tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17709835.post6140602533863693335..comments2024-01-17T00:20:07.761-08:00Comments on Not For Fun Only: Formenti Plays Lang & HaydnAxel Feldheimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12517904558156089265noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17709835.post-3161280364181720052009-12-15T08:24:16.048-08:002009-12-15T08:24:16.048-08:00I feel it is necessary to give credit where credit...I feel it is necessary to give credit where credit is due. You probably noticed that the program notes did not even say who Hasan <i>was</i>! I have Janos Gereben to thank for resolving this matter in the <a href="http://www.sfcv.org/preview/san-francisco-performances/formentis-emaspects-of-the-divineem" rel="nofollow"><br />preview piece</a> he wrote for San Francisco Classical Voice. The rest of the "background research" (including fact-checking Janos) was my own!<br /><br />Also, thank you for mentioning that Formenti played the Haydn from memory. I agree entirely that this decision contributed to the overall mood of the performance. I was so wrapped up in trying to tease out the Lang-Haydn connection that I let this observation slip in my own <a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-5030-SF-Classical-Music-Examiner~y2009m12d12-Haydn-variations" rel="nofollow"><br />piece</a>!Stephen Smoliarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14689767135234237242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17709835.post-69035247908877747952009-12-14T10:33:31.391-08:002009-12-14T10:33:31.391-08:00It was negligent of the program annotater not to t...It was negligent of the program annotater not to tell us the story of Hasan's 7 last words, so it is good of you to rectify that.<br /><br />One gets the feeling that Mr. Formenti would gladly forgo all that clapping nonsense at all of his appearances. I agree that he did a masterly job of sustaining a meditative atmosphere for the entire recital. He enhanced the effect by playing that hour-long Hadyn from memory. I felt I was witnessing something very personal.Axel Feldheimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12517904558156089265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17709835.post-7986268739201749842009-12-14T08:01:20.159-08:002009-12-14T08:01:20.159-08:00I have to confess that writing about this event wa...I have to confess that writing about this event was one of the hardest tasks I have faced in some time! When I finished I felt I could look on the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-5030-SF-Classical-Music-Examiner~y2009m12d12-Haydn-variations" rel="nofollow"><br />result</a> with genuine satisfaction, and I hope that others will also see some benefit in that text. At the very least I hope I was able to provide more explanatory material than could be found in the program book!<br /><br />For now, however, I wish to emphasize two points that reflect on your own impressions. Most important is that the experience of listening to Lang had a significant impact on how we listened to Haydn's, and I suspect that both Lang and Formenti <i>wanted</i> that impact to register. The other concerns the conclusion of the Haydn. When I was growing up, I remember a "social code" that one did not applaud <i>Messiah</i> when it was performed in a church. This was a corollary of the general rule that one did not applaud any form of religious rite. Haydn's music was intended to be part of a Good Friday service, the most introspective (and least "celebratory") day of the Christian calendar. I could easily have left the church without feeling a need to applaud. I suspect that Formenti knew that this would not be the case; but his own "frozen state" may have at least sustained the meditative atmosphere of the music a bit longer than would otherwise have been the case.Stephen Smoliarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14689767135234237242noreply@blogger.com