright, and US rules regarding the life plus 70 has this poem on the edge).  Read it from this site

We officially end the Christmas season

Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.

And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way."

-- Matthew 2:7-12

And this we reach the end of the Christmastide, the Christmas season, which runs from December 25 to January 6, with yesterday's celebration of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We celebrate the Wise Men coming, as seen in those verses posted, with the final part of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, which has parts that are to be sung in the new year.  This Epiphany part is to be sung during this time.

Opera Wednesday - the little black dress

It had to happen again.

In preparation for a book tour promoting her autobiography Call Me Debbie, Deborah Voigt decides to confront the Little Black Dress that cost her the title role in a British production of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, and admits her problem with food, which too many people have.

After thinking about it as an 11-time marathon finisher (and athlete myself), I thought about the weight issue considering my friendships with dancers and fitness people.  Watch it with grains, and avoid refined sugars and chemical sierra storms.  Maybe a certain singer I know needs to watch it herself too!

Deborah Voigt has fun with that incident, eleven years later!

Wagner and the Jews

THE ACCLAIMED WAGNERIAN CONDUCTOR WILHELM FURTWANGLER APPLAUDED BY HITLER AND THE NAZI LEADERS

I've written a lot on this blog about Wagner and the relationship between his music and his anti-Semitism, i.e. can a bad man still produce transcendental art?  Fr. Owen Lee thought so, and now there's a very good article by Terry Teachout that revisits the question, with perhaps a different answer.

Hence the uncanny timeliness of “Wagner and the Jews,” in which Nathan Shields takes a searching and persuasive look at the ways in which Wagner’s operas embody his anti-Semitic obsessions. The human capacity for self-deception is and will always be infinite, but I cannot imagine that any lover of Wagner’s music who reads Shields’ essay with an open mind will thereafter find it possible to erect a cordon sanitaire separating the composer’s operas from his ideas. They are consubstantial, as he meant them to be, and those who think otherwise are ignoring the self-evident assertions of their creator, who believed his work to be the New Testament of a religion of art.

Very interesting.   Read the whole article - questions such as these are seldom more relevant than they are today.  I don't know if I agree with him or not, but I've always felt that Teachout's opinions were worthy of deep consideration.  I know Mitchell does as well, having linked to him several times both here and at his TV blog, so I'm in good company.

Flashback Friday: Let the Bright Seraphim

THE AUTHOR WITH ASHLEY BRIGGS FOLLOWING THE 2011 PRAYER SERVICE

On Wednesday, Nikki Haley was sworn in for her second term as Governess of South Carolina.  I had the opportunity to attend Family Fun Night Tuesday, but because of a longer workload, I was unable to attend the inauguration as I was in the past.

Since this commentary was originally written, I had the opportunity in 2013 to sing another Händel work, Israel in Egypt.  Furthermore, the liberal Diocese of Upper South Carolina is the older of the two diocese of the heretical Episcopal Church, of the 22 western counties.  The 24 eastern counties, of which my residence is part, is with the newly founded Episcopal Church in South Carolina, of which ten counties (including my own) do not have a congregation, as they have stayed with Bishop Mark Lawrence, aligning themselves with the Global South primates over the heretical teachings imposed by Katherine Schori, who leads The Episcopal Church.

Meanwhile, speaking of the 2015 Inauguration, the winner of a Pop Idol season so bad that RTL Group fired a judge after the season because of her actions, including a quote that could meant an intent to fix the contest in an unprecedented way that did happen (Minaj's comments against men proved to be prophetic -- could have sent RTL officials to fire her thinking she wanted the fix, since fixing game shows is a federal criminal offense), did the National Anthem at the Inauguration this time around.  Reading that the Pop Idol winner Candace Glover was performing forced me to play a political zinger.

"I know Ashley Briggs. Ashley Briggs is a friend of mine. And Candace Glover, you're no Ashley Briggs!"

Flashback here.

Christmastide thoughts: the Gift of the Magi

This day, January 6, is known as the Epiphany, the twelfth and final day of Christmastide, with Ordinary Time in the Christian calendar coming until the Lenten season.

Let's meditate on the importance with this version of "What Child Is This," which is the correct version, as we mentioned a few years ago with the correct lyrics that are omitted in too many hymnals and by pop stars.

