Longmont Symphony Orchestra
Robert Olson, conductor; Larry Graham, piano
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K.488 (4/19/03)
Charley talks to Longmont Symphony music director Robert Olson about tomorrow's concert.
Also, he anticipates the Central City Outreach Ensemble's concert tomorrow.
Giacomo Puccini: "Il cannone del porto!" (Flower Duet) from Act II of Madama Butterfly
Margaret Higginson, soprano; Amanda Russo, mezzo-soprano; Beth Nielsen, piano; Deborah Morrow, page turner
Wolfgang Mozart: Duettino, “Là ci darem la mano” from Act I of Don Giovanni, K.527
Amanda Russo, mezzo-soprano; Jonathan Cole, baritone; Beth Nielsen, piano
Lucy Simon: "Lily's Eyes" from The Secret Garden
James Baumgardner, tenor; Jonathan Cole, baritone; Beth Nielsen, piano; Deborah Morrow, page turner
Wolfgang Mozart: Trio, “Soave sia il vento” from Act I of Così fan tutte, K.588
Claire Kuttler, soprano; Amanda Russo, mezzo-soprano; Wei Wu, bass; Beth Nielsen, piano; Deborah Morrow, page turner
KVOD Performance Studio 11/5/09 MS
Moreover, Charley anticipates the American String Quartet's appearance with the Pueblo Symphony tomorrow.
Wolfgang Mozart: "Allegro assai" (4th movement) from String Quartet in B flat major, K.458
American String Quartet
MusicMasters 67171 Track 12 4:40
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K.488
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Allegro assai
Even as he worked on The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart found the time to compose the A major piano concerto. It was finished on March 2, 1786. He presumably used it himself at one of his Lenten subscription concerts for ``a small circle of music lovers and connoisseurs,'' as he called his 120 subscribers. He may have played it at Josepha Duschek's concert in late March or early April, or at his own concert at the court theater on April 7.
Later that summer, Mozart wrote to Sebastian Winter, who had taken a job with Prince Josef of Fürstenberg at Donaueschingen. The letter contained a list of Mozart's latest compositions, including the concerto, and a proposition for the Prince: ``If His Highness would be so gracious as to order from me every year a certain number of symphonies, quartets, concertos for different instruments, or any other compositions which he fancies, and to promise me a fixed yearly salary, His Highness would be served more quickly and more satisfactorily, and I, being sure of that commission, should work with greater peace of mind.''
The Prince duly requested three concertos and three symphonies, paid for them, and never made another order. Mozart would have wait for peace of mind.
Modern critics find the A major concerto to be deceptive in its shifting moods. ``Under the transparent disguise of a cheerful exterior,'' writes Cuthbert Girdlestone, ``the heart of the work is sad and its mood hovers between smiles and tears.'' Eric Blom calls the work ``as sunny in the first and last movements as the use of that key would lead one to expect from Mozart, though the sunniness is by no means of a mild sort. The music can scorch and sting at times.''
Alfred Einstein writes: ``In the A major concerto Mozart again succeeded in meeting his public half-way without sacrificing anything of his own individuality....The key of A major is for Mozart the key of many colors. It has the transparency of a stained-glass window....But there are also darker shadings and concealed intensities, which the listener interested only in pleasant entertainment misses altogether.''
The score calls for solo piano, flute, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, and strings.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thursday November 12 2009
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor
Ottorino Respighi: Brazilian Impressions
Ottorino Respighi: The Pines of Rome (9/11-12/09)
Also, From the Department of Shameless Self-Promotion, Charley anticipates his own appearances with the Denver Brass this weekend.
Howard Shore (arr. Jeremy Van Hoy): The Fellowship of the Ring Suite
Denver Brass/ Kenneth Singleton
DB 8837 "Epics in Brass" CD Track 8 12:03
Ottorini Respighi (1879-1936): Impressioni brasiliane (Brazilian Impressions)
I. Notte tropicale
II. Butantan
III. Canzone e Danza
On May 12, 1927 Respighi and his wife Elsa sailed on the Conte Verde for Rio de Janeiro. There he was commissioned to write a suite on Brazilian themes. After his return to Rome in August, he made sketches for three of five projected movements. By January of 1928 he had finished the orchestration. In March he informed his publisher: ``I have written three movements of a suite on Brazilian themes (there will be five in all) and I need some orchestral parts for my next trip to Brazil.''
Respighi never got around to writing the other two movements. When he sailed, again on the Conte Verdi, on May 10, 1928, he took with him the three-movement torso of Brazilian Impressions. The first performance was conducted by Respighi himself in Sâo Paulo on June 16, 1928. According to Elsa, ``this is one of the works that Respighi wrote for fun--`a joke' as he called it--which gave him amusement and relaxation.''
