Originally posted by Old Grumpy
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Prom 22 - 31.07.17: Monteverdi's Vespers
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Yes, actors / musicians are [IME] pretty hypercritical of their own performances.
This Vespers I found a bit relentless, as if they were trying very, very hard to strive and surprise in every other bar, and to that extent, the 'performance' at times actually got in the way of the music.
Sure as heck it more or less scrubbed out any sense of the liturgy that supposedly animated it, and made it into an operatic / madrigalist mosaic. Was that the intention? Many things to admire en passant - the instrumental textrures stole it for me - but in terms of performance, and I have more than several on CD - believe it or not I often go back to the Ian Partridge / John Elwes vinyls.
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Originally posted by Old Grumpy View PostI often wonder whether being a musician and/or highy musically educated can hinder appreciation of a given perfomance...
... being neither, I just thought it was a great performance of a great piece (or pieces).
OG
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Originally posted by Old Grumpy View PostI often wonder whether being a musician and/or highly musically educated can hinder appreciation of a given performance...
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Nevilevelis
Originally posted by underthecountertenor View PostI'd like to think that I am a musician, of sorts, and I have taken part in several performances of these Vespers. It didn't hinder my enjoyment in the least (I was in the Hall, towards the back of the arena). I agree with you that it was a great (to which I would add fresh and invigorating) performance of a great, er, oeuvre. The interpolated plainsong, especially that sung by the mezzo, was meltingly wonderful too.
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A thoroughly enjoyable prom, last night. This ensemble I hope will go from strength to0 strength. I am surprised, too that the Beeb didn't have cameras there. Especially with this vibrant group and also Monteverdi's masterpiece in his anniversary year.Don’t cry for me
I go where music was born
J S Bach 1685-1750
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Nevilevelis
Originally posted by Old Grumpy View PostI often wonder whether being a musician and/or highy musically educated can hinder appreciation of a given perfomance...
... being neither, I just thought it was a great performance of a great piece (or pieces).
OG
NVV
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Originally posted by MrGongGong View PostTesting out some new Genelec speakers (sadly not going to be able to keep them for long ) at home by listening to this
which was rather wonderful indeed
A great performance and no problems with the stream at all
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Originally posted by jean View PostWhat on earth was that fiercely syllabic Lord's Prayer doing at the beginning?
"The music itself spans a wide range, from polyphonic choral writing, to madrigal-like vocal textures and passages of almost operatic solo writing. To this mix Pichon added a further element: the interstitial plainchant that would have been expected in liturgical performances in Monteverdi's time."As the lights dim the choir turn their backs on the audience. A spotlight picks out a single singer. With one hand aloft he leads the male voices through the “Pater Noster” and “Ave Maria” in a stern and stately plainchant. Then suddenly the full battalion of cornetts and sackbuts, theorbos and recorders burst into the joyful opening of Monteverdi’s Vespers, and we are up and running.
While the 'Pater Noster' at the start, in a literal sense, wasn't "interstitial" (since it was at the start), presumably that was in the spirit of interweaving additional passages.
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Thanks.
ButOriginally posted by bluestateprommer View PostWhile the 'Pater Noster' at the start, in a literal sense, wasn't "interstitial" (since it was at the start), presumably that was in the spirit of interweaving additional passages.
Bernard Hughes writes (in your link)
all the plainchant passages were taken at a crawling pace. While this worked in places – such as at the beginning – it was surprising, given the inventiveness evident elsewhere, that there wasn’t any diversity in approach here.
And it was surprising, as France probably has the liveliest plainsong tradition.
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Nevilevelis
As far as I could tell, the plainsong (throughout) was sung according to the principles found in Giovanni Guidetti's Directorium Chori (1582/1589/1604) compiled after the Renaissance traditions already in use. http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de...067_00111.html
I am not aware that this approach is used in French churches today. It is how the chant would have been sung in seventeenth-century Venice. Personally, I wouldn't have sung it quite so slowly.
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