Elias Saturday
Well, I woke up at 12:00.....noon, in case that's surprising. And thank God that I did, seeing as how I had work at 1:00. Well, I worked from 1 until 3, when the building closed (an hour earlier than normal, because Anthony had a concert) and Gretchen took me to a cute cafe not far from IES called Kleines Cafe, which was indeed very small (as the name implies). It was cute, though, and I got my usual Melánge with tons of sugar, and I helped Gretchen with her music history paper. It was about why Beethoven was dangerous....a silly prompt, if you ask me, but I think that I gave her some valuable avenues to explore. Afterwards I went to Hofer, which unbeknownst to me closes at 6:30, and not 7:30 like normal markets. I got there at....oh about 6:28, so me and this old lady were the only people in the store, which was kind of freaky from my perspective (I'm used to Hofer being INSANELY crowded) and I think it kind of ticked off the employees....and those Hofer girls aren't really very nice on a good day. (the only nice person I've encountered at Hofer is the cute manager guy.....Hr. Schmidt? or something? I don't remember.....) Anyway, I got the few things that I needed quickly and ran back home, where CA Dave, Nick, Brad, and JB were fixing dinner. I unfortunately could not partake of the mexican feast that they were preparing, since I had to leave at 8:00 to go to Stephansdom to see Elias. (remember, the €40 ticket? the stupid clerk who didn't know what I was talking about when I said that I wanted a ticket for Elias?)
It was good. Not life-shatteringly brilliant, but quite good. (It was the Stephansdom premiere of the piece, which surprised me) I knew I had overpaid for my ticket, but had I spent much less I would not have been able to see the orchestra at all, save on the silly little flatscreen TVs they have on every other column, on which they were showing the 'stage' for everyone else in the cathedral. I was in the first row of the "C" section, which is to the left of the altar, and the orchestra and choir was over on the right side of the altar (if you're looking at it from the pews) by the organ. The soloists were in a row between the choir and the orchestra, except for Elijah himself, who was on this little lectern/soap box thing closer to the center. The part of Elijah, by the way, was sung by Adrian Eröd, who played Figaro at the Barber of Seville I saw on Wednesday at the Staatsoper. I must say that I'm really in awe of him now, because he gave an equally stellar performance in both roles, which I might say are close to polar opposites, both musically and theatrically. Not to say that Elijah requires a lot of theatrics, nor indeed did he do too much with it....but he kept the sentiment and was able to portray a lot more emotions through his interpretation then I've heard before. I mean, I've only seen it live once before, but I have two recordings of it, both of which leave me unsatisfied for different reasons. All in all, this performance was not the satisfying end-all-be-all performance against which I would measure all future performances of the piece.....almost everything else I've seen here has served that role, at least in terms of live performances. (I still like my Bernstein recording of the Mozart Requiem better then silly Augistinerkirche, but it probably the best live performance of the work that I've heard.) Don't get me wrong...it was a good performance, and I'm glad that I spent the money so that I could have seen and heard it as well as I did. The soloists were really, really amazing, especially in the soli sections (the angel choruses and something else....) they all had great voices and their ensemble was also very, very nice. The choir was pretty darn good....the tenors were occasionally a bit blasty and the altos came in early one and a half times (you had to be there) but I think that might have been the conductor's fault. And speaking of the conductor.....yeah, I wasn't his biggest fan. His technique was a bit too large and flowly all of the time, and that's certainly the sound he got in the über-reverberant Stephansdom. A lot of times the tempi seemed meddled by the reverberation, and he wasn't doing much to help that. Also, a lot of the tempi (especially in the first part, with which I'm more intimately familiar) were strange, and some of them seemed just plain wrong. The last chorus where the people cry to Ba'al (I propose we spell it that way, because I like "Ba'ahl" that way better than "Bail"....although maybe I should just spell it Baäl....anyway.....) was just too slow....it was like molasses! Now, I understand maybe taking things slower in a large hall, but other things before had been way too fast....I just didn't understand it. In some places it downright ruined the dramatic effect of the music for me, but maybe I'm just too partial to the tempi I have in my mind. In any case, the soloists were amazing, the choir was good, the orchestra was good, and the conductor could have been better, but the experience of hearing music there is just amazing.....when the organ comes in in the tutti sections, you can feel it in your pew and in your feet.....you get the whole range from earth-shatteringly loud to barely-audible whisper, and both are stunning in their effect, especially against the backdrop of the gothic church and the HUGE baroque altar. It was a great concert, and I'm so thankful I was able to experience it.
