David Lang
Program - A Tribute to Dietrich Fische-Dieskau.
Leider by Schubert (1797-1828).
Interspersed with Songs from flower, forget me by Lang (b. 1957).
This was another People's Symphony Concert held at New York City's townhall.
Fische-Dieskau made his debut at the Town Hall 70 years ago, this recital was to commemorate that event. (Not sure out of the many events that happened before or after that event why it was chosen to be remembered.)
Also, David Lang's composition of the suite "flower, forget me" has a story behind it. It started with him looking over all of Schubert's songs and pulling out the 33 (or so?) references to flower and death. Lang then translated the German words into English which formed the basis of his suite. In today's program four of the songs by Lang were sung.
Today's performance was the US debut of these Lang songs, so he came out to talk a bit about his composition process. He also included a story about "Schone Mullerin" where a miller jumped to his death because of unrequited love.
All said and done, I am not sure how today's program was put together. That doesn't mean it wasn't an enjoyable concert, because it was. Appl had this casualness about him that was refreshing, and he certainly has a great voice. He did all of Schubert's songs from memory, while he needed the music for Lang's songs. Lang wrote the music in 2022, for Appl. Or perhaps it's the English text that Appl wasn't sure about?
I didn't realize that the photo (taken with an iPhone 16 Pro Max) was so bad until I got home.
So here is a screen shot from the pscny.org website. Fischer-Dieskau was born on May 28, 1925.
Two of the Schubert pieces were familiar to me: Standchen (D.957, No. 4) and Heidenroslein (D. 257).
Today was a rainy day, yet the hall was filled per usual.
I left right after the concert concluded, and managed to catch the 4:07 pm train.
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