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jamesqA Review of the Mountain View Connection Recital at the Rozsa Centre. With interpretation of the obscure musical and non-English bits by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
quixote317.
Jacqui Lynn Fidlar
(mezzo-soprano)
Rod Tyler Squance
Tyler Hornby
(Percussionists)
Kathleen van Mourik
Charles Foreman
(pianists)
We began the concert with three pieces by Johannes "Electric Guitar" Brahms. All of the pieces are from his opera 118: "Moses Opens a Can of Whup-Ass on the Pharisees".
The next musical piece was "Dueling Pianos and Gatling Guns" by Bela Bartok, who found time to compose while aiding the undead ghost of Rasputin in his evil plot to kill Anastasia Romanoff. Clearly he is multi-talented for a vampire bat. Strangely, he subtitled this work "My Mother is Slow - She Can't Change".
While the piece was competently performed by both pianists and percussionists, it didn't fit with the other numbers. Possibly this had to do with the pervasive smell of cordite in the air. It was complicated enough that both pianists had spare pianists handy in case they accidentally cramped up a hand or something. The two "spares" entertained themselves by occasionally standing and flipping the pianists music books to a random page.
This was followed by another performance art piece "Moving the singer's music stand so that the CBC's microphone is directly between her and the reviewer". I'm not sure I like these long titles. Or their aim. The final piece before the intermission was the first with Ms. Fidlar, who sang her little heart out. The piece was actually six numbers by Richard Strauss (who in 1897 wrote a symphonic poem about ME, which is strange because I wouldn't be born for another 70 years. Clearly genius of my calibre was heralded throughout the ages.).
Accompanying Ms. Fidlar was Ms. von Mourik on the piano. Both did an astounding job of making the audience forget about Bartok.
The six songs were as follows (with translation from German by me):
Following the intermission we were regaled by all the performers at once. They performed "Adding up the Worms" by Xavier Montsalvatge (no relation to Professor Charles Xavier, I'm assured).
This piece could have been marred by the presence of the "spares" once again. However this only showed the professionalism of the musicians: When one of the spares attempted to steal a music book, the pianist would beat them soundly with their piano stool. To keep from interrupting the piece the other pianist would PLAY BOTH PIANOS SIMULTANEOUSLY! A one time occurrence would have been astonishing, but both Mr. Foreman and Ms. von Mourik managed to pull off this feat no less than seven times!
Each spare was thankfully killed by a well placed drumstick by Mr. Squance and Mr. Hornby.
Through it all Ms. Fidlar sang effortlessly and pleasingly with nary a pause or sour note.
Afterwards, we were again treated to a performance art number (titled "cleaning up the blood and the bodies" I believe).
The next piece was titled "Fragile" (ironic really, considering what had just happened in the previous piece) by Gordon Sumner - an obscure musician languishing in prison after running afoul of the Police. Mr Squance and Mr. Hornby having warmed up the crowd with earlier demonstrations of their marksmanship now showed themselves to be top calibre (sorry) percussionists as well.
The final performance art piece following "Fragile" was titled "Drop Kicking Mr. Hornsby's Bongo Drums When He Isn't Looking".
The final musical number was by Ms. Fidlar and Mr. Foreman (composed by Mr. Montsalvatge, the piece is titled "Cinco Canciones Negras" - Black Pencil Crayon Number Five). The five individual songs were (with translations from Spanish by me):
The audience (including this reviewer) was quite pleased by the performers - they had three curtain calls!
After the recital, their was a sumptuous banquet of nuts covered with nut sauce, garnished with nuts with a sides of roasted and salted nuts! Plus there were peanut butter squares. It was delicious, though my companions thought the food was unacceptable for some strange reason.
I look forward to the next concert by Ms. Fidlar and associates.
quixote317.Jacqui Lynn Fidlar
(mezzo-soprano)
Rod Tyler Squance
Tyler Hornby
(Percussionists)
Kathleen van Mourik
Charles Foreman
(pianists)
We began the concert with three pieces by Johannes "Electric Guitar" Brahms. All of the pieces are from his opera 118: "Moses Opens a Can of Whup-Ass on the Pharisees".
