Serious songs

Last week we were to have gone to the Wigmore to hear three of Schubert's more dramatic lieder, but for some reason, not long after we bought the tickets the programme was switched to some of Brahms' serious songs. Heine, von Platen, the Bible and others. Provoking various unproductive speculations about what might have triggered the switch, but not cancellation.

Started off badly with a young mum sharing a Tesco's sandwich with her pram bound toddler, with the pair of them eating away, as they walked away from the package, not thinking to make any use of the litter bin provided only feet away. Leaving me to put the package in said bin.

Then at Cavendish Square, one of the concrete pots noticed at reference 1 had been twisted round, revealing that it was actually some kind of trap for waste water, a large version of the trap we have between our garage roof and its soakaway, a trap which we clean out from time to time.

Into the hall to find the flowers did not seem as bright as they had on the Monday and only two thirds full, despite our having been relegated to row M, further back than we had been for some time. With relegation suggesting heavy demand for tickets. Presumably the other third had been prompted by the switch to cancel. And at least one lady had not known that there had been a switch, from which we deduce that at least some people still buy their tickets over the counter, not leaving any address, electrical or otherwise, for updates.

Both the short pianist (Schmalcz) and the tall baritone (Goerne) were big chested men, and the baritone had a very big voice, big without being flamboyant in manner; a good stage presence. A presence which included, for a good part of the time, holding onto the piano with his right hand, prompting the thought that this was, in some part at least, a device for keeping track of what the piano was doing through his hand, rather than through his ears, busy with his own noises. Fanciful?

Despite my only having glanced at the words before the off, all rather intense, so at an hour without interval, about right for us - with the change of programme having pushed out our comfort zone a bit.

Several twos at Wimbledon. Sight lines quite good, but platform lights were a nuisance.

PS 1: I wonder what my father would have made of the songs taken from Ecclesiastes. He was keen on music generally and knew his Ecclesiastes well, but I do not recall him ever playing anything other than Schubert songs at home.

PS 2: too early in the morning to thin out the aways in the fourth sentence above. Something I seem to do quite often. Perhaps the brain having loaded the word, unless otherwise directed, saves time & effort by using it wherever it fits.

PS 3: it occurred to me later that while I, if I attempt to explain my different responses on the different occasions I hear a piece of music I know well, I tend to explain in terms of my own mood or state of mind at the time, in part because I am not qualified to do anything else. Had I eaten too much or too little? Did I not get enough sleep last night? Was I in a bad mood for one reason or another? Did I neglect to do some necessary revision? While a more or less professional critic will tend to explain in terms of the idiosyncrasies of the performance or the performers, less often in terms of the composer and rarely if ever in terms of his own mood or state of mind. In part because that is what we are paying him for, but is it not also neglect of an important part of the experience?

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/ronan-ohara.html.

Reference 2: http://www.matthiasgoerne.com/.

Reference 3: http://boulezian.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/goerneschmalcz-brahms-26-april-2018.html for a rather more serious appreciation than I attempt. '... The Neun Lieder und Gesänge, op.32, fared much better. Why we do not hear these songs more often I really do not know. Perhaps it is simply that Brahms is still thought of more as an instrumental than a vocal composer. Surely the autobiographical element – Graham Johnson once suggested considering the set as a Komponistenliebe sequel to Schumann’s Dichterliebe – should attract. Above all, though, the sheer musical – and musico-dramatic – quality should. Wagner’s was not the only way. Schubert often hovered in the background, more oppressively than benignly, the opening...'. I wonder now what proportion of the audience could have managed this sort of thing; certainly not this proportion.

Reference 4: http://boulezian.blogspot.co.uk/. For a great deal more of the same. Clearly a much more serious blogger than yours truly.

Reference 5: https://twitter.com/boulezian. For the Twitter version. With Mark Berry, the chap in question, seemingly having generated 79 thousand tweets. Perhaps my tweetspeak has come unstuck.