Friday, November 5, 2010
Ryan Recommends
This disc is the first of several put out by a newish group of young British singers. The music they've chosen includes some of my absolute favorites. The performances are stunning. The voices are clear but vibrant and intense. The polyphony comes alive in their capable hands.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Listen to the pre-concert podcast, about Ralph Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem, here:
http://www.divshare.com/download/11338450-4c8
http://www.divshare.com/download/11338450-4c8
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Ryan Recommends -- More than just classical
Though not as eclectic of some of my colleagues,' my musical influences don't come entirely from the world of classical music. I've been told that I'm "so unhip" with regards to current pop music. I don't disagree. But there are some key pieces of pop music, or pop artists, that have played a big role in shaping my musicality.
I grew up with the music of Chicago -- or at least the music of Chicago recorded on their greatest hits of the 80s album (cassette tape, at the time). I love these songs.
I'm particularly in love with Will You Still Love Me. It combines so many fabulous elements. Bright 80s male pop vocals, bright electric piano, warm synth pads, Db major, guitar overdrive, three- and four-part choral writing, horn licks, strings, good harmony full of frequent secondary dominants, inventive percussion and general textural interest, Handel/Vivaldi bit near the end (4:10) and high horn at the very end. So complex but so direct. I'm no aficionado, but a part of me can't help but say "they don't make music like this anymore."
I grew up with the music of Chicago -- or at least the music of Chicago recorded on their greatest hits of the 80s album (cassette tape, at the time). I love these songs.
I'm particularly in love with Will You Still Love Me. It combines so many fabulous elements. Bright 80s male pop vocals, bright electric piano, warm synth pads, Db major, guitar overdrive, three- and four-part choral writing, horn licks, strings, good harmony full of frequent secondary dominants, inventive percussion and general textural interest, Handel/Vivaldi bit near the end (4:10) and high horn at the very end. So complex but so direct. I'm no aficionado, but a part of me can't help but say "they don't make music like this anymore."
Monday, March 22, 2010
Ryan Recommends
Ryan Recommends
Choral music is such a central part of my life that it’s hard to remember how I first fell in love with it. But I do remember one or two of the first choral cds I ever owned and the impact they had on my young ears. I thought I’d share some of these with the Chorale so they can have a sense of where I’m coming from.
Like many people, my music listening goes through phases. But no matter where my interests venture, I always come back to two genres I absolutely love: Renaissance music and Christmas music. (Christmas music stays on the play list year-round). My love affair with the Renaissance began in eighth grade. A friend of mine introduced me to a cd by the Voices of Ascension called Beyond Chant: Mysteries of the Renaissance.
The Voices of Ascension sing beautifully in tune, with a steady, solid tone that allows the chords to tune and gives real substance to the overall sound. The tempos are somewhat brisk. They don’t try to do anything fancy with the music in terms of special tone colors, dynamics, or even phrasing. And they don’t necessarily need to; Palestrina and others have built in interest with the counterpoint. If you’re looking for a recording of Renaissance music that allows it simply to speak for itself, in its own language, this is an excellent choice. These days, for my own taste, this recording sounds a little stolid and wooden. I like performances that have a greater sense of building and releasing tension – more Z axis. But as an introduction – and especially as a wide cross section of Renaissance (and early Baroque) choral repertoire – it remains very useful.
The disc opens with one of the best: Sicut Cervus by Palestrina. I’ve never listened to this piece – particularly on this recording – without marveling at the way the lines both work so beautifully on their own but then take on new life when the counterpoint bring them into harmonic engagement with the others. The piece will always remain a touchstone for me. The second track, a recording of Josquin’s Ave Maria, shows superhuman vocal control, and is my favorite recording of this piece. Spare, simple, stunning.
The third track contains a “moment” (suspension and resolution) at 0:50 that might in fact be the very thing that first made me fall in love with this music. When I first heard that sound – that sensation—I was hooked. I went on a wild search, buying other choral discs that promised to offer something similar, and the rest is history. To this day, I’m a sucker for a good suspension.
I’m less intimately familiar with the rest of the disc because I haven’t listened to it as many times as I have listened to the first three tracks. Throughout my teens, I would play this cd after I climbed into bed and would listen until I fell asleep. By the end of the Josquin I tended to be wonderfully relaxed, and once I heard “the moment” in the Lassus, I’d drift asleep.
But the rest of the disc contains some real gems. The Victoria Jesu Dulcis and Byrd Ave Verum are two of the more sensitively-sung recordings on the disc. I love Schütz' Selig Sind Die Toten and enjoy this recording. The Heu nos miseros is a beautifully sumptuous piece. The Victoria O Magnum Mysterium is a good recording.
And, to my Awesome Altos, since I can't demonstrate it myself, I can't help but point out that the also sound is dense and rich but focused and forward.
RJB
Choral music is such a central part of my life that it’s hard to remember how I first fell in love with it. But I do remember one or two of the first choral cds I ever owned and the impact they had on my young ears. I thought I’d share some of these with the Chorale so they can have a sense of where I’m coming from.
Like many people, my music listening goes through phases. But no matter where my interests venture, I always come back to two genres I absolutely love: Renaissance music and Christmas music. (Christmas music stays on the play list year-round). My love affair with the Renaissance began in eighth grade. A friend of mine introduced me to a cd by the Voices of Ascension called Beyond Chant: Mysteries of the Renaissance.