- Intermezzo with a minor
- Intermezzo with a sociology major
- Baldy in G whiz
The next musical piece was "Dueling Pianos and Gatling Guns" by Bela Bartok, who found time to compose while aiding the undead ghost of Rasputin in his evil plot to kill Anastasia Romanoff. Clearly he is multi-talented for a vampire bat. Strangely, he subtitled this work "My Mother is Slow - She Can't Change".
While the piece was competently performed by both pianists and percussionists, it didn't fit with the other numbers. Possibly this had to do with the pervasive smell of cordite in the air. It was complicated enough that both pianists had spare pianists handy in case they accidentally cramped up a hand or something. The two "spares" entertained themselves by occasionally standing and flipping the pianists music books to a random page.
This was followed by another performance art piece "Moving the singer's music stand so that the CBC's microphone is directly between her and the reviewer". I'm not sure I like these long titles. Or their aim. The final piece before the intermission was the first with Ms. Fidlar, who sang her little heart out. The piece was actually six numbers by Richard Strauss (who in 1897 wrote a symphonic poem about ME, which is strange because I wouldn't be born for another 70 years. Clearly genius of my calibre was heralded throughout the ages.).
Accompanying Ms. Fidlar was Ms. von Mourik on the piano. Both did an astounding job of making the audience forget about Bartok.
The six songs were as follows (with translation from German by me):
- Schon sind, doch kalt ( My Schlong Has Sinned - I've Docked it with the Canoe)
- Traum durch die Dammerung (The Sunset Trauma of my Damn Dreams)
- Ruhe, meine Seele! (Rest, my Manatee)
- Allerseelen (All Manatees, All The Time)
- Wiegenlied (Wiegen Lied)
- Befreit (The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire)
Following the intermission we were regaled by all the performers at once. They performed "Adding up the Worms" by Xavier Montsalvatge (no relation to Professor Charles Xavier, I'm assured).
This piece could have been marred by the presence of the "spares" once again. However this only showed the professionalism of the musicians: When one of the spares attempted to steal a music book, the pianist would beat them soundly with their piano stool. To keep from interrupting the piece the other pianist would PLAY BOTH PIANOS SIMULTANEOUSLY! A one time occurrence would have been astonishing, but both Mr. Foreman and Ms. von Mourik managed to pull off this feat no less than seven times!
Each spare was thankfully killed by a well placed drumstick by Mr. Squance and Mr. Hornby.
Through it all Ms. Fidlar sang effortlessly and pleasingly with nary a pause or sour note.
Afterwards, we were again treated to a performance art number (titled "cleaning up the blood and the bodies" I believe).
The next piece was titled "Fragile" (ironic really, considering what had just happened in the previous piece) by Gordon Sumner - an obscure musician languishing in prison after running afoul of the Police. Mr Squance and Mr. Hornby having warmed up the crowd with earlier demonstrations of their marksmanship now showed themselves to be top calibre (sorry) percussionists as well.
The final performance art piece following "Fragile" was titled "Drop Kicking Mr. Hornsby's Bongo Drums When He Isn't Looking".
The final musical number was by Ms. Fidlar and Mr. Foreman (composed by Mr. Montsalvatge, the piece is titled "Cinco Canciones Negras" - Black Pencil Crayon Number Five). The five individual songs were (with translations from Spanish by me):
- Cuba Dentro de un piano (Stuffing the Cuban into the Piano...)
- Punto de Habanera (...Then kicking him because he's from Havana...)
- Chevere (...Finally, we knife him...)
- Cancion de Cuna Para Dormir a un Negrito (Huzzah!)
- Canto Negro (...We sing because he is black and blue).
The audience (including this reviewer) was quite pleased by the performers - they had three curtain calls!
After the recital, their was a sumptuous banquet of nuts covered with nut sauce, garnished with nuts with a sides of roasted and salted nuts! Plus there were peanut butter squares. It was delicious, though my companions thought the food was unacceptable for some strange reason.
I look forward to the next concert by Ms. Fidlar and associates.
