Choose Something Like a Star - Randall Thompson
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- čas přidán 22. 10. 2015
- Choose Something Like a Star from Frostiana - Randall Thompson (1899-1984)
University of Illinois Chamber Singers | Andrew Megill, conductor
Minji Kim, piano
Recorded live in the Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana, Illinois at a concert titled Draw On, Sweet Night on October 22, 2015 at 7:30pm.
Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art - John Keats
Eleanora Benedict, reader
O Star (the fairest one in sight),
We grant your loftiness the right
To some obscurity of cloud --
It will not do to say of night,
Since dark is what brings out your light.
Some mystery becomes the proud.
But to be wholly taciturn
In your reserve is not allowed.
Say something to us we can learn
By heart and when alone repeat.
Say something! And it says "I burn."
But say with what degree of heat.
Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade.
Use language we can comprehend.
Tell us what elements you blend.
It gives us strangely little aid,
But does tell something in the end.
And steadfast as Keats' Eremite,
Not even stooping from its sphere,
It asks a little of us here.
It asks of us a certain height,
So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far,
We may choose something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid
-Robert Frost (1874-1963) - Hudba
Moving performance. Beautifully sung and the accompanist is excellent
Extremely beautiful singing. It's one of my favorites from a time when I played piano for my high school choir 50+ years ago. Thanks for the memories.
Best choir I've heard sing this so far!
This song makes me think of two things depending on te accompaniment, if the accompaniment is played by strings, I think of a starlit nighttime dance with a pretty lady, but if it’s played on piano like here, I think of a mother holding her baby on a nice summer night, with the window open and a nice cool breeze blowing through the room
Really, really lovely performance!
So often, with this piece, the text is not supported by the interp, or, its not attended to.
This is Exceptionally Wonderful.
Excellent vocal production, awesome use of dynamics, and an amazing interp
Thank you for an Awesome performance
😎😎😎
So lovely! Thank you for this!
Perfect tempo and lovely enunciation of Frost's words. Well done.
Starts at 1:24
Which choir is this?
oh my.... the middle section got butchered..... easy, easy, easy. pianist needs to learn how to make music out of repeating notes... there's a line there. it's not just bang. bang. bang. bang.
It started so lovely - steady, smooth, reverent. What on earth happened in the middle? Instead of intensity and focus we got excess speed, vibrato, off-track vowels, and voices popping out all over the place. DON’T DO THAT. You completely lose ensemble when you do that. It also has a tendency to take the grace out of the accompanist. Speaking of which - good lord this isn’t a march dude - take it easy on those quarters! Straight quarters can have beauty too, you know. And I’m sorry but that last “and be staid” was a total train wreck. Why? Two reasons 1) unless you’re 200% sure every singer is totally on the stick, varying the tempo so broadly like that eventually will bite you in the end. And it did because 2) there wasn’t a stable tempo - that nasty false cue didn’t help - it only exposed the fact SOMEBODY WASN’T WATCHING and launched a sibilant about a week before everyone else. The only thing all of you should have been doing was watching for three (3!) deftly executed cues to end the piece. None of that happened. Singers - get your ill-prepared head out of your damn score! Someone shouldn’t be asked back next year.