tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17709835.post1706265695966228610..comments2024-01-17T00:20:07.761-08:00Comments on Not For Fun Only: Haydn’s CreationAxel Feldheimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12517904558156089265noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17709835.post-55419685370115545642011-04-11T17:20:19.958-07:002011-04-11T17:20:19.958-07:00I fear you guys might be confusing grandeur with p...I fear you guys might be confusing grandeur with ponderousness. I am particularly sensitive to this distinction because of the bad press endured by my favorite composer of symphonies, Bruckner. His works are indeed ponderous in routine performance--and indeed grand in proper ones. <br />But back to the matter at hand: A performance of The Creation that lacks grandeur is just as disappointing as a ponderous one--though hardly the same thing; they are, however, both misreadings of this complex and multifaceted score--and as such, equally open to just criticism.David Lassonhttp://davidlasson.community.officelive.com/default.aspxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17709835.post-58696560412443661362011-04-11T00:12:17.862-07:002011-04-11T00:12:17.862-07:00Well, cats are definitely flexible, no doubt about...Well, cats are definitely flexible, no doubt about it. I'm disappointed that Haydn did not set the horse's neigh to music, though.<br /><br />I know that I've heard The Creation at the Symphony, so it must have been that Rilling performance. I don't actually remember anything about it, so perhaps you are right that one can be both grand and boring. I specifically wanted to attend this performance because I hoped that McGegan's sprightliness would be good match for Haydn. And it was!Axel Feldheimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12517904558156089265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17709835.post-13327864656857644622011-04-10T22:42:17.649-07:002011-04-10T22:42:17.649-07:00I have a cat named Tiger and he's definitely &...I have a cat named Tiger and he's definitely "flexible." Agree with David Lasson about the sprightliness/grandeur tradeoff at PBO, but I'd much rather hear the former than the latter, particularly since grandeur can get so dull unless it really is perfectly grand. (Helmuth Rilling and the San Francisco Symphony put me into a coma with their grandeur in this music ten years ago, and I didn't make it past the first intermission.)Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17709835.post-10012363876722594492011-04-10T18:03:25.096-07:002011-04-10T18:03:25.096-07:00It is true that everything McGegan does tends to b...It is true that everything McGegan does tends to be sprightly & jovial. It's pity there are no prelapsarian fauna around. Perhaps the librettist could have said "tractable tiger." It has the same number of syllables.Axel Feldheimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12517904558156089265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17709835.post-80606734285483749642011-04-10T11:46:08.606-07:002011-04-10T11:46:08.606-07:00My sense of the performance was that McGegan sacri...My sense of the performance was that McGegan sacrificed some of Haydn's grandeur for the sake of sprightliness, and this lack was most keenly felt in the mighty choruses that conclude each section. <br />As to the flexibility of the tiger, "flexible" can denote "tractable" and "yielding to influence," which is what one finds in prelapsarian beasts, who graciously yielded to human agency and desire. (Postlapsarian tigers are considerably less "flexible" in this regard: just ask Siegfried and Roy.)David Lassonhttp://davidlasson.community.officelive.com/default.aspxnoreply@blogger.com