Concert Details
Friday, March 13, 2009 @ 8:00 pm
Ludwig van Beethoven Mass in C
Benjamin Britten Orchestral Suite from Death in Venice (First Boston performance)
Gerald Finzi Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice
“Music, verily, is the mediator between intellectual and sensuous life…the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.” - Ludwig van Beethoven
Although he came to criticize the sound of Beethoven’s music, Britten would have subscribed enthusiastically to Beethoven’s words. Rarely have there been two composers who brought to their music such a powerful integration of mind and heart.
Beethoven poured his soul into the C major Mass, and though it has traditionally lain in the shadow of the grander Missa Solemnis, Cantata Singers invites you to explore this work in its own light. Pastoral and personal, it reminds us that Beethoven’s musical mind and heart, though at times rough and chaotic, is often calm, gently and supremely humane.
By contrast, Britten’s last opera, based on Thomas Mann’s novel, is a disturbing affair, and it is the composer at his most intensely restrained. After he died, his musical assistant Colin Matthews devised an orchestral suite from the opera’s powerful musical material, gorgeously cool and dark music. Gerald Finzi (1901-1956), whose music has never appeared on our concerts, composed music of profound simplicity and expression, and his Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice responds to the Britten with serene nobility.
Where
New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall
30 Gainsborough Street, Boston
http://www.newenglandconservatory.edu/jordanhall/
Via public transportation:
Take the Green Line "E" train to the Symphony stop. Walk one block west on Huntington Avenue, towards the YMCA. Take the first left, onto Gainsborough Street. Jordan Hall is on the right. Note: this station is not wheelchair accessible.
Click here for detailed driving directions.
Parking lots:
Gainsboro Garage
10 Gainsborough Street
From Copley: West on Huntington Avenue. Cross Massachusetts Avenue, passing Symphony Hall on the right. Left at the first traffic light onto Gainsborough Street. Pass NEC on the right. Uptown Garage is the next building on the right.
Westland Garage
35 Westland Avenue
From Copley: West on Huntington Avenue. Turn right onto Massachusetts Avenue. Take the first left onto Westland Avenue. Circular parking garage is on the right, above Bread and Circus.
Join us…
… for a post-concert AFTER GLOW following the performance at Betty’s Wok and Noodle, 250 Huntington Avenue.
*NEC’s Jordan Hall is wheelchair accessible.
*Assistive Listening Devices are available at the coatroom just prior to performances, or by contacting the Head Usher or House Manager on duty.