Concert Roundup
Oct. 17th, 2008 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariI have been to three concerts in the last week.
Friday, Oct. 10, Jozef van Wissem
Van Wissem plays contemporary, improvised music for the lute. He describes himself as working towards liberating the instrument and bringing it into the 21st century. He's a good musician and I really love the idea of bringing the lute into the contemporary music scene. However, I just didn't find van Wissem's music all that compelling. Each of three pieces he played were rather slow and meditative. One included a music-concrete style recording of sounds from airports and train stations, which I found pretty unconvincing.
Wed., Oct. 15, Show at Great Scott
I went to Great Scott to see Highly Personal Trash, the band of my former co-worker S. She's on vocals and keyboard, with a drummer and guitarist. They were very good. S has a much deeper, beefier voice than I was expecting, and her songs were great. They reminded me a bit of My Brightest Diamond or a less eccentric Sugar Cubes. I hope I get more chances to see them. I stayed for the second band, a group from New York called Get Help. They were also quite good, very reminiscent of the alt-rock I listened to a lot in college. I saw two of my other former co-workers there, too (besides S). It was only awkward for the first few seconds, and I'm truly glad I got to see them again.
Fri., Oct. 17 Schola Cantorum
After seeing the Blue Heron Ensemble in March, I promised myself that I would go to more early music concerts, so I was happy to see![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wavyarms posting about this concert today. I got a bit lost on my way to the venue - a lovely neo-gothic church in Beacon Hill (curse your unhelpful signage, Boston!), but luckily still made it there in plenty of time for the concert and even in time for a good chat with sexybadpnomamma.
It was a beautiful concert - great singing and great pieces. The performance featured Byrd's lovely Mass for 5 Voices, and two other gorgeous sacred works by him, "Exsurge Domine" and "Ne Irascaris Domine". Plus, there were secular pieces by Gibbons and Weelkes. I was particularly enchanted by the Weelkes selections, because it turned out to be the "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" set: "Strike it up, tabor" (a tabor is a Renaissance-era drum), "Come Sirrah Jack, Ho" (about the pleasures of tobacco), and "Make haste, ye lovers".
Friday, Oct. 10, Jozef van Wissem
Van Wissem plays contemporary, improvised music for the lute. He describes himself as working towards liberating the instrument and bringing it into the 21st century. He's a good musician and I really love the idea of bringing the lute into the contemporary music scene. However, I just didn't find van Wissem's music all that compelling. Each of three pieces he played were rather slow and meditative. One included a music-concrete style recording of sounds from airports and train stations, which I found pretty unconvincing.
Wed., Oct. 15, Show at Great Scott
I went to Great Scott to see Highly Personal Trash, the band of my former co-worker S. She's on vocals and keyboard, with a drummer and guitarist. They were very good. S has a much deeper, beefier voice than I was expecting, and her songs were great. They reminded me a bit of My Brightest Diamond or a less eccentric Sugar Cubes. I hope I get more chances to see them. I stayed for the second band, a group from New York called Get Help. They were also quite good, very reminiscent of the alt-rock I listened to a lot in college. I saw two of my other former co-workers there, too (besides S). It was only awkward for the first few seconds, and I'm truly glad I got to see them again.
Fri., Oct. 17 Schola Cantorum
After seeing the Blue Heron Ensemble in March, I promised myself that I would go to more early music concerts, so I was happy to see
wavyarms posting about this concert today. I got a bit lost on my way to the venue - a lovely neo-gothic church in Beacon Hill (curse your unhelpful signage, Boston!), but luckily still made it there in plenty of time for the concert and even in time for a good chat with sexybadpnomamma.It was a beautiful concert - great singing and great pieces. The performance featured Byrd's lovely Mass for 5 Voices, and two other gorgeous sacred works by him, "Exsurge Domine" and "Ne Irascaris Domine". Plus, there were secular pieces by Gibbons and Weelkes. I was particularly enchanted by the Weelkes selections, because it turned out to be the "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" set: "Strike it up, tabor" (a tabor is a Renaissance-era drum), "Come Sirrah Jack, Ho" (about the pleasures of tobacco), and "Make haste, ye lovers".
