Kate St. John: "There Is Sweet Music Here That Softer Falls"
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| Posted on May 22, 2022 at 16:41:56 | ||
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Posts: 7806
Location: Peoples' Democratic Republic of R.I. Joined: April 23, 2000 |
 I was testing a new driver for a loudspeaker project, to make sure it was not damaged, and to play 72 hours of Pink Noise. The driver is an Eton Symphony II 5-312 Kevlar woofer-mid. But first, to hear it on some music and, ahem, some Female Vocal, I put on Kate St. John's "There Is Sweet Music Here That Softer Falls," which is her setting of Tennyson's "The Lotus Eaters." I am posting here because I firmly believe that some of Miss St. John's work goes beyond "Baroque Rock" (or Pop), all the way to Art Song. BTW, Bruce Springsteen quotes from "The Lotus Eaters" in his song "I Came for You." The part of the poem Springsteen quotes from is: To each, but whoso did receive of them Anyway, this is literally a "Shoebox Monitor," built into a genuine shoebox from Kuru and yes, I am happy with my purchase. No crossover and no tweeter, but this is a VERY promising driver. amb, john
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| There's also an extraordinary setting of Tennyson's text by Elgar for a cappella mixed chorus, posted on May 23, 2022 at 10:38:32 | |
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Posts: 26480
Location: SF Bay Area Joined: February 17, 2004 Contributor Since: February 6, 2012 |
Who knew that Elgar was on the cutting edge of bitonality? It's an incredibly beautiful setting IMHO - or, as one YouTube commenter nicely states, "Elgar fiddles with bitonality gluing the impossible and making flats and sharps collide to shape bittersweet enharmonic stained glasses." View YouTube Video
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| Many thanks!:-) n/t, posted on May 24, 2022 at 08:46:56 | |
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| "other recordings featuring Tennyson set to music", posted on May 24, 2022 at 11:40:27 | |
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Posts: 26480
Location: SF Bay Area Joined: February 17, 2004 Contributor Since: February 6, 2012 |
There are probably a lot, but perhaps one of the most unusual is Franz Liszt's setting of the poem, "Go not, happy day". This was part of a birthday tribute to Tennyson where a number of different composers set the same text to music, Liszt being by far the best known of them. It's the only song Liszt ever set directly in English and it comes from his later years, when his spare, attenuated style had replaced his earlier grand (some would say grandiose) style, and it ends on an unresolved chord, which gives it an unearthly, shadowy effect like some of Liszt's other late works. I did an orchestration of this song as my final project in my orchestration class when I was a student. (This was partially because there are so many measures of rest in the piano accompaniment, so I didn't have so much to do - LOL!) Perhaps this song wouldn't go over really well in these days of wokeness and political correctness, since the text makes reference to "the red man". But that's Tennyson's fault - not Liszt's! ;-) The other composers who set this same text for Tennyson's birthday event included Frank Bridge and others of even lesser distinction! ;-) Anyway, here are a couple of YouTube videos of the Liszt and Bridge settings, sung by Thomas Hampson and Felicity Lott respectively. (The Bridge setting is only a YouTube link for the reasons stated.) View YouTube Video View YouTube Video
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| Hurwitz liked it but, more than that..., posted on May 25, 2022 at 11:28:21 | |
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there is a compelling review in the Montreal Gazette. It CAN be obtained on CD, and obtain it I will!:-)
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| Just FYI, the Vickers Enoch is 60% off from VAI Direct..., posted on May 26, 2022 at 08:28:09 | |
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for the next couple of days.
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| Will do..., posted on May 26, 2022 at 08:30:10 | |
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I don't know the work (yet). I'll do some comparative listening to fill out my review. Projects!:-)
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