Klarinet Archive - Posting 001023.txt from 1998/02

From: BCaslinger <BCaslinger@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Dawn Upshaw
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 13:10:37 -0500

In a message dated 98-02-27 13:10:35 EST, you (Mark Charette) write:

> With Dawn Upshaw singing how could it be other than great? I'm thinking
> of the CD I have at home where she does the singing on an album by
> a Polish composer. I can't remember the name & composer offhand, but the
> remembrance of the music & singing is bringing tears to my eyes as I
> type ...

Mark,

The piece you are refering to is Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)
by Henryk Gorecki (recorded by the London Simphonietta under the direction of
David Zinman (also a champion of contemporary American music (contemporary
music in general, really). (Have you ever seen Zinman conduct a concert? It
is the most astounding, minimal conducting I have ever seen, yet he never
fails to bring off less than stellar performances. The guy is incredible.)
Yes, it is a powerful piece. Gorecki's early music is quite astringent by
comparison; a couple of years before the performance of Crumb's "...Moons," I
heard -- in that same church, on a similarly sultry, August evening -- a
performance of Gorecki's "Lerchenmusik" for 'cello, piano and clarinet (I'm
not sure I would program this with "Pierrot" if I wanted anyone in the
audience!) which is nothing like his third symphony, barring a minimalist
approach of composition. His (relatively recently) newly-found minimalist
(and harmonically accessible) style has won him much fame, popularity and,
apparently, wealth. (One local composer I know has little good to say about
Gorecki, but one always has to be suspicious of composers who grouse about
other composers/artists actually making money from their art. This person is
none to fond of Copland and Bernstein, either. It is a puzzlement, to quote
the King of Siam.)

In any event, I, too, like the piece, and Upshaw's singing. Regarding Upshaw,
I generally do not like fluttery vibratos ("vibrati") such as hers, but I find
her artistry so open and honest that I can overlook it. And I also appreciate
the amount of contemporary (and Americam) music she has recorded.

Bruce