And this important day in the Christmas season, the last day, shall be observed with a reading of Matthew 2:1-12, as the Wise Men arrive to see the Newborn King.

(NOTE:  The term "three wise men" is often used, but we do not know how many were there;  three is often used because of the three gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense.)

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,

And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.

And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

Some more Christmastide humour

Craig Courtney's "A Musicological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas" first came to my attention when Voices in Harmony (the South Carolina public radio programme featuring choral music, whose future is uncertain with the host's departure from state public radio -- she and I sang in a few Summer Choruses together) played it on their Christmas episode.

See if you can catch the references to classical music's masterpieces in this whimsical piece that is only fitting for the season (which, remember, goes into the new year).

Wish I'd said that: Beethoven edition

"What?"

- Ludwig van Beethoven, 1824

Michael Daugherty, "Dead Elvis"

Just in time for Halloween, it's Michael Daugherty's terrific piece for bassoon and small chamber, "Dead Elvis."  Enjoy this whimsical piece, and listen closely for the refrain of the Dias Irae!

Throwback Thursday: Jon Vickers on mediocrity

People will laugh when I say it, but I feel there has been for some years now a ground-swell of demand for mediocrity. They don't want excellence. We don't have positive heroes anymore; they're negative heroes. What do we attack? We've attacked all the great pillars of civilization. We take great heroes of history and so far as we are capable we snoop around in the excretia of some of these heroes until we find a flaw. So because a hero is not perfection, which if he was he would be God himself, then he's nothing more than anybody on the street.

Jon Vickers, 1981 interview


Originally published March 7, 2008

Throwback Thursday: Hitting the wrong (?) note

A couple of weeks ago, Joe Queenan (full disclosure: one of my favorite writers) published a very funny, very nasty piece in The Guardian in which he attacked modern classical music. (I particularly liked one of his lines in which he describes concert-goes who "have learned to stay awake and applaud politely at compositions by Christopher Rouse and Tan Dun. But they do this only because these works tend to be short and not terribly atonal; because they know this is the last time in their lives they'll have to listen to them."  On the other hand, I'll admit six years after the fact that I actually rather liked Satyagraha.)

Needless to say, Queenan's piece has caused something of a stir among classical music blogs. It's quite possible, dim bulbs that some of them are, that they didn't realize Queenan's role as a resident cultural curmudgeon. But the debate has been nothing if not spirited. Terry Teachout, while taking Queenan to task on his total dismissal of modern music, agrees that "I don't go in for crunch-and-thump music, nor do I care for the over-and-over-and-over-again minimalism of John Adams and Philip Glass, which puts me to sleep." (I agree with a lot of what Teachout says about the modern music he likes.) Teachout's friend Ethan Iverson, who champions "frequently fiercely dissonant and somewhat tuneless" music, disagrees, as Teachout attests. (By the way, there's some terrific writing going on from these bloggers, so don't think that the links I've chosen here are anything more than the tip of the iceberg in this discussion. And check out the writers they link to as well - you might not agree with them, as I didn't, but you'll be informed about the discussion by reading them.)

I suppose the way you feel about classical music in general will dictate your answer to this question. If you feel that it's a window to God's creation, for example, you probably tend to side more with Jay Nordlinger, who wrote that

Music critics and other such types like to say that what the public really wants is modern music — Cage, Birtwistle, Stockhausen. None of this Classical Top 40 stuff. But this is wishful thinking, of course. If you give 'em Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and "Finlandia" — not to mention "Carmen" or "William Tell" — boy, do they come.

As is often the case, I gotta go with Jay on this. (Even though there's plenty more good stuff out there than the "top 40" that you hear on classical radio nowadays - hey program directors, you ever heard of "deep cuts"?) Yes, there are twentieth-century composers that I'm very fond of - Britten, Stravinsky, Copeland, Rorem, Barber, Menotti, even Ligetti and Webern. Now, there are a lot of critics who would complain that this music isn't "modern" enough for them (except perhaps for the last two). But, as we've written many times at this site, there is an undeniable relationship between truth and beauty, particularly the natural beauty in the tones that mirror the rhythms of the human body. (And we touched on modern music as well, as this link to our four-part roundable from last year on "Art and Politics" will attest - though since this initial writing I've come around on several pieces, including Nixon in China, which I now agree is one of the seminal 20th Century American operas.)

