BRATTLEBORO — The Blanche Moyse Chorale, an affiliate of the Brattleboro Music Center, will present an hour of romantic choral music by Johannes Brahms on April 12, in Brattleboro, and on April 13, in Bellows Falls.
Under the direction of Mary Westbrook-Geha, the Chorale will perform Brahms's Opus. 52 (Liebeslieder Walzer, 1868) and Opus 65 (Neue Liebeslieder Walzer, 1874), sometimes referred to collectively in English as the “Love Song Waltzes.”
These two works comprise musical settings of 33 love poems, translated from Russian, Polish, Hungarian, and Turkish by the German poet Georg Friedrich Daumer. The poems survey the entire landscape of love-inspired emotions, from excitement and bliss to agony and despair. The texts probably mirror Brahms' own personal experience. All of these songs are technically waltzes (they share the 3/4 time signature), but their varied tempi and moods keep the listeners on their toes, though not necessarily for dancing.
The final song, a reflection on the previous 32, is an unusual 9/4 setting of a more philosophical text by the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The Chorale will perform all 33 songs in the original German, but the audience will be supplied with English translations by Philip Naegele of Marlboro Music.
Brahms composed the Love Song Waltzes for a four-part vocal ensemble, complemented by a piano duet. The piano parts often play the role of two additional voices which, in chamber music style, converse or debate with the human voices. The Blanche Moyse Chorale will have the piano voices supplied by the well known Boston-based pianists, husband-and-wife duo Leslie Amper and Randall Hodgkinson.
Amper, a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recitalist Fellowship, has delighted audiences in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Pittsburgh, and at Monadnock Music's Virtuoso Piano Series. She currently teaches at the Longy School of Music, New England Conservatory Preparatory School, and Wheaton College.
Hodgkinson, grand prize winner in the International American Music Competition, has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Iceland Philharmonic, and the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia in Rome. He has made many solo and collaborative recordings and has appeared at festivals across the country. Hodgkinson holds faculty appointments at the New England Conservatory, the Longy School of Music, Wellesley College, and Boston University.
The Blanche Moyse Chorale, founded in 1978, is a chamber chorus of about 30 voices who strive to attain the high level of musical artistry exemplified by its original director, Blanche Moyse. Although based in the Brattleboro area, the Chorale includes singers from neighboring states and beyond.
The Brattleboro concert will be held at 8 p.m. on April 12, at Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St. (The date and time of the Brattleboro concert differ from the date and time printed in earlier publicity.)
The Bellows Falls concert will be held at 8 p.m. on April 13, at Immanuel Episcopal Church (the “Stone Church”), 20 Church St.
Tickets are $18 for general admission and $10 for students and seniors. Tickets may be purchased in advance through the Brattleboro Music Center, 802-257-4523, 38 Walnut St., Brattleboro, from Chorale members, or online at www.bmcvt.org.