Concert Review

The Singer's Voice benefit concert, October 3rd

This was an absolutely delightful concert. But how could it not be, with a bunch of Boston's best singers all singing together?
I was also pleased that the programming a a bit off the beaten path - I heard a lot of music that I had been previously unaware of. There were only a couple of pieces I didn't like. I thought Parry's "I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me" was a good example of late Romantic bombast and excess. Luckily, it was followed by Durufle's gorgeous and subtle "Ubi Caritas". I also thought Coleridge-Taylor's "The Lee Shore" was very bland; but I guess that's why he's known primarily as a poet.
I really liked Puccini's Agnus Dei. It was 19th century sacred choral music done absolutely right. Plus, the soloists, Michael Calmes and David Kravitz, were so good they gave me shivers. My favorite piece on the program was Vaughn Williams' "Serenade to Music". The text is from Shakespeare and the setting truly captured all the magic and romance of the words. It reminded me very strongly of Philip Glass' opera La Belle et La Bete - I wonder if the serenade was part of Glass' inspiration. The solos were all great, especially pantsie's; it's no surprise that she fits right in with the pros. I especially liked the way that distance from and sight lines to the stage made it hard to see who was singing each solo, which made them appropriately mysterious.

Book Review

I'll Go To Bed At Noon
by Gerard Woodward

This is the sequel to August, and follows the next stage of the Jones' lives, picking up about four years after the close of the first book. Colette has given up sniffing glue and become a low-key alcoholic. Janus continues down the the path of alcoholism and unbalanced behavior, which eventually results in his eviction from the family home. The Jones' other children gradually leave the home to forge their own adult lives and escape from Janus' menacing influence.
The characterizations remain full and rich, the prose well-formed, and the narrative elegantly devoid of melodrama despite the subject matter. It's amazing how a relatively quiet and even ordinary story about a family can be so absorbing in the hands of the right author.