Song of the week: Heiß mich nicht reden (F. Schubert) - G. Janowitz, I. Gage
This is the 13th post in the Wilhelm Meister's series and the last of this season, considering we get to a key moment in the novel; after summer we will resume what’s going to become the beginning of the series finale (but don't be too excited because there are still some posts left).We were at chapter 14 of the book V, when the harpist was left in charge of a clergyman who could treat his melancholy. There're two more chapters before ending that book V; so many things happen that I have to choose the most relevant so as this summary isn't too long. One of the things that happens is related to Mariane, Wilhelm's old love. Wilhelm thinks he saw her at Philine's accomodation and begs her to let him go and talk [...]
Do you remember how "Out of Africa" begins? "I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills." This simple sentence seems to me a touching declaration of love to Africa and whatever Isak Dinesen lived and left there; it always comes to my mind when I read about Rachmaninov and how fond he was of Ivanovka, his family estate. Rachmaninoff belonged to a very old and noble family who, by the time he was born in 1873, had already come down in the world. The sole state his family kept in the late 19th century was Ivanovka (500 km far from Moscow); it was the composer's refuge between 1890 and 1917. [...]
I talked some time ago about clichés that describe Art Song as a second-class genre performed by second-class singers and second-class pianists. It's all nonsense, of course. I remembered that post while reading an interview with the baritone Christian Gerhaher. He was asked about the differences between opera and lied and he spoke about the length of Winterreise. As we all know, this cycle lasts about seventy minutes performed without pauses while most of opera participations are shorter (Ian Bostridge also refers to that in his book about Winterreise and says that it's also one of the longest works for pianists).
While preparing recent posts I thought about this week's and how different those songs were about to listen today, written at the XXI century; it will be a shock to our ears, so used to the nineteenth century. I like these contemporaries jolts, they often pose a different musical language that compels us to listen in a different way. The song this week is very new and yet very old, and I also like that very much.
