Remembering the definitive accompanist, Gerald Moore
Maybe it was that list the other day of most-searched stuff on a classical music download site that got me thinking about art songs again -- it was encouraging to see that solo vocal music would register on one of those lists. Then, I noticed that Thursday was the 110th anniversary of the birth of Gerald Moore, the most revered of accompanists.
So, naturally, I started digging around YouTube for some Gerald Moore clips. I could have gone on clicking for hours and hours, but I settled on two that I wanted to share.
First up is the wonderful tenor
Nicolai Gedda singing a song I never knew he sang, "Down By the Salley Gardens," one of my all-time favorite folk songs, in the spare Britten arrangement. Then, elegant and eloquent soprano Victoria de los Angeles sings Schubert's sublime An die Musik, the perfect summation of any musical artist's life. Both of these videos find Gerald Moore revealing, with his usual, calm authority, the art of accompaniment.
Comments
I once read that Moore wrote a book about his career working with different artists, but I've never been able to find it. Do you know its title or have you ever read it? (Perhaps other readers could post about it.)
He wrote a few, the most famous being the 1962 'Am I Too Loud?', which turns up in used book stores (Amazon has links to some). TIM
Posted by: Clayton | August 1, 2009 10:10 AM
Hello Tim,
Thank you for your tireless efforts to raise awareness of these great artists of the past. Such remembrance should make us appreciate and feel privileged to have a rich musical heritage that has laid the foundation for today's artists. As our mass media are entirely focused on pop culture, it is quite possible -- and frightening -- that the classical art form will fade within a few generations. You deserve extra credit for being a one-person crusade to make the public aware of the rich musical culture available to us.
You're much too kind. But thanks. TIM
Posted by: henry | August 1, 2009 9:30 PM