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Duke Arts Presents

Amarcord

Friday, November 6, 2015 | 8:00 pm

Baldwin Auditorium


In 1992, five erstwhile members of St. Thomas’ Boys Choir in Leipzig — where Bach himself once served as music director — decided to continue their musical partnership into adulthood. Thus the all-male vocal ensemble Amarcord was formed. In the twenty years since, they have toured six continents and become great musical ambassadors of Germany, bringing to their craft “a musically dazzling union of intelligent emotion, glittering esprit, and supple elegance” (Schwäbische Zeitung).

Amarcord’s program focuses on works from the nineteenth century, including music by Schumann, Mendelssohn, Grieg, and Saint-Saëns. Though this is rare terrain for most small vocal ensembles, the rich romantic harmonies are perfectly suited to their resounding blend; Amarcord’s new recording of this repertoire earned them the ECHO Klassik and Luxembourgian Supersonic Awards. Duke Performances’ presentation of Amarcord provides a fitting follow-up to the Vienna Boys’ Choir in October, demonstrating how rigorous vocal training in childhood can bloom, with age, into a virtuosic musical maturity.
PROGRAM:

Robert Schumann: “Die Minnesänger,”
 “Rastlose Liebe,”
 “Die Lotosblume,” and “Frühlingsglocken”
from Sechs Lieder für vierstimmigen Männerchor, op. 33

Carl Steinacker: “An den Mond”
and “Sehnsucht” from Sieben Gesänge für Vier Männerstimmen, op. 11

August Mühling: “An’s Liebchen” from Zwölf Lieder für Vier Männerstimmen, op. 36

Adolf Eduard Marschner: Ständchen

Felix Mendelssohn: “Sommerlied” and “Liebe und Wein”
from Sechs Lieder für vierstimmigen Männerchor, op. 50
“Im Süden” and “Zigeunerlied”
from Vier Lieder für vierstimmigen Männerchor

Carl Friedrich Zöllner: “Der Speisezettel” from Ein Scherz für Männerstimmen

Camille Saint‑Saëns: Sérénade d’hiver

Edvard Grieg: “Kvålins Halling,” “Torö Liti
,” “Han Ole,” and “Halling” from Album for Mandssang, op. 30

Leoš Janáček: “In Übertragungen von Max Brod,” “Drohung,”
 “O Liebe!,” “Ach, Krieg, Krieg!,” and “Deine schönen Augen” from Vier Männerchöre

Edward Elgar: “Yea, Cast Me From Heights of the Mountains,” “Whether I Find Thee,” “After Many a Dusty Mile,” 
“It’s Oh! To Be a Wild Wind,” and “Feasting I Watch” from The Greek Anthology op. 45