After listening to Weber's Der Freischutz last night,I thought I might follow it up with something in a similar vein. Out came Marschner's 'Der Vampyr'! It was just after midnight and I'm sitting there listening to the overture (and half asleep) suddenly this creepy sounding church bell really spooked me out. An impressive aria,or monologue,by the Vampire (a few scant notes with the cd set,no libretto!) and an eerie atmosphere throughout. The musical invention very consistent. You think,this is fairly obscure (it did get on bbc2 once,of course!) it's got to look a bit shaky after a masterpiece like 'Der Freischutz';but no,indeed. Very impressive! Maybe,the Vampire story line keeps it from being taken as seriously as it should? But in this day and age of tv series like 'True blood' and 'The Walking dead' I would have though interest would have grown in this creepy rarity?!! ??? ::)
Not sure if it was a good idea to listen to this one before bed,though?!! :o :o
Marschner is a fascinating composer. I have on DVD a performance of his
Hans Heiling from Sardinia, of all places, that was done a few years ago. It's a stunning piece - the missing link between Weber and Wagner if ever there was one. It mixes speech and song freely, and breaks the barriers between ensemble movements in a way that nothing earlier does, that I'm aware. I highly recommend checking it out if you ever come across it.
I put the Albanians to bed last night - a net positive, though my mind was elsewhere due to some evils affecting my computer. Nevertheless, I found much of the music to be quite attractive, if unmemorable. I next listened to some Bernhard Sekles - eh. Not terribly memorable, I'm afraid. But it's a nice disc from Toccata Classics. Right now I'm listening to some four-handed piano music by the Bulgarian Alexander Yossifov. Quite pleasant. Again, rather unmemorable, but I'm not complaining. :D
