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Beloved
Brahms
Tucson: Sunday ,
January 4,
2009 @ 3p.m. - Scottsdale: Saturday ,
January 3, 2009 @ 8p.m.
a
brief description
"An art aims, above all, at producing
something beautiful which affects not our feelings but the organ of
pure contemplation, our imagination.” -Eduard Hanslick
 Classical music is often typecast as mired in the
past,treble clef design and with good reason – just consider the vast
majority of CDs and concert-hall programs, which consist almost
entirely of repertoire at least 100 years old. Yet, the composers of
the past whom we most admire (in retrospect, that is – they often
struggled to appeal to their own audiences) were not the conservatives
but rather those who were in the forefront of innovation of their eras
or who found and developed a contemporary niche without looking
backward.
Johannes Brahms was different – he unabashedly turned to the past for
contemporary relevance.
Brahms came to be regarded as the pillar of conservatism and was
vaunted by the influential critic Eduard Hanslick as a pure musician
whose work was imbued with intrinsic beauty, a rampart against the
threat of Wagner and the progressives who sought to express personal
thoughts and feelings in their music.
On December 31, 1899 as the final hours of the 19th century approach,
Eduard Hanslick looks back on the politics and art of the 1800s. The
battle between Brahms, a
believer in ‘absolute’ music using the forms of fugues, sonatas,
symphonies, and Wagner, who
felt these forms were obsolete and a ‘new’ music was needed for
contemporary truths to be revealed.
Experience the highly charged atmosphere between the Brahmsian and
Wagnerite camps of true believers.
About the
music
Brahms, Wagner, Dvorak, Schubert, Liszt,
Cherubini, Schumann will be on the menu for this remarkable show.
From this list, perhaps we need to say something about Cherubini. The
rest, needless to say, do not need an introduction, as they represent
the "crème de la crème", of the romantic era royalty.
Cherubini worked mainly in France. He became a teacher at the Paris
Conservatoire of Music at its founding in 1795 and served there as
director from 1822 until his death.
Cherubini wrote some 30 operas and of these "Les deux journèes",
now seldom heard, had an influence on Beethoven's only opera, "Fidelio".
The strength of the opera "Mèdèe", first staged in Paris
in 1797, has ensured it a place in repertory, with the aria "Ah, nos
peines" providing a popular soprano operatic recital piece.
His Requiem in C minor is regarded as his greatest work.
Performers
 Tony-winning American
stage and film actor Edward Herrmann used his Fulbright
scholarship to study at London's Academy of Music and Dramatic Art;
several years of regional theatre led to movie and TV work. In 1977
Herrmann offered the first of his many interpretations of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the TV
movie Eleanor and Franklin (He'd
later be a singing FDR in the theatrical feature Annie [1982]). The actor was
frequently dissatisfied with his own performances, feeling that with a
little more time he could do much better. Such was the case of his
portrayal of baseball great Lou
Gehrig in the TV drama A Love
Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story (1979), though
Herrmann was proud of the fact that he learned to pitch and bat
southpaw, something that a previous movie Gehrig, Gary Cooper, never quite
mastered. His occasional villainous movie appearances notwithstanding, Edward Herrmann is to most viewers
the very embodiment of intelligence and integrity; he was decidedly
well cast as the erudite host of several historical documentaries on
the Arts and Entertainment Cable Network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Gui
Directing the production is Cynthia Meier, Associate
Artistic Director of the
Rogue Theatre , for which she adapted and directed James Joyce’s The Dead, directed The Cherry Orchard, The Good Woman of
Setzuan and The Fever. She directed The Seagull (featuring Ken Ruta)
and the original production of Two
from Tanagra by Patrick Baliani for Tucson Art Theatre. She has adapted
and directed a series of Virginia
Woolf’s essays, Moments of Being, and directed a touring company
of performed poetry Words & Company for Eastern Michigan
University. She is also co-founder of Bloodhut Productions, a company
performing original monologues and comedy improvisation, which toured
throughout the western U.S. and was published by St. Martin’s Press.
Performance
details:
Details
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Tucson
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Scottsdale
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Show Time:
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3:00 p.m.
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8:00p.m.
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Venue:
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Berger
Performing Arts Center,
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Kerr Cultural
Center
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Address (click address for map)
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Individual Tickets
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$35 with discounts to subscribers
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$21, $20 and $17
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Order Tickets
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phone:520.400.5439; on line click here
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phone: 480.596.2660;
on line click here
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Chamber Music PLUS SW
appreciates
your consideration for support. Tickets and grants cover 80% of our
budget. Your support is much appreciated. Thank You!
You are
listening
to Evening Star by Richard Wagner, performed by the Clark- Schuldmann
Duo
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