After the concert I went home, watched part of "Wall Street" with my roommates, played Riven for a while (I know, I know....but it's fun!) and went to bed.
It was good. Not life-shatteringly brilliant, but quite good. (It was the Stephansdom premiere of the piece, which surprised me) I knew I had overpaid for my ticket, but had I spent much less I would not have been able to see the orchestra at all, save on the silly little flatscreen TVs they have on every other column, on which they were showing the 'stage' for everyone else in the cathedral. I was in the first row of the "C" section, which is to the left of the altar, and the orchestra and choir was over on the right side of the altar (if you're looking at it from the pews) by the organ. The soloists were in a row between the choir and the orchestra, except for Elijah himself, who was on this little lectern/soap box thing closer to the center. The part of Elijah, by the way, was sung by Adrian Eröd, who played Figaro at the Barber of Seville I saw on Wednesday at the Staatsoper. I must say that I'm really in awe of him now, because he gave an equally stellar performance in both roles, which I might say are close to polar opposites, both musically and theatrically. Not to say that Elijah requires a lot of theatrics, nor indeed did he do too much with it....but he kept the sentiment and was able to portray a lot more emotions through his interpretation then I've heard before. I mean, I've only seen it live once before, but I have two recordings of it, both of which leave me unsatisfied for different reasons. All in all, this performance was not the satisfying end-all-be-all performance against which I would measure all future performances of the piece.....almost everything else I've seen here has served that role, at least in terms of live performances. (I still like my Bernstein recording of the Mozart Requiem better then silly Augistinerkirche, but it probably the best live performance of the work that I've heard.) Don't get me wrong...it was a good performance, and I'm glad that I spent the money so that I could have seen and heard it as well as I did. The soloists were really, really amazing, especially in the soli sections (the angel choruses and something else....) they all had great voices and their ensemble was also very, very nice. The choir was pretty darn good....the tenors were occasionally a bit blasty and the altos came in early one and a half times (you had to be there) but I think that might have been the conductor's fault. And speaking of the conductor.....yeah, I wasn't his biggest fan. His technique was a bit too large and flowly all of the time, and that's certainly the sound he got in the über-reverberant Stephansdom. A lot of times the tempi seemed meddled by the reverberation, and he wasn't doing much to help that. Also, a lot of the tempi (especially in the first part, with which I'm more intimately familiar) were strange, and some of them seemed just plain wrong. The last chorus where the people cry to Ba'al (I propose we spell it that way, because I like "Ba'ahl" that way better than "Bail"....although maybe I should just spell it Baäl....anyway.....) was just too slow....it was like molasses! Now, I understand maybe taking things slower in a large hall, but other things before had been way too fast....I just didn't understand it. In some places it downright ruined the dramatic effect of the music for me, but maybe I'm just too partial to the tempi I have in my mind. In any case, the soloists were amazing, the choir was good, the orchestra was good, and the conductor could have been better, but the experience of hearing music there is just amazing.....when the organ comes in in the tutti sections, you can feel it in your pew and in your feet.....you get the whole range from earth-shatteringly loud to barely-audible whisper, and both are stunning in their effect, especially against the backdrop of the gothic church and the HUGE baroque altar. It was a great concert, and I'm so thankful I was able to experience it.
After the concert I went home, watched part of "Wall Street" with my roommates, played Riven for a while (I know, I know....but it's fun!) and went to bed.
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