Quasthoff is a god. I've had the good fortune to hear him half a dozen times in concert, despite my living in the provinces, and he's enthralling, like Proust-rhapsodizing-over-Berma enthralling. New York Unfoggetarians: he's singing at Carnegie Hall Wednesday and Saturday, and you should really go hear him.
I just couldn't let this post go without comment. You can get back to Tia's sex life now.
I consider this to be tell-the-grandkids stuff: I've heard him sing "Die schöne Müllerin," "Die Winterreisse," "Schwanengesang," a bunch of Wolf's Mörike-Lieder, songs of Brahms and Strauss, Mozart arias and covers of Sinatra hits. Any one of those concerts surpasses even my first-ever arena show, which featured Stevie Ray Vaughn, Peter Tosh, Talking Heads and the Police.
I mention that not to boast or to beef up the thread, but I should point out that getting to 1000 is going to be pretty slow going at this rate.
OK, I'll post on the lieder thread. I heard a recorded performance of "Erlkonig" once in music class, and it was really scary.
So during one of these performances, does the audience get a translation of the lyrics, or a synopsis of what each song is about, or is it strictly just a musical performance?
Herr Quasthoff mentions how he tries to fit the tone of his voice to the actual varying content of the lyrics more than other singers.
You generally get translations (and background in program notes), but it's hard to follow as you're listening, so I assume the audience has a varied experience. German speakers can just listen, people who know the repertoire well -- possibly the majority of the audience at a typical lieder recital -- rely on their knowledge of the texts, others can try to follow along with the translation, and some just listen to the sound. The whole point of text setting is to express meaning in music, so this last option should be perfectly valid, but on the level of individual words, obviously not so much.
Lubow is totally right about Quasthoff's use of tone color; he has such amazing range and control that he basically erases any distinction between singing and acting. In Schubert's Die Doppelgänger (part of the last song cycle, Schwanengesang), which I heard him perform in a recital, there's this haunting bit where the narrator, abandoned by the woman he loves, sees his tormented double. The way he sang it, there was a chilling sense of abjection, as though he were singing from his experience (which on some level he had to have been). On the way out after the recital, I overheard a woman say, "He's so sexy."
Quasthoff is a god. I've had the good fortune to hear him half a dozen times in concert, despite my living in the provinces, and he's enthralling, like Proust-rhapsodizing-over-Berma enthralling. New York Unfoggetarians: he's singing at Carnegie Hall Wednesday and Saturday, and you should really go hear him.
I just couldn't let this post go without comment. You can get back to Tia's sex life now.
Posted by Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 10- 1-06 12:27 PM
Comment threads with only one comment are just so unutterably sad.
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 10- 1-06 3:45 PM
There now, all better, see?
Posted by M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 10- 1-06 3:45 PM
(Wiping away tears) Oh M/tch, I can't tell you... I was so all alone.
Then again, this thread was all mine -- mine! -- until you showed up.
Posted by Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 10- 1-06 3:54 PM
Wow, I'd love to hear him in person.
Posted by FL | Link to this comment | 10- 1-06 5:09 PM
I consider this to be tell-the-grandkids stuff: I've heard him sing "Die schöne Müllerin," "Die Winterreisse," "Schwanengesang," a bunch of Wolf's Mörike-Lieder, songs of Brahms and Strauss, Mozart arias and covers of Sinatra hits. Any one of those concerts surpasses even my first-ever arena show, which featured Stevie Ray Vaughn, Peter Tosh, Talking Heads and the Police.
I mention that not to boast or to beef up the thread, but I should point out that getting to 1000 is going to be pretty slow going at this rate.
Posted by Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 10- 1-06 6:03 PM
If the lieder thread gets to 100, I'll be surprised and a little bit weirded out. That's an amazing list of concerts, though, J McQ.
Posted by FL | Link to this comment | 10- 1-06 9:31 PM
OK, I'll post on the lieder thread. I heard a recorded performance of "Erlkonig" once in music class, and it was really scary.
So during one of these performances, does the audience get a translation of the lyrics, or a synopsis of what each song is about, or is it strictly just a musical performance?
Herr Quasthoff mentions how he tries to fit the tone of his voice to the actual varying content of the lyrics more than other singers.
Posted by Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 10- 1-06 9:34 PM
You generally get translations (and background in program notes), but it's hard to follow as you're listening, so I assume the audience has a varied experience. German speakers can just listen, people who know the repertoire well -- possibly the majority of the audience at a typical lieder recital -- rely on their knowledge of the texts, others can try to follow along with the translation, and some just listen to the sound. The whole point of text setting is to express meaning in music, so this last option should be perfectly valid, but on the level of individual words, obviously not so much.
Lubow is totally right about Quasthoff's use of tone color; he has such amazing range and control that he basically erases any distinction between singing and acting. In Schubert's Die Doppelgänger (part of the last song cycle, Schwanengesang), which I heard him perform in a recital, there's this haunting bit where the narrator, abandoned by the woman he loves, sees his tormented double. The way he sang it, there was a chilling sense of abjection, as though he were singing from his experience (which on some level he had to have been). On the way out after the recital, I overheard a woman say, "He's so sexy."
Posted by Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 10- 2-06 12:26 AM
'Die' s/b 'Der.' Corrections are, of course, thread padding.
Posted by Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 10- 2-06 12:29 AM