Classical Court

Don't Everybody Speak Up at Once!!!!!

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John Marks

In Reply to: RE: Hah! An "HIP" Elgar Gerontius is on Gramophone's award list posted by John Marks on October 06, 2024 at 12:02:09

nt

Follow Ups:

Moribund days here! - Chris from Lafayette 00:53:14 10/10/24 (2)
My excuse for not speaking up is that I don't know the work that well, and I doubt I would be able to add anything enlightening! ;-)
- Rare for a Yank, I have heard it LIVE four times!!! - John Marks 08:00:07 10/11/24 (1)
  And I lectured about it at Thomas More College.
  
  The Elevator Pitch: "It's as though Dante's Divine Comedy had been an opera."
  
  I have heard live:
  
  Sir David Willcocks, Westerly RI Chorus
  Boston Philharmonic, Ben Zander
  Boston Symphony 1982 Sir Colin Davis JESSYE NORMAN
  Boston Symphony 2008 Sir Colin Davis Sarah Connolly
  
  BSO Concertmaster Joseph Silverstein, who joined as a back-desk second IIRC 1954, told me that the 1982 Colin Davis Saturday night performance was the best he had ever heard the BSO play.
  
  Moi, I think that the BSO's supposed reason to suppress the 1982 SCD Gerontius is horse hockey--supposedly a male singer sang a B-flat instead of a B--and only once.
  
  I think that the real reason is that the contrast to what a tired and uninterested Ozawa was cranking out was so dramatic.
  
  Ozawa's contract supposedly gave him that veto power.
  
  IMHO.
  
  ciao,
  
  john
  - RE: Rare for a Yank, I have heard it LIVE four times!!! - Kas 12:36:22 10/14/24 (0)
    Fortunately, the 1982 BSO performance was broadcast in excellent sound. Burrows was terrific (as was Heppner in 2008).
    
    Other than a strong conductorial hand, the crucial contributors to any performance of Gerontius are the chorus and especially the tenor Gerontius. So I found the McCreesh performance underwhelming.
    
    There are a few great recordings - the recent one with Colin Davis conducting the Staatskapelle Dresden is particularly impressive, even if Paul Groves doesn't erase memories of Burrows and Heppner.

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