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Log inPreview and Review: Salt Bay Chamberfest speaks volumes
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Preview and Review: Salt Bay Chamberfest speaks volumes
by Outspoken on Sat Jul 12, 2008 7:03 am
Salt Bay Chamberfest speaks volumes
By CHRISTOPHER HYDE
Portland Press Herald
"Where words fail, music speaks," says a sign over our kitchen door, but sometimes they can work together to heighten the effect of each.
This season, Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" is a staple of outdoor concerts. Elliott Schwartz's new string quartet, played by the Borromeo this spring, made effective use of the spoken word, uttered in a sort of counterpoint by the string quartet's members. And the Salt Bay Chamberfest on Aug. 12, 15, 19 and 22 at Round Top Farm in Damariscotta will have as its theme "The Spoken Word and Beyond."
Each concert of the chamber-music festival will highlight a work devoted to the spoken word -- three of them contemporary and one, "Enoch Arden," based on Tennyson's poem by Richard Strauss.
The connection between music and words, not just lyrics or poetry, seems to be in the air. After hearing Morton's Gould's arrangement of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" at the Portland Symphony's Independence Pops concert, I dug out my vinyl copy of "The Confederacy," which consists of music from the Confederate side of the Civil War, including a parody of the above-mentioned song.
One of the most moving tracks in the album, however, is a musical setting of Robert E. Lee's farewell address to his troops: "After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and devotion, the Army of Northern Virginia has been forced to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources ..."
Lincoln did not have a monopoly on eloquence, but the music lifts Lee's words to a new plane. (Maine's Joshua Chamberlain, who saved the day at Gettysburg, also played a key role in ensuring that the surrender was both fair and dignified.)
The Salt Bay works will be a varied lot. The first, commissioned by the Brentano Quartet, uses Haydn's "Seven Last Words of Christ" for quartet and spoken word, but substitutes the poetry of Mark Strand for the biblical passages suggested by the composer. This will be the Maine premiere of the work, played by the quartet that commissioned it and read by the poet himself.
A Pulitzer Prize winner, Strand has his work cut out for him, since the King James version of the Bible is one of the great poems in the English language. Strand was a good choice, however, since his poetry has a refreshing bleakness appropriate to the subject, tending to bring abstractions uncomfortably close to home.
The next concert will illustrate the lighter side of the subject, with "Fetch" (2004) for speaking pianist by composer Derek Bermel and with words by playwright Will Eno. Said one reviewer: "The roles of music and speech are reversed, with the words commenting on the music as the pianist plays a few measures in one interesting style or another, and then doubts whether that was what he really wanted to be doing."
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=197623&ac=Audience
By CHRISTOPHER HYDE
Portland Press Herald
"Where words fail, music speaks," says a sign over our kitchen door, but sometimes they can work together to heighten the effect of each.
This season, Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" is a staple of outdoor concerts. Elliott Schwartz's new string quartet, played by the Borromeo this spring, made effective use of the spoken word, uttered in a sort of counterpoint by the string quartet's members. And the Salt Bay Chamberfest on Aug. 12, 15, 19 and 22 at Round Top Farm in Damariscotta will have as its theme "The Spoken Word and Beyond."
Each concert of the chamber-music festival will highlight a work devoted to the spoken word -- three of them contemporary and one, "Enoch Arden," based on Tennyson's poem by Richard Strauss.
The connection between music and words, not just lyrics or poetry, seems to be in the air. After hearing Morton's Gould's arrangement of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" at the Portland Symphony's Independence Pops concert, I dug out my vinyl copy of "The Confederacy," which consists of music from the Confederate side of the Civil War, including a parody of the above-mentioned song.
One of the most moving tracks in the album, however, is a musical setting of Robert E. Lee's farewell address to his troops: "After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and devotion, the Army of Northern Virginia has been forced to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources ..."
Lincoln did not have a monopoly on eloquence, but the music lifts Lee's words to a new plane. (Maine's Joshua Chamberlain, who saved the day at Gettysburg, also played a key role in ensuring that the surrender was both fair and dignified.)
The Salt Bay works will be a varied lot. The first, commissioned by the Brentano Quartet, uses Haydn's "Seven Last Words of Christ" for quartet and spoken word, but substitutes the poetry of Mark Strand for the biblical passages suggested by the composer. This will be the Maine premiere of the work, played by the quartet that commissioned it and read by the poet himself.
A Pulitzer Prize winner, Strand has his work cut out for him, since the King James version of the Bible is one of the great poems in the English language. Strand was a good choice, however, since his poetry has a refreshing bleakness appropriate to the subject, tending to bring abstractions uncomfortably close to home.
The next concert will illustrate the lighter side of the subject, with "Fetch" (2004) for speaking pianist by composer Derek Bermel and with words by playwright Will Eno. Said one reviewer: "The roles of music and speech are reversed, with the words commenting on the music as the pianist plays a few measures in one interesting style or another, and then doubts whether that was what he really wanted to be doing."
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=197623&ac=Audience
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