And so we are left with this question to ponder: is there, in fact, a relationship between the harshness of modern music and the harshness of our modern culture? For we have become a harsh people, in our words, our opinions, our very way of life. Some call it edgy, but others might suggest it's merely nasty. Is that a good thing? Is our culture really better off now than it was fifty years ago?

I'm just asking.

Originally published July 29, 2008

Retro TV Monday - This week in TV Guide: February 11, 1961

Until a few years ago, the most I could say about Peter Gunn was that Craig Stevens played a suave private eye, and it had one of the coolest themes of all time.  Now, to know that I had to have seen it at some point in time, probably many years ago, before I was old enough to understand Lola Albright.  But then I was able to get the complete series on DVD - and then I got Lola Albright.

[Pause while heartbeat returns to normal.]

Albright plays Edie Hart, the singer who's also Gunn's girlfriend. She works out of a bar called Mother's, which doubles as the place where Gunn meets his clients and conducts his business.  She's a smart, sassy character* who's graced with some snappy dialogue, every bit Gunn's equal in the scenes in which they're matched.  She has a fine singing voice, doing her own vocals in the occasional set pieces at Mother's.  She exudes an adult sexiness that makes it impossible to take your eyes off of her when she's on screen.  And she's a likable character, as is Gunn, making this one of the easier private eye shows to watch.

*Gunn's nickname for her was "Silly."

Off screen, Lola Albright has some things to say about what she sees as an unreasonable invasion of her privacy since her divorce from actor Jack Carson.  "To tell the truth, I'm sick and tired of the line 'Does Lola get what Lola wants?'*  Every magazine and newspaper seems to leap on it as though discovering it for the very first time.  I am equally sick and tired of the line 'Lonely Lola.'"  Such are the curses of having an alliterative name, it would appear.  "If my name were Betty, I'd be two cliches to the good."  She struggles with the line between personal and public; while she understands the sacrifices of privacy that are part of stardom, she wonders "why does the press have to go so far?  Why do they print things you never said, things they make up out of a blue sky?  Why do they twist what you say into meanings you never meant?"  Lola also denies she's dissatisfied with her role on Gunn; she likes how Edie got her own place in the third (and final) season, a plot devise that gives her a chance to sing more.  "I don't want to dominate the show and I certainly don't want a series of my own."

*If you're unsure of the origin of the line, watch this.

People who work with her have nothing but good things to say.  Frank Stempel, who was her ex-husband Carson's manager, says that "Even now that she's making good money, she doesn't really know what it is.  She goes out of her way to help people.  She'd give away her last dime if she thought it would help somebody."  Press agent Bill Stein remembers how when his wife was in the hospital, "Lola must have called me a dozen times offering to come out and take care of the two kids while I was working.  If you know her, you like her."

Peter Gunn, which ends its three-year run at the end of the current season, is probably the high point of Lola Albright's career, although she's hardly a recluse once the series ends, appearing in several big-screen movies and is a steady presence in guest roles on TV through the 80s.  But there's no disagreeing that in a genre that often produces more than its share of annoying characters, Peter Gunn's Edie is one of the most enjoyable; in fact, after you've watched her in a few episodes, you'll probably be singing these words as well:



Read the rest here. ◙

National Anthem, yes - Halftime, no

The NFL has made a smart move for the National Anthem during Super Bowl XLVIII in East Rutherford, New Jersey in Renée Fleming.  Just across the Hudson is the home of the great Metropolitan Opera, and why not give America's Soprano the right to do the Anthem prim and proper?

But the halftime show and Bruno Mars?  Give me a break.  The idea of big name pop figures doing the Super Bowl Halftime was a byproduct of successful counterprogramming by Fox in 1992 with a raunchy, Saturday night-night show airing during CBS' coverage of Super Bowl XXVI halftime, and the loss of viewers from CBS, forced the NFL to make changes.  Ten years after the worst fiasco in Super Bowl history with heavy fines, is it time we end this practice?  Surely I would have wanted an exposure of La Belle Renée and bass Keith Miller (a former Bronco himself), heldentenor Lawrence Harris (ex-Titan), and tenor Ta'u Pupu'a (drafted by the Browns but never played because of an injury) with an all-star orchestra trying great opera scenes would have been much better!   ◙