tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post8306220875659703592..comments2024-03-17T12:16:42.048-07:00Comments on Civic Center: Why You Should Hear The Brahms Requiem This WeekendCivic Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post-83757157491827406412015-02-22T13:46:08.966-08:002015-02-22T13:46:08.966-08:00Dear lb: I was there last night too and it was a w...Dear lb: I was there last night too and it was a wonderful performance. I enjoyed the piece as music, however, projecting my own scenario, which was all over the place rather than a meditation on God and mortality.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post-652377257833902822015-02-22T11:31:39.560-08:002015-02-22T11:31:39.560-08:00Went to the performance last night (Saturday). Aw...Went to the performance last night (Saturday). Awesome singing. Not to be missed if you are not Shaw. Very spiritual work. lbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18101285418235465072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post-60094399409933887892015-02-22T01:12:13.014-08:002015-02-22T01:12:13.014-08:00Dear Patrick: I take Shaw's writings about Bra...Dear Patrick: I take Shaw's writings about Brahms AND Wagner with a "consider the source" grain of salt. He's best when describing his first love, Mozart.<br /><br />And I must be essentially a comic spirit because requiems are alien to me too. Some stranger tonight at the Symphony asked me what I would want played at my funeral, and all I could reply was, "Good question, but I know it wouldn't be a requiem. Something more festive."Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post-87770146649133022962015-02-21T20:44:54.559-08:002015-02-21T20:44:54.559-08:00I love Shaw, but for me his attitude towards the G...I love Shaw, but for me his attitude towards the German Requiem (and Brahms in general) has always been a "consider the source" thing:<br /><br />(1) Shaw was always polemical, and as the author of the Perfect Wagnerite he definitely chose sides in the "Wagner is the future" vs "Brahms is a traditionalist" battles of the mid- and late-nineteenth century musical world. He needed to attack Brahms to make way for Wagner, just as he needed to attack Shakespeare to make way for the new theater of Ibsen (and Shaw himself).<br /><br />(2) Shaw's was essentially a comic spirit -- when he told the story of St Joan, for him it ends not with her execution but with an epilogue (both amusing and profound) in which she gets the last word with her old opponents. He believed that, however slowly and imperfectly, humanity could progress forward. As such, all requiems are alien to him.Patrick J. Vazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.com