Musical memories

When I joined the Untertürkheimer Kantorei choir two years ago, I didn't know that we would have professional singers performing the solo parts and a wonderful orchestra accompanying us. I told the choir director that it was my dream to sing "Großer Herr, o starker König!" Having had the pleasure (?) of hearing me sing the past few weeks, she smiled at me gently and said that she had already booked a very good bass to sing it.  God, what an aria this is! My first introduction to it was a recording of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau singing it and I still love his rendition. But when you have the chance to hear it live by a first-class singer such as Thomas Scharr , then you are in for some fun. The piece bounces and blasts the listeners with the greatest assortment of brass arrangements and melodic lines! I always sing along with it when I play it on CD. I had to keep control of myself during our live performances, though I was mouthing the words and all my emotions were at 110...

Glenn Gould was famous for his Bach, but some people remember him best for trash-talking Mozart. Even though he recorded most of Mozart's Piano Sonatas, and really  loved a few of them, he also went on record as saying he thought many were fairly inane.  What? Yep . He was too predictable as a composer, especially in his late works. He stayed in one key too long and had the performers just play scales up and down their instruments. Although he was by all reports a great musician and improviser, his compositions often ended up being nothing but "cute". Yes and no. I'd like to present you one of the pieces that isn't only cute; it's also brilliant! Mozart wrote this Serenade both in Munich and Vienna. And if you know those two cities, how could you expect anything less than a masterpiece to have been born there? He was in his prime at 26 and this piece hour-long piece really gives the listeners - and the lucky performers - their due.  I first became aware of thi...

In September 2018 I found a flyer in my pigeon-hole at work that was advertising for upcoming performances of J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio and called for new singers for the choir. Well, not only had I been wanting to join a choir, but I also knew the choir director and saw that the church was not too far from my house! Like many musical families, we listen to the Oratorio at Christmas every year - usually on CD but also sometimes live. In preparation for the first rehearsal, I downloaded the music and played it on the piano. Wow! I was supposed to be able to sing those fast coloratura passages and trills and octave jumps? I considered backing out, but thought that my years of choir experience and voice lessons would just be put to a test now. How glad I am that I went! Singing with 15 other basses, my voice seemed to be carried along from one measure to the next. The choir director, Irene Ziegler, stood behind the piano, looked at the score, played the piano blind and condu...