Carlo Gesualdo was a prince and landholder in Venosa in southeastern Italy. Around 1588 his wife began an affair with a gentleman in the vicinity. In 1590 Gesualdo, found the pair in bed together, stabbed them both, and hung their corpses in front of his castle for all to see. The story was retold repeatedly by poets of the day in a sixteenth-century equivalent of headline news. Was Gesualdo really a renegade as well as a murderer? Was he even a “modernist” of his time?
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Performance Date
: Sun, Feb 21
Anybody remember this group from their Verdi Requiem in 2001? Tell us what you’re most looking forward to, or what you especially like about this group.
(UPDATE – February 22)
Encores performed:
Jungfrun hon går i ringen (H. Alfvén)
Uti vår hage (Traditional, arr. H. Alfvén)
Categories: Classical Music, Music, People Are Talking!
Carlo Gesualdo was a prince and landholder in Venosa in southeastern Italy. Around 1588 his wife began an affair with a gentleman in the vicinity. In 1590 Gesualdo, found the pair in bed together, stabbed them both, and hung their corpses in front of his castle for all to see. The story was retold repeatedly by poets of the day in a sixteenth-century equivalent of headline news. Was Gesualdo really a renegade as well as a murderer? Was he even a “modernist” of his time?
Leslie Stainton covers the first night of UMS Night School, where she learned the meaning of “maverick.” VIDEO interview with UMS Head Usher Dennis Carter as he prepares to usher at the Einstein on the Beach preview performances.
Editor’s Note: UMS will present “A Night in Treme:The Musical Majesty of New Orleans,” a night of New Orleans jazz featuring the Rebirth Brass Band, this Friday, November 11 at Hill Auditorium. The following note …
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I mean really…what a stupendous choir !!! Are they human?
http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/swedish-rad…
I thoroughly enjoyed the concert – this group has the most spectacular dynamics, intonation, and blend. Two pieces in particular were extremely memorable for me: first, the Lobet den Herrn. The piece complimented the group so well, in that in it's writing it brings out the natural percussive nature of the voice. That combined with the group's musicality was stunning to hear. The second was, obviously, the Hillborg piece Mouyayoum. It was amazing to not only hear the human voice create those sounds, but also blend together to create such seemingly contradictory yet beautiful phrases. Really an amazing performance!
We enjoyed the great *variety* of pieces they sang – maybe especially the Sandstrom and Bach together, and then the Mass by Frank Martin. And of course the folk-song encores.
I thought the Swedish Radio Choir was terrific. I especially enjoyed the Mass. It was very moving and the Latin enunciation for a group of 32 arranged in a dual chorus was remarkable. I applaud the conductor for making sure the choir correctly pronounced the short "e" in "Christe eleison"–since the Latin vocative is long, almost everyone mispronounces the Greek. I also really enjoyed the "Lobet" with the dual chorus. Very powerful voices for so few. One low point was the "Mouyayoum." More of a technical exercise than a musical piece, it was neither pleasant nor meaningful. In future concerts, I would recommend they drop that one.
Various press quotes from across the US as the Swedes made their way from community to community…they appear to have made a very strong impression.
"Here in the land of 10,000 choirs, you can start a lively conversation by asking a clutch of singers whom they regard as the world's best choral ensemble. One name that frequently comes up is the Swedish Radio Choir. So it's no surprise that the seats of Ted Mann Concert Hall were filled with most of the stars of the local choral firmament. And what they heard was a concert that might make some rethink how much power can be packed into 32 voices. Yes, the group wove soft, supple layers of harmony when the works called for them, but they also infused their performance with intensity and a volume level that some groups of 100 can't reach. This remarkable group filled it with tension and drama, an inspiring end to a performance that likely left the appreciative audience feeling that this group deserves the adulation it's accrued."
St. Paul Pioneer Press – Feb. 26
"The members of the Swedish Radio Choir are the Olympians of choral singing, and if every choral singer got a chance to hear them, the world might hum with gorgeous music for an awfully long time. The balances among the 32 voices in the choir are unimaginably perfect; ditto the phrasing, the purity of their sound, and last, but hardly least, their unerring intonation." AnnArbor.com – Feb. 21
"It was an event of the first magnitude. Exquisitely done. The sheer quality of the singers' voices was continually startling. Dynamic control was faultless. The choir's sound was so full and rich it might have been heard in Kentucky, and there was a wealth of color and expressive detail. Bohlin was a vibrant leader, precise and keenly expressive." Cincinnati.com – Feb. 25