The Golden Carriage Text by Gottfried KinkelEs ist so still geworden,Verrauscht des Abends Wehn,Nun hört man aller OrtenDer Engel Füße gehn,Rings in die Tiefe senketSich Finsterniß mit Macht —Wirf ab, Herz, was dich kränketUnd was dir bange macht! Nun stehn im HimmelskreiseDie Stern’ in Majestät;In gleichem festem GleiseDer goldne Wagen geht.Und gleich den Sternen lenketEr […]
Read MoreA Melodious Plea “Moon Song” by Arthur Johnston, lyrics by Sam Coslow I don’t have much to say about “Moon Song” except that it is one of my favorite songs, especially this delightful version from the great Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson album. These are two more of my favorite American artists and although both […]
Read MoreRunning from the House White moon comes in on a baby face.The shafts across her bed are flimmering. Out on the land White Moon shines,Shines and glimmers against gnarled shadows,All silver to slow twisted shadowsFalling across the long road that runs from the house. Keep a little of your beautyAnd some of your flimmering silverFor […]
Read MoreDream On Text and translation This classic gem from Fauré’s La bonne chanson evokes an unusually unmitigatedly positive image of the moon. For the Germans it seems der Mond can never come up without reminding you of death and loneliness, lol. For the French, it’s often simply the thing that gives you just enough light […]
Read MoreHey song-of-the-day-ers! Thanks to NYFOS for welcoming me back to this blog to offer you guys songs to listen to this week. I am grateful for the artistic outlet this opportunity is affording me to think about songs in a deep way again. This pandemic is such a scary time for all of us in […]
Read MoreAs long as I have been paying attention to the Pulitzer Prize in music, I have valued it for the attention it provides to American composers who spend careers toiling in obscurity to create genuinely new pieces of music. And yes, I am most certainly chauvinistic and self-interested in this because I choose to make performing new music a central part of the work of my career. But I have made that decision because I truly believe that in order for the body and culture of classical music to continue to grow, adapt, and speak to our time in our time, we must support composers and their works in whatever way we can.
Read MoreI must admit that I sometimes feel discouraged by many of my classical concert-going friends’ reluctance to engage in new, challenging, or non-tonal music. New music is almost always hard to approach by virtue of the fact that it is new.
Read MoreSince I am feeling celebratory after our fantastic NYFOS 30 th Anniversary concert
last night, I picked a joyous bass aria from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.
Bach has become my favorite composer over the years. He’s just the best not only
because of his incomparable technical chops, his innovativeness and originality, the
deep feeling that is expressed in his music, his text setting and painting, his brilliant
orchestrations, etc. are all among the best any composer ever has to offer. But all of
his discrete skills are always tied together and elevated beyond the sum of their
parts by the joy of making music that is ever-present in his music.
I once asked a pianist friend of mine to read through “Tu vois le feu du soir” with me and he asked, “what’s this song about?” I have never had a more difficult time answering that question. So I just shared the text with him. Here is the mysterious, surreal text of the poem. The literal meaning is impossible to discern, yet the language is so beautiful and evokes a profound sense of meaning…it’s just hard to describe that meaning.
Read MoreI will be performing today’s song of the day, “Flor de Yumurí,” on our NYFOS 30th Anniversary concert tomorrow (Tuesday) night! I sang this song with Steve only once before, so I was a little surprised when he suggested this song for the big anniversary concert. I loved it and loved singing it that one time we performed it, so I am thrilled that we are bringing it back, and I have discovered a much deeper meaning in the song this time around.
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