Word: haydn
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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 & Haydn Society next big event will be the traditional holiday performances of Handel's "Messiah." From Dec. 4 through the 12, Symphony Hall will be a joyous place, something to consider on those dreary weekend afternoons. Who better to play Handel's most famous work than the Handel & Haydn Society? It might be awkward to be dressed up on the T, but Boston's classical culture is there to be taken advantage of. Perfect that tricky concert etiquette while getting into the classical Christmas spirit. Just remember, classical music will always be in style...
...pretty faces. They were poised to reverse any preconceptions about 10-year-old singers that we might have formed during our own disjointed renditions of The Twelve Days of Christmas and O Come All Ye Faithful in primary school. As the Vienna Choir Boys performed a sophisticated repertoire of Haydn, Isaak, Bruckner, Schubert, Salieri and Mozart, they brought fifth graders to rare musical heights. But while the concert was supposed to promote the talent of child singers, it might have inadvertently done something else--and affirmed the supremacy of adults...
...despite their prodigious talent, such conviction was conspicuously absent from the concert. The choir boys opened with Haydn's Te Deum in C Major, a sparkling piece with a quick tempo assured to enliven the audience. While the Chorus Viennensis was robust and energetic (this was the older choir of supporting tenors and basses who rounded out the four-part treble scale), the Vienna Choir Boys sounded withered and disengaged. They found Haydn's notes, but groped for his meaning. The boys sang the first line, "We praise thee, O God!" ambivalence nearer to pity than...