Nicolas Slonimsky calls the opening movement ``an impressionistic tableau of a tropical night with humidly sliding chord blocks and violins glissando as an atmosphere background for a soft echo of a Brazilian carnival song.''
The middle movement is inspired by the reptile institute at Butantan, just outside Sâo Paulo, where poisonous snakes are bred to make serum. Slonimsky, the great phrase-maker, refers to ``a bassoon introducing a serpentine tune, the clarinet responding in colubrine arabesques and sibilant violins in sforzando puffs, ending on a hissing solo in the bass clarinet.'' The last movement is a kind of stylizied version of Brazilian dance rhythms.
The score calls for piccolo, flutes, English horn, oboes, clarinets including bass clarinet, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, celesta, piano and strings.
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Pini di Roma (The Pines of Rome)
I. The Pines of Villa Borghese: Allegretto vivace
II. The Pines near a Catacomb: Lento
III. The Pines of the Janiculum: Lento
IV. The Pines of the Appian Way: Tempo di marcia
Elsa Respighi records that in 1920 her husband ``asked me to sing for him the songs I sang as a child at play....The request surprised me and I was most amused to see Ottorino taking down the simple tunes that Italian children have sung for centuries.'' Four years later, those same melodies would surface in the opening section of The Pines of Rome. It is the second of the ``Roman trilogy'' of symphonic poems, the others being The Fountains of Rome and Roman Festivals.
Bernardino Molinari conducted the first performance of The Pines of Rome on December 14, 1924 in Rome. Despite some isolated booing, the work was a success. ``Let them boo,'' said Respighi, ``what do I care?''
For performances in the United States, Respighi provided his own program note: ``While in The Fountains of Rome the composer sought to reproduce by means of tone an impression of nature, in The Pines of Rome he uses nature as a point of departure, to recall memories and visions. The century-old trees which dominate so characteristically the Roman landscape become testimony for the principal events in Roman life.''
Respighi and Claudio Guastalla developed a program for the work, which is printed in the score:
``1. `The Pines of the Villa Borghese:' Children are at play in the pine grove of the Villa Borghese, dancing the Italian equivalent of `Ring around the Rosy;' mimicking marching soldiers and battles; twittering and shrieking like swallows at evening; and they disappear. Suddenly the scene changes to...
``2. `The Pines near a Catacomb:' We see the shadows of the pines, which overhang the entrance of a catacomb. From the depths rises a chant which reechoes solemnly, like a hymn, and is then mysteriously silenced.
``3. `The Pines of the Janiculum:' There is a thrill in the air. The full moon reveals the profile of the pines of Janiculum Hill. A nightingale sings.
``4. `The Pines of the Appian Way:' Misty dawn on the Appian Way. The tragic country is guarded by solitary pines. Indistinctly, incessantly, the rhythm of innumerable steps. To the poet's fantasy appears a vision of past glories; trumpets blare, and the army of the Consul advances brilliantly in the grandeur of a newly risen sun toward the Sacred Way, mounting the Capitoline Hill.''
A recording of a real nightingale is used in the third section because Respighi ``simply realized that no combination of wind instruments could quite counterfeit the real bird's song. Not even a coloratura soprano could have produced an effect other than artificial.'' The English critic Ernest Newman disapproved. ``Musical realism of the Respighi type could be extended indefinitely,'' he wrote. ``We may live to see the evening when (Beethoven's) Pastoral Symphony will be given with real running water in the slow movement.''
The work is scored for piccolo, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones, 6 Flügel horns, timpani, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, rattle, bass drum, tam-tam, bells, celesta, organ, harp, piano and strings.
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor
Ottorino Respighi: Brazilian Impressions
Ottorino Respighi: The Pines of Rome (9/11-12/09)
Also, From the Department of Shameless Self-Promotion, Charley anticipates his own appearances with the Denver Brass this weekend.
Howard Shore (arr. Jeremy Van Hoy): The Fellowship of the Ring Suite
Denver Brass/ Kenneth Singleton
DB 8837 "Epics in Brass" CD Track 8 12:03
Ottorini Respighi (1879-1936): Impressioni brasiliane (Brazilian Impressions)
I. Notte tropicale
II. Butantan
III. Canzone e Danza
On May 12, 1927 Respighi and his wife Elsa sailed on the Conte Verde for Rio de Janeiro. There he was commissioned to write a suite on Brazilian themes. After his return to Rome in August, he made sketches for three of five projected movements. By January of 1928 he had finished the orchestration. In March he informed his publisher: ``I have written three movements of a suite on Brazilian themes (there will be five in all) and I need some orchestral parts for my next trip to Brazil.''
