Saturday’s performance at Severance Hall was surprisingly…tonal. Schoenburg, the inventor and master of the twelve-tone system, did not always compose atonal music as evident in “Kol Nidre”. The piece is based off of the Jewish prayer said at the holiest of High Holidays, Yom Kippur. Schoenburg, who was then living in California at the time, worked with a local Rabbi in creating an extended and slightly modified English translation of the Aramaic text. This text is spoken in a dramatic tone by a narrating soloists who is accompanied by a reduced orchestra. As the narrator speaks the text, the orchestra provides apt coloring and phrasing that intensifies the meaning of the words.
I had never heard this piece and I really enjoyed it. It had some very innovative sounds and the simplistic way in which Schoenburg resolved the G minor piece to a G major chord at the end was beautiful. Of course, the traditional “Kol Nidrei” melody typically performed by a cello soloists during the Yom Kippur, will always be my favorite. In fact, it is my favorite Jewish melody - it is incredibly passionate and moving.
The evening concluded with Bruckner’s epic Fifth Symphony. We’re talking 70 minutes of hardcore symphony. The perfect marriage of sonata and fugue form in the finale. The Cleveland Orchestra is performing the piece on tour this summer and will produce a DVD video recording of it. Needless to say - they have been practicing it extensively and Saturday’s performance was flawless. The Cleveland Orchestra’s recording under Dohnányi is considered by many to be the definitive Bruckner Fifth Symphony recording. It will be interesting to see how Franz Welser-Most’s recording will compare.
Last Friday, Cassie took me as her date to the Alpha Chi Omega Formal. I always enjoy dressing up in a suit and eating great food - so needless to say the evening was a pleasure. A bus took us from the AXO house to the Wyndham Hotel in downtown Cleveland. Dinner was served and then Cassie and I danced the night away. Greg and Alisson were there too so we hung out with them too.
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Whoever thought of having our formal in a brewery was a genius. The night was very entertaining for everyone who came, which included quite a few alumni from out of town, state, and country. I know my date, Janine Kaiser (just a friend), and I had a great time. A motorcoach drove us from Phikap to the Great Lakes Brewery. It didn’t look like more than a warehouse from the outside, but inside and upstairs was a very well decorated seating area with a well stocked bar featuring the many beers Great Lakes offers.
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Phi Kappa Theta threw a mixer with Alpha Phi at their house. It went really well. We brought a *ton* of chocolate and made fondue to dip strawberries, bananas, and sliced pineapple in. I played Parcheesi with Ashley, Mitch, and Samantha. Nothing too crazy - everyone found a game and played it. It was cool. There are some pictures in the gallery.
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I went to the CIM opera (alone :() on Friday to see “Mozart vs. Salieri” - two one-act librettos from Mozart’s “The Impresario” and Antonio Salieri’s “Prima la Musica, Poi Le Parole”. Each was set in modern times and some liberties were taken that were absolutely hilarious. As well, each featured a conflict of dueling prima donna divas that relished in showing off their high D’s, similiar to the infamous (though not quite factual) conflict of ‘rivals’ Salieri and Mozart.
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