"Word-painting" is such a common technique it is o...

2008-08-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

"Word-painting" is such a common technique it is often more trite than clever or unexpected. Sometimes it's highly conventional and expected (as when key words and verbs are embellish or inflected.) (And check the conventions of baroque music especially.) Yet still, word-painting is so easily understood by the audience, so effective, and as you describe, so enjoyable and rewarding, it's what often makes a text-setting sparkle.

There are lots of places in the Requiem. where I s...

2008-05-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

There are lots of places in the Requiem. where I smile in anticipation, or tear up in anticipation. Movement 6 in particular is a problem, from "der Zeit der letzen Posaune" through to the fugue. Well, it's a problem because I'm singing it tonight with Chora Nova - and two pianos - and I'm an alto and need to retain some poise for the fugue, which we lead off.

He uses similar compositional techniques elsewhere in the Requiem, though I think not anywhere where the text is so telling. All that learned counterpoint includes strettos, augmentation of a theme, etc., etc.

Comments on On a Pacific Aisle: This Magic Moment (one in a series)

"Word-painting" is such a common technique it is o...

There are lots of places in the Requiem. where I s...