Respighi never got around to writing the other two movements. When he sailed, again on the Conte Verdi, on May 10, 1928, he took with him the three-movement torso of Brazilian Impressions. The first performance was conducted by Respighi himself in Sâo Paulo on June 16, 1928. According to Elsa, ``this is one of the works that Respighi wrote for fun--`a joke' as he called it--which gave him amusement and relaxation.''
Nicolas Slonimsky calls the opening movement ``an impressionistic tableau of a tropical night with humidly sliding chord blocks and violins glissando as an atmosphere background for a soft echo of a Brazilian carnival song.''
The middle movement is inspired by the reptile institute at Butantan, just outside Sâo Paulo, where poisonous snakes are bred to make serum. Slonimsky, the great phrase-maker, refers to ``a bassoon introducing a serpentine tune, the clarinet responding in colubrine arabesques and sibilant violins in sforzando puffs, ending on a hissing solo in the bass clarinet.'' The last movement is a kind of stylizied version of Brazilian dance rhythms.
The score calls for piccolo, flutes, English horn, oboes, clarinets including bass clarinet, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, celesta, piano and strings.
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Pini di Roma (The Pines of Rome)
I. The Pines of Villa Borghese: Allegretto vivace
II. The Pines near a Catacomb: Lento
III. The Pines of the Janiculum: Lento
IV. The Pines of the Appian Way: Tempo di marcia
Elsa Respighi records that in 1920 her husband ``asked me to sing for him the songs I sang as a child at play....The request surprised me and I was most amused to see Ottorino taking down the simple tunes that Italian children have sung for centuries.'' Four years later, those same melodies would surface in the opening section of The Pines of Rome. It is the second of the ``Roman trilogy'' of symphonic poems, the others being The Fountains of Rome and Roman Festivals.
Bernardino Molinari conducted the first performance of The Pines of Rome on December 14, 1924 in Rome. Despite some isolated booing, the work was a success. ``Let them boo,'' said Respighi, ``what do I care?''
For performances in the United States, Respighi provided his own program note: ``While in The Fountains of Rome the composer sought to reproduce by means of tone an impression of nature, in The Pines of Rome he uses nature as a point of departure, to recall memories and visions. The century-old trees which dominate so characteristically the Roman landscape become testimony for the principal events in Roman life.''
Respighi and Claudio Guastalla developed a program for the work, which is printed in the score:
``1. `The Pines of the Villa Borghese:' Children are at play in the pine grove of the Villa Borghese, dancing the Italian equivalent of `Ring around the Rosy;' mimicking marching soldiers and battles; twittering and shrieking like swallows at evening; and they disappear. Suddenly the scene changes to...
``2. `The Pines near a Catacomb:' We see the shadows of the pines, which overhang the entrance of a catacomb. From the depths rises a chant which reechoes solemnly, like a hymn, and is then mysteriously silenced.
``3. `The Pines of the Janiculum:' There is a thrill in the air. The full moon reveals the profile of the pines of Janiculum Hill. A nightingale sings.
``4. `The Pines of the Appian Way:' Misty dawn on the Appian Way. The tragic country is guarded by solitary pines. Indistinctly, incessantly, the rhythm of innumerable steps. To the poet's fantasy appears a vision of past glories; trumpets blare, and the army of the Consul advances brilliantly in the grandeur of a newly risen sun toward the Sacred Way, mounting the Capitoline Hill.''
A recording of a real nightingale is used in the third section because Respighi ``simply realized that no combination of wind instruments could quite counterfeit the real bird's song. Not even a coloratura soprano could have produced an effect other than artificial.'' The English critic Ernest Newman disapproved. ``Musical realism of the Respighi type could be extended indefinitely,'' he wrote. ``We may live to see the evening when (Beethoven's) Pastoral Symphony will be given with real running water in the slow movement.''
The work is scored for piccolo, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones, 6 Flügel horns, timpani, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, rattle, bass drum, tam-tam, bells, celesta, organ, harp, piano and strings.
Wednesday November 11, 2009
Steve Blatt talks with Opera Colorado General Director Greg Carpenter about the cast for their production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, and Charley talks with tenor Julian Gavin, who plays the title role.
