Word: songs
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Paul Hindemith's Das Marienlaben is no ordinary song-cycle. Its lofty text (poems by Rilke) and the dramatic appeal of its music make it a work of great esthetic value. Its unconventional treatment--its complex interrelationships and its attempts to induce deeply spiritual reactions--makes it a work of historical significance. And its magnificent performance last Thursday night by Phyllis Curtin, soprano, and Gregory Tucker, pianist, made it an excellent conclusion to the Longy School's Music of Today series...
...Hindemith's preface to the 1948 revision of Das Marienlaben. With the aid of a diagram and a dozen pages of technical discussion, the composer points out how this version differs from the original 1923 score. The improvements resulted in a more unified piece, and each of the fifteen songs included were fashioned into parts that together produce an integrated and carefully calculated effect. For instance, the first and seventh songs (Birth of Mary and Birth of Christ) use the same melodic and harmonic material, thus demonstrating the similarity between the two events. The final song, by including echoes...
...rhythm, unerring breath control, and a versatile, disciplined voice. Phyllis Curtin possessed all these, as well as what appeared to be a profound knowledge of the work's structure. Her intimate style is well suited to the darkly lyrical numbers, and in expressing the stark misery of a song like the Pieta, she sounded desolate, cerie, and thoroughly convincing...
...Barton Brothers, a song and dance trio, provide a couple of the show's hit numbers as they portray the joys of two haberdashers, "Joe and Paul sefarganigen," and weep their way through "Oi Tsorus...
When Marty Drake and Mary Forrest sing, however, the program takes a break from comedy. These talented and versatile artists present Hebrew melodies with great passion and tenderness. Miss Forrest gives a particularly delicate touch to the Mikvah song, in which a young bride dreams of the blissful married life before...