The Voices of Ascension sing beautifully in tune, with a steady, solid tone that allows the chords to tune and gives real substance to the overall sound. The tempos are somewhat brisk. They don’t try to do anything fancy with the music in terms of special tone colors, dynamics, or even phrasing. And they don’t necessarily need to; Palestrina and others have built in interest with the counterpoint. If you’re looking for a recording of Renaissance music that allows it simply to speak for itself, in its own language, this is an excellent choice. These days, for my own taste, this recording sounds a little stolid and wooden. I like performances that have a greater sense of building and releasing tension – more Z axis. But as an introduction – and especially as a wide cross section of Renaissance (and early Baroque) choral repertoire – it remains very useful.
The disc opens with one of the best: Sicut Cervus by Palestrina. I’ve never listened to this piece – particularly on this recording – without marveling at the way the lines both work so beautifully on their own but then take on new life when the counterpoint bring them into harmonic engagement with the others. The piece will always remain a touchstone for me. The second track, a recording of Josquin’s Ave Maria, shows superhuman vocal control, and is my favorite recording of this piece. Spare, simple, stunning.
The third track contains a “moment” (suspension and resolution) at 0:50 that might in fact be the very thing that first made me fall in love with this music. When I first heard that sound – that sensation—I was hooked. I went on a wild search, buying other choral discs that promised to offer something similar, and the rest is history. To this day, I’m a sucker for a good suspension.
I’m less intimately familiar with the rest of the disc because I haven’t listened to it as many times as I have listened to the first three tracks. Throughout my teens, I would play this cd after I climbed into bed and would listen until I fell asleep. By the end of the Josquin I tended to be wonderfully relaxed, and once I heard “the moment” in the Lassus, I’d drift asleep.
But the rest of the disc contains some real gems. The Victoria Jesu Dulcis and Byrd Ave Verum are two of the more sensitively-sung recordings on the disc. I love Schütz' Selig Sind Die Toten and enjoy this recording. The Heu nos miseros is a beautifully sumptuous piece. The Victoria O Magnum Mysterium is a good recording.
And, to my Awesome Altos, since I can't demonstrate it myself, I can't help but point out that the also sound is dense and rich but focused and forward.
RJB
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Easy as 1-2-3?
Ryan's Rehearsal Recipe.
Since moving to California, I have been cooking up a storm in my kitchen. I suppose, then, it's not surprising that I often think about recipes when working with the Santa Clara Chorale. To organize the rehearsal process with the Chorale, I encourage them to think of rehearsing three separate sets of ideas: 1) Technical issues. I always think of this stuff as Choir 101. Pitches, rhythms, breath marks, final consonants –honoring the ink the composer put on the page, and the pencil marks we put on top of it. 2) Sound. Each individual needs to bring to the ensemble his or her most resonant, focused sound. The ensemble wants to hone specific vowels for specific syllables. What particular sound does the music demand? The singers need to develop a wide variety of options on their color palettes to serve the particular needs of each piece. 3) Communication. The singers should have a sense of the meaning and thrust of the texts. They then want to be sure that the way they deliver the text vocally clarifies and enhances this meaning. Which of the words in the text are most important? Which sounds make that word expressive?
My hope is always that the choir will master the technical issues right away so that we can move on to the fun stuff – the sound and the communication. Distinguishing the technical issues as “area 1” makes it easier to come back to them and focus on those details if, for instance, rhythms don’t sound accurate, or if cutoffs become ragged. Likewise, if the sound becomes dull, the Chorale can take a moment to focus specifically on “area 2” and brush off the dust and polish their sound until it rings again. But ultimately, I hope they realize that, as much fun as it is to execute a cutoff perfectly or sing a chord perfectly in tune, we focus on areas 1 and 2 for the sake of area 3. To communicate something more beautifully than one can through speech alone – that’s where the fun is in choral singing. That’s why I’m in the business, at least. Getting there can be as easy as 1-2-3.
RJB
Since moving to California, I have been cooking up a storm in my kitchen. I suppose, then, it's not surprising that I often think about recipes when working with the Santa Clara Chorale. To organize the rehearsal process with the Chorale, I encourage them to think of rehearsing three separate sets of ideas: 1) Technical issues. I always think of this stuff as Choir 101. Pitches, rhythms, breath marks, final consonants –honoring the ink the composer put on the page, and the pencil marks we put on top of it. 2) Sound. Each individual needs to bring to the ensemble his or her most resonant, focused sound. The ensemble wants to hone specific vowels for specific syllables. What particular sound does the music demand? The singers need to develop a wide variety of options on their color palettes to serve the particular needs of each piece. 3) Communication. The singers should have a sense of the meaning and thrust of the texts. They then want to be sure that the way they deliver the text vocally clarifies and enhances this meaning. Which of the words in the text are most important? Which sounds make that word expressive?
My hope is always that the choir will master the technical issues right away so that we can move on to the fun stuff – the sound and the communication. Distinguishing the technical issues as “area 1” makes it easier to come back to them and focus on those details if, for instance, rhythms don’t sound accurate, or if cutoffs become ragged. Likewise, if the sound becomes dull, the Chorale can take a moment to focus specifically on “area 2” and brush off the dust and polish their sound until it rings again. But ultimately, I hope they realize that, as much fun as it is to execute a cutoff perfectly or sing a chord perfectly in tune, we focus on areas 1 and 2 for the sake of area 3. To communicate something more beautifully than one can through speech alone – that’s where the fun is in choral singing. That’s why I’m in the business, at least. Getting there can be as easy as 1-2-3.
RJB
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)