Jacques Offenbach: "Il ètait une fois à la cour d'Eisenach" (Legend of Kleinzach) from Prologue to The Tales of Hoffmann
Julian Gavin, tenor; Steven Aguiló-Arbues, pianist
KVOD Performance Studio 10/20/09 MS
Also, Charley anticipates Bron Wright's solo with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic this weekend.
Francis Poulenc: Brass Trio
Rocky Ridge Music Center faculty (Daniel Kuehn, trumpet; Matthew Scheffelman, horn; Bron Wright, trombone) 8:04)
KVOD Performance Studio 012908 MS
And, Charley talks with Niwot Timberline Symphony Orchestra conductor Devin Patrick Hughes and guitarist Javier de los Santos about their concert Friday.
Francisco Tarrega: Capricho arabe 5:19
Manuel Ponce: 1st movement from Sonata Mexicana 4:10
Javier de los Santos, guitar
KVOD Performance Studio 11/3/09 MS
Moreover, Charley talks with poet John Brehm and pianist Susan Cable about their show, "Help Is on the Way," this Friday.
Excerpts from "Small Talk"
John Brehm, poet; Susan Cable, piano 10:14
KVOD Performance Studio 11/3/09 MS
In addition, Charley talks with members of the Central City Outreach Ensemble and the CU Opera about "Opera Rocks the Rockies."
Wolfgang Mozart: Trio, “Soave sia il vento” from Act I of Così fan tutte, K.588
Claire Kuttler, soprano; Amanda Russo, mezzo-soprano; Wei Wu, bass; Beth Nielsen, piano; Deborah Morrow, page turner
KVOD Performance Studio 11/5/09 MS
Jacques Offenbach: "Il ètait une fois à la cour d'Eisenach" (Legend of Kleinzach) from Prologue to The Tales of Hoffmann
Julian Gavin, tenor; Steven Aguiló-Arbues, pianist
KVOD Performance Studio 10/20/09 MS
Also, Charley anticipates Bron Wright's solo with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic this weekend.
Francis Poulenc: Brass Trio
Rocky Ridge Music Center faculty (Daniel Kuehn, trumpet; Matthew Scheffelman, horn; Bron Wright, trombone) 8:04)
KVOD Performance Studio 012908 MS
And, Charley talks with Niwot Timberline Symphony Orchestra conductor Devin Patrick Hughes and guitarist Javier de los Santos about their concert Friday.
Francisco Tarrega: Capricho arabe 5:19
Manuel Ponce: 1st movement from Sonata Mexicana 4:10
Javier de los Santos, guitar
KVOD Performance Studio 11/3/09 MS
Moreover, Charley talks with poet John Brehm and pianist Susan Cable about their show, "Help Is on the Way," this Friday.
Excerpts from "Small Talk"
John Brehm, poet; Susan Cable, piano 10:14
KVOD Performance Studio 11/3/09 MS
In addition, Charley talks with members of the Central City Outreach Ensemble and the CU Opera about "Opera Rocks the Rockies."
Wolfgang Mozart: Trio, “Soave sia il vento” from Act I of Così fan tutte, K.588
Claire Kuttler, soprano; Amanda Russo, mezzo-soprano; Wei Wu, bass; Beth Nielsen, piano; Deborah Morrow, page turner
KVOD Performance Studio 11/5/09 MS
Tuesday November 10, 2009
Charley anticipates the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio's joint recital with the Miami String Quartet tomorrow.
Friends of Chamber Music
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 2 in G major, Op.1 No. 2
Joan Tower: For Daniel (5/4/05)
Also, Charley anticipates John Brehm and Susan Cable's program of poetry and music this Friday.
John Brehm, poet; Susan Cable, piano
"Tough Town" (0:48) & "Help is on the Way" (1:12) from Small Talk
KVOD Performance Studio 11/3/09 MS
“I never learned anything from Haydn,” Beethoven claimed. The remark is typical of Beethoven, perhaps more an indication of professional jealousy than real enmity. He studied with Haydn until January, 1794. By then, Haydn had already made one triumphant trip to England and was world famous. Beethoven at the time was still working on his first published compositions, a set of three piano trios.
There was a private performance of all three at the home of Prince Karl von Lichnowsky, to whom the works were dedicated. Beethoven himself played the piano part, with violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh and cellist Anton Kraft.
Beethoven’s pupil, Ferdinand Ries, was there and reported that “most of the artists and music-lovers were invited, especially Haydn, for whose opinion all were eager. The Trios were played and at once commanded extraordinary attention. Haydn also said many pretty things about them, but advised Beethoven not to publish the third, in C minor. This astonished Beethoven, inasmuch as he considered the third the best of the Trios, as it is still the one which gives the most pleasