Exam

[mlr]

I was notified yesterday via phone that I passed the Practical Part of the A.G.O. Fellowship Exam.

So, half way there. I guess I will try to take the written part in June 2013.

There is an essay question on the written part: "Write...on one of three given topics concerning the life and music of Benjamin Britten.". (The composer changes every year - always someone known for their organ and/or choral music.) I'm relieved it is Britten - someone I don't mind learning more about.

Comments

[notdefined.livejournal.com]

Britten, one weird guy. I sang his war requiem with the sfs several years ago. I could not make sense of it all through the weeks of rehearsals leading up to the performance. A few days before the performance we met the guest conductor, Kurt Masur formerly of the NY Phil and everything changed. Masur gave life to the requiem making sure we understood the urgency with which it was written. It just so happened that he personally knew Britten, whom he respectfully referred to as 'delicate'. The urgency took on an entire new meaning for us as just a few days before the performance the 9/11 attacks took place. It was spellbinding, one could have heard a pin drop in Davies Symphony Hall.

[mlr.livejournal.com]

I admire his technique as a composer a great deal - though he often used his technique to elicit an emotional response. (Normal for a composer of operas - which of course he was in spades.) I'm usually fonder of music where the emotionalism (or politics, religion, etc.) is kept underneath the surface. To me, the War Requiem in this sense is quite different than the B minor Mass or Mozart's Requiem, or Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms.

However, I only know the War Requiem from a performance in my 20s, maybe I'll feel differently when I revisit. I heard the "first draft" of the War Requiem - Britten's Violin Concerto - there in San Francisco 3 or 4 years ago played by Midori. It's a knockout piece. I truly loved it.

I know the Britten orchestral war-horses fairly well. I accompanied a few songs and a few arias in my accompanying days - including the Serenade for Tenor & Horn. I only know the operas by reputation. I know a handful of the choral music from the past few years as an organist. I heard Rejoice in the Lamb for the first time in 2008 in St. Paul (MN). I'm looking forward to getting to know him a lot better.

Totally unrelated - I'm not sure, but I think he was the first composer who was out. He was like Auden & Isherwood in that way - he paved the way for many others.

[notdefined.livejournal.com]

I think he may have been the first to be out and get away with it. Britain was so shamed for what they did to Alan Turing that I think they dared not repeat it.