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Monday, March 19, 2018

Symphony no. 3, Mvt. 3 Scherzo (Variations on a Keim-Motiv)

The main theme (a classic Keim-Motiv)  is so familiar and friendly, but what I really liked was how much I could do with from precisely that motivic perspective. Composers like Beethoven (and Bernard Herrmann, for that matter) were masters at taking small musical statements and doing all kinds of wonderful, implosive/explosive, expansive/compressed things with them; the Keim-Motiv itself providing a distinction-engendering glue to the sound of the piece overall. 








                                                                              




All music and lyrics ©2018 Andrew Neires DiGelsomina, plagiarists will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Help For Victims of Toxic Family Members

I continue to be the victim of a toxic father, and in the interest of both purging myself and trying to do anything I can to help others I feel compelled to put this up. The most tragic part of dealing with a toxic parent is the fact that such toxicity never goes away, the person in question will always fall back on his or her ways, attempting to pull you into their own, poisonous black hole of self-unforgiveness and hate. This organization is one well worth supporting, at times it's been like a life preserver for me. One of the things I learned from it is how to try and not let my heart get in the way too much; that there is truly no other choice in the matter but to ultimately leave that person out of my life, a decision that might even work toward my father's good as well.

The last is important because I DO still love that person...even if my closing him out of my life seems cruel, even if I'm just telling myself it's for his good as well as mine,..then at least I can get on with my own life, and this site helped me understand that there's nothing wrong with that. Most of all, I hope no one has to go through the rejection and abuse my little brother and I did. It's horrible to experience contempt, vicious physical and emotional abuse, and rejection from someone who helped bring you into the world, I wish it upon no one.





Monday, March 5, 2018

Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen: The Levine DVD Set at the Met

I'm writing this review as a Wagnerian that wants others to discover and enjoy Der Ring Des Nibelungen for the amazing work that it is. I feel that the best way to do this is to first see the opera in its traditional interpretation (or something at least closely approximating such). A dvd can come in handy, as paying to go see the opera itself could be too much for the novice, for many reasons. I personally had to start out with sequential parts of the opera, otherwise I would have been ultimately both overwhelmed and  scared off. I was eventually able to watch longer and longer, and found my attention span expanding accordingly. My "bloody chunks" method might not work for some, but I just wanted to give the neophyte an idea of how to approach Wagner without being  turned off at the start by the size and length of the operas. With a dvd an initiate always has the option of turning off, tuning in, rewinding, etc

Der Ring Des Nibelungen is, in my humble opinion, the greatest work of art in Western history. There is no other work that integrates so many different artistic mediums, characters, and situations into such a comparatively cohesive whole. Let me digress a bit by giving going into what constitutes great Art.

My definition of great Art is that it not only inspires, but can actually make a person learn something about him or herself, and/or the world around. In the case of the Ring, the main thrust is provided by the music, but the allegorical nature of the plot, characters, and situations point toward deep, self-revelatory archetypes. In fact, it could be asserted that the truly great artists all touch upon inherited psychological characteristics in what Carl Jung referred to as the Collective Unconcious, archetypes that help connect the psyches of every man and woman, regardless of political orientation. In Wagner's case, it becomes obvious upon study that he meant his late operas to be interpreted with such a mindset.

Like any Art, fully appreciating the Ring takes a conscious, willed effort. One has to actually learn the musical language that Wagner created. But I must emphasize that one's efforts will be rewarded. Just like reading Dickinson, admiring Raphael, listening to late-era Beethoven...Art pays off over and over again as one lives with it, grows with it.

 So let's start the actual review:

There are two dvd sets that are generally considered the most valuable among Ring performances: this one and the one conducted by Pierre Boulez. I personally started with this one, and I'm glad that I did. It might just be personal preference, but I think that if I had started my Wagner experience with a non-traditional staging of the Ring, like Boulez's I would have been very put off. Seeing this traditional performance first helped me alot with getting my mind right with the work itself.

This Metropolitan Opera performance of the Ring has its share of problems. The middle section of Das Rheingold, as well as the majority of Act I of Gotterdammerung, are seemingly conducted through molasses. James Levine, obviously a very notable conductor overall, seemed to fall asleep during these sections, which is extremely unfortunate considering the fact that they are two sections most in need of conscientious conducting. The outstanding performances of singers James Morris and Crista Ludwig can only shine so much when led by a sleepwalker.

Overall, Levine seems to get swept up and inspired by the rushing, "heavy metal" parts of the Ring, but he seems just plain disinterested during the parts that require more care, subtlety. The exceptions to this general rule are both the excellent awakening-of-Brunnhilde scene in Act III of Siegfried, as well as the better-than-average Siegmund and Sieglinde scene of Die Walkure.

James Morris' perfomance as Wotan steals the show here, he is by far the most impressive Wotan in recent history. His voice has certain idiosyncracies that refine the role and make it his own, not to mention his tall, imposing physical presence. As a basis of audio/video comparison, Donald McIntyre (from the Boulez Ring) stands up well in overall quality to Morris from both a singing and acting standpoint, but the former just can't compete with Morris' less anonymous vocal delivery, not to mention his physical presence. Morris makes the Wotan role HIS in a commanding way.

Siegfried Jerusalem makes a very good Siegfried here, though his acting sometimes puts a "duh" veneer to the character that wasn't Wagner's intent. That is, at times Jerusalem's portrayal tends to veer from the "brash, arrogantly ignorant" portrayal of Siegried meant by Wagner, to an outright, unlikably stupid dolt. This applies only to certain points in his performance, as the Heldentenor mostly does a good job, especially from a singing perspective.

Hildegard Behrens' Brunnhilde is quite good as well, she only falters when she tries too hard. To be more specific, at times she seems to be straining, and not just during the super high notes.

On the other hand, both Behrens and Matti Salminen (as an outSTANDING Hagen) make for an powerful Gotterdammerung Act II. In fact, this act is worth the price of the dvd set by itself. One has to see it to believe it. This might just be the best performance of this act in filmed history, full of all the Germanic gang roars, hell-hath-no-fury scorn, subtle humor, and charismatic drollery that is integral to the piece. Everything seems to click into place with this, the last part of the opera, and it's done so well it redeems the cycle as a whole.

Bottom line, this is the best you can do for traditional staging of the Ring on dvd. I'm personally really grateful I myself started out with it. Don't hesitate to pick this up if you're new to the Ring, or Wagner, and it must be brought up that the traditional staging is going to be by far the most user friendly for the Heavy Metal fan, the costumes, staging, an emphasis on the heroic that most certainly is shared by the musical performances...you want this metal heads!

As an important sidebar, I must reccomend also to the neophyte the Georg Solti-conducted cd set for the best overall studio performace of the Ring. And you'll eventually want the Boulez/Bayreuth Ring dvd set as well, not just because many of the faults existent on the Levine aren't on the Boulez, but because the Boulez is an often superb performance dvd on its own.

Finally, I heartily reccomend a good libretto/concordance (there's one co-edited by Barry Millington that works really well), and it can't hurt to check out some of the different perspectives on the allegory inherent within the opera. Robert Donington's Jungian take, "Wagner's Ring and Its Symbols", is interesting and often helpful, and philosopher Bryan Magee has contributed some marvellously lucid, jargon-free exegesis of the Wagner repetoire.  I myself have begun a site analyzing The Ring, though unfinished you might find some helpful insights there:http://lyraka.com/ourfatherofmetal/hisgreatestoperas.htm This multi-experience approach is important for fully understanding and absorbing Der Ring Des Nibelungen.