A Child Of Our Time
May 17th, 2008 | 2 Comments | Music |
I just got done with a performance of this in Brooklyn Heights this evening. This is a seldom-performed piece, but one worth knowing about. The only reason I’m familiar with it is because Phil Finn, back in Kohler Hall in the late ’70s, turned us all on to it. And when The Cleveland Orchestra did a Michael Tippett program in 1977, with Tippett in attendance, and with this on the program; well, we were there, baby.
Scored for orchestra, chorus and soloists, A Child Of Our Time centers around a true story of pre-war persecution of the Jews in Germany. Tippett was casting about for a structural element for the oratorio that would function the same way that chorales did in Bach cantatas, and happened to hear a recording of spirituals on the radio. The affinity between spirituals and the plight of the Jews is immediate: “When Israel was in Egypt land; Let my people go. Oppresed so hard they could not stand; Let my people go.”
He pulls in five of them, which serve as commentary to the rest of the text. Here are two excerpts, from the canonical Philips recording featuring soloists Jessye Norman, Janet Baker, Richard Cassilly and John Shirley-Quirk, with the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony all under Colin Davis.
The first excerpt is the end of the first section, the soprano soloists questions how she can go on living any kind of normal life under her circumstances, then the choir moves into “Steal Away.”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The second excerpt is comprised of the final two numbers, the general ensemble featuring all four soloists, and the final spiritual “Deep River.” The ending is one of the “aha” moments, as the chorus slowly swings down through another verse, slower and slower, more and more restful. And then on the last two notes a trap door opens beneath your feet.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Afterward the Cleveland performance we hung around, and finally Tippett himself came ambling through the auditorium. We wouldn’t let him go until he agreed to autograph Phil’s program for him. This is one of those pieces that I don’t expect I’ll ever play again, it was great to have a shot at it.
Tags: Classical Music, Performances
Thank you. Those were beautiful peices, with the notable exceptions of the guy sneezing, the guy coughing, the person who was crumpling paper, and the person who seemed to be peeing.
No, but really, excellent job. Beautiful music. The orchestra sounded flawless. So magical it was almost impossible to tell which instruments were playing. It just all blended together like one instrument. I don’t know a better way to explain it, sorry.
Why is “A Child of our Time” so rarely performed? Or is it just the three particular pieces we listened to that are seldomed performed?
It probably gets its due on the pro circuit, but on the amateur circuit — where I am — it could be that when choruses and orchestras are able to collaborate — which isn’t very often at all — they tend to want to do the more tried-and-true. Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation for example. Or simply not anything 20th century, since there’s still this absurd bias against “modern” music.
BTW, that wasn’t us on the recording. it’s a group of really top pros. Thanks for the compliment of thinking I’d be in on something that well-done!