Thursday 12 July 2012

Giveaway: Christine Brewer singing Wagner and Strauss [update]

UPDATE:  Well, that question was obviously too difficult. So since we’re running out of time, how about I make it that the first person under 35 who texts on 021 1209443 gets the tickets. (Why under 35? Because youngsters should be thrilled by this music too.)

I have good news for two of you: I have two free tickets to give away to tonight’s performance with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra of leading soprano Christine Brewer—singing some of the most evocative music ever written.

Christine was a late replacement for an injured Deborah Voigt in tonight’s concert in Auckland’s Town Hall, and reports from those at rehearsals suggest Brewer (who was fortuitously in this part of the world singing Wagner in Australia) is going to be amazing. The New York Times declared her a “superlative Strauss singer” admired around the world for her range, golden tone, power and control, and BBC Music Magazine named her as one of the Top 20 Sopranos of the 20th Century.

Not a bad “replacement.”

This is going to be stunning!

Here she is singing Morgen, by Richard Strauss:

So, here’s the question to get your free tickets. Which piece is Ms Brewer singing tonight that has been called “the longest orchestrated orgasm in music”? (Leave your answer in the comments, and I can arrange with the winners to meet you beforehand.)

ANSWER: The answer, of course, is Wagner’s “Prelude and Liebestod” from his opera Tristan and Isolde—containing what Stephen Fry reckons are “the four notes that changed everything.”

2 comments:

twr said...

This is better... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYjQStQqdIY

Sam said...

Have the 2 tickets both been taken?