Word: handels
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...perfect opportunity to practice one's concert etiquette in Symphony Hall came last Friday at the Handel & Haydn Society's concert "Mendelssohn: The Great Romantic." The Handel & Haydn Society prides itself on being the oldest continuously performing arts organization in the country. They practice something called "historically informed performance," which means they use instruments designed in and techniques from the period the music was composed in. For the average audience member, all this means is that the flutes and clarinets are brown, the trumpets are longer, and the piano soloist has the chance to play show-and-tell with...
...symphony and no bagpipe harmonies or haunting folk tunes. The lack of stereotypical Scottish themes makes room for Mendelssohn's own creative energy. The final movement's majestic theme, not heard in any of the previous sections, will make an audience sit up and listen more closely. The Handel & Haydn Society performed the symphony admirably. The work was fluid and captivating, moving from melancholy to poetic to lively without any stops. There were no breaks between the movements, a departure from the traditional format most composers, including Mendelssohn himself, used. Mendelssohn's fundamental charm combined with a skillful performance made...
...Handel and Haydn Society...
...Egmont Overture--massive sound, intensely impassioned playing, all of the raging emotion of the Romantic era packed into a nine-minute punch that should simply overwhelm you with its sheer volume of sound and feeling. Sound right? Not if you were Christopher Hogwood and you were directing the Handel and Haydn Society's all-Beethoven concert last Friday. Hogwood's Period Instrument Orchestra presented Beethoven as he would have been heard in the early 1800s, offering the listeners a challenging yet very satisfying way of experiencing his music...
...second half of the program, mezzo-soprano Paula Rasmussen, tenor Richard Clemont and bass Nathan Berg joined Christine Brewer along with the Handel and Haydn Society Chorus. The work, Beethoven's Mass in C, was definitely the highlight of the evening. Written in 1807 on a commission from Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy II, this was Beethoven's first setting of the Mass, and was a complete failure in the prince's eyes. Perhaps he did not appreciate Beethoven's extensive text painting (creating musical pictures of the text), and his application of personal feelings to the various parts of the mass...