USCHO Music Thread: We All Have A Crush On Shirley Manson

[MissThundercat]

Been listening to a whole lot of the National. Feels like "Boxer," "Trouble Will Find Me," and "Sleep Well Beast" are perfect albums for depressed addicts who are miserable, but don't have thoughts of grave self-harm.

[dxmnkd316]

So my wife and I went to the orchestra for the first time in nearly two years. Masks and vaccines required for all.

I can't tell you how great it was to hear live music again. The feature tonight was Beethoven's 9th with four classically trained singers and of course the full Minnesota Chorale. I'd been waiting a very long long time to see this played lived. I used to listen to a lot of a classical while studying back in college. The 9th was always my favorite. I got goosebumps up and down the first few notes and the entire fourth. It did not disappoint. Spectacular. Three or four curtain calls and what had to be 7+ minutes of standing O.

(oh, and the chorale sang with masks on and they were ****ing brilliant. So everyone can **** about not being able to work in masks.)

[SJHovey]

So my wife and I went to the orchestra for the first time in nearly two years. Masks and vaccines required for all.

I can't tell you how great it was to hear live music again. The feature tonight was Beethoven's 9th with four classically trained singers and of course the full Minnesota Chorale. I'd been waiting a very long long time to see this played lived. I used to listen to a lot of a classical while studying back in college. The 9th was always my favorite. I got goosebumps up and down the first few notes and the entire fourth. It did not disappoint. Spectacular. Three or four curtain calls and what had to be 7+ minutes of standing O.

(oh, and the chorale sang with masks on and they were ****ing brilliant. So everyone can **** about not being able to work in masks.)

Interesting. The review in the StarTribune was pretty critical of the performance. To each his own I suppose.

[Slap Shot]

Interesting. The review in the StarTribune was pretty critical of the performance. To each his own I suppose.

You don't always have to be a twat. No I won't explain why that comment qualifies because you wouldn't have made it in the first place if you had a clue.

[dxmnkd316]

Jesus. This review... touch grass.

The audience last night vehemently disagreed. I'd never seen a longer ovation in my time at the orchestra.

"If an ideal time exists to experience the journey through trials to triumph found in Beethoven's music, this might be it. The collective trauma of COVID-19 continues, with Minnesota now among America's hotbeds of new diagnoses. Where can one find some joy?

Well, joy is on the program at this weekend's Minnesota Orchestra concerts. Specifically, the "Ode to Joy" that concludes Beethoven's symphonic swan song, the Ninth. You couldn't be blamed for thinking this the booster shot your spirit needs.

But I left Thursday's midday matinee saddened, disappointed that the orchestra missed the chance to deliver the healing touch that Beethoven's Ninth Symphony can provide. Instead, it was a relatively punchless, curiously off-kilter Ninth, mostly devoid of that "fair spark of Elysium" sung about in the finale.

Not that the singing wasn't splendid. Although masked, the Minnesota Chorale was magnificent, and the four vocal soloists â?? soprano Melody Moore, mezzo Kelley O'Connor, tenor Sean Panikkar and bass Mark S. Doss â?? intertwined their voices beautifully, especially on their transporting final slow section.

But guest conductor Juraj Valčuha sometimes chose to accelerate the tempos to speeds I'd never encountered with this work. Consequently, it sounded like the orchestra had a hard time staying together.

That impression was amplified by some unusual emphases in Valčuha's unbalanced interpretation, as when interjections from the winds trampled the main theme in the strings. And pity poor Panikkar, whose lone solo was forced into overdrive by the conductor's haste.

Pace doesn't necessarily mean energy, and there was seldom as much of that as an inspiring performance of the Ninth requires. Fire and intensity were largely absent from the stormy opening movement, as were crispness and, for lack of a better term, oomph. And while the Adagio movement offered some lovely respite from the tempests around it, the fine solos from the orchestra's winds seemed like enjoyable parts that never added up to a beautiful sum.

I had high hopes for the performance after a precise and propulsive take on the concert-opening Sinfonietta No. 1 by 20th-century American composer Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. It's a work for which Valčuha clearly has a passion, as he's requested it on programs he's conducted elsewhere. He was flamboyant and demonstrative in leading the orchestra's strings, which responded with a thrilling performance that was sad and lovely in its central slow movement.

On past visits, Valčuha has proven popular with Minnesota Orchestra audiences. Hence, there was talk of his being a candidate to succeed Osmo Vänskä as the Minnesota Orchestra's music director. But the Houston Symphony snatched him up.

When my concert companion asked me afterward to recommend a recording of Beethoven's Ninth, I pointed him to the one that this orchestra and choir recorded with Vänskä in 2006.

Judging from the thrilling performance of the Fifth Symphony that opened the season in September, I know that something magical can still happen when Beethoven, Vänskä and this orchestra come together.

Can the orchestra play the composer's work as well when adjusting to another conductor's style? Perhaps. Indeed, they may very well sound great by Saturday night, offering up some of that sorely needed joy.
"

[MissThundercat]

A friend gave me a copy of "The Downward Spiral" by Nine Inch Nails and it was my first time listening to that album in full.

She also gave me some PJ Harvey and Ween albums.

[Kepler]

Thank you for that review, dx. Eloquent and interesting. My dad loved classical and my brother loves it. I have never truly appreciated it (unless you count opera) but your enthusiasm is infectious!

[dxmnkd316]

Thank you for that review, dx. Eloquent and interesting. My dad loved classical and my brother loves it. I have never truly appreciated it (unless you count opera) but your enthusiasm is infectious!

Mine or the blowhard from the tribune's?

[Kepler]

Mine or the blowhard from the tribune's?

Yours.

I didn't mind the blowhard's, either, TBH. I'm fine with professional critics picking apart pieces and performances. I don't have to agree with them, and the tone doesn't offend me. It's like a doctor talking about a girl. The fact that he discusses her diseases doesn't mean the doctor doesn't realize she is also, on balance, lovely. But he's got a job to do. That job isn't the totality of the subject.

[dxmnkd316]

I suppose that's fair.

[MissThundercat]

"Closer" by Nine Inch Nails is "WAP" for goths.

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Weird Al, national treasure

https://***********/alyankovic/statu...302229504?s=21

[dxmnkd316]

Weird Al, national treasure

https://***********/alyankovic/statu...302229504?s=21

"I love how somebody summed this up: "People who listen to Kid Rock music also smoke cigarettes in their house.""

[Slap Shot]

My friends get ye selves to Adia Victoria.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVlQPpQ3xlY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEm0qOxhGxo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yCkoLm3AKo

[MissThundercat]

I think I need to hand in my Queer card. The first time I seriously listened to the Rent soundtrack was yesterday.