Koss Totem Mani-2 User Manual download pdf (Page 75)

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large orchestra and a choir of 150 voices,

as well as three hand-picked soloists,

tenor Hugh Smith, mezzo soprano

Stephanie Blythe, and baritone Mark

Oswald. They are accompanied by the

entire family of strings and woodwinds,

brass and percussion of all sorts, includ-

ing drums of different sizes, bells,

carillons and cymbals. They produce an

imposing mass of sound.

Despite such an abundance — I

nearly wrote overabundance — of timbres,

the composer never allows his music to

become pompous, and there resides his

genius. He pours it on, yet maintains

a just balance. For me it is remarkable,

at once intense and painful, gratifying

to the ear, and poignant for the emo-

tions it awakens. The composer’s use of

dynamics is part of its appeal, but so is his

choice of the English texts, drawn from

the works of celebrated American poets

who have trained a bitter eye on war.

Three quotations from Notes on the

poetic text which you’ll ﬁnd in the CD

booklet: “When you hear the poetic texts

in An American Requiem, it is our belief

that each word of the nine poems has risen

from a great depth and carries the phosphor

trail of other works.”

And: “An American Requiem opens

with Walt Whitman, our democratic and

roving eye, which sees a ‘new-made double

grave.’” And further on: “This strange,

almost unbelievable, image conjured around

1863…ﬂoats up to us as a turbulent ghost

image that might have been written the

night of September 11th by a poet who lives

in Battery Park City.”

For too long the requiem has offered

privileged access only to the erudite, able

to understand dead languages. Thanks

to Brahms, who dared to add the ver-

nacular to the all-Latin Catholic liturgy,

and to those who followed his daring

innovation, a wider public can follow the

text and comprehend it. Requiems have

ceased to be opaque.

As for the music itself, it is of great

beauty, with a use of dynamics cal-

culated to touch our noblest, deepest

sentiments.

The Dies Irae opens

with the light use of per-

cussion, which sets up the

choppy rhythm which fol-

lows, with brass, drums

and the sforzando choir. All

the instruments are used to

punctuate most effectively

this magniﬁcent aria.

The Latin verses touch

the spiritual dimension of

the relationship of humans

to the Supreme Being:

confusion, fear, resistance,

anger, sadness, but hope as

well. With few exceptions

these verses are sung by

the choir. The English

texts are sung by the solo-

ists, either individually

or together, and address at once the

understanding and the emotions.

Here is the tenor, in the Dies Irae:

Down a new made double grave.

Now nearer blow the bugles

and the drums strike more convulsive

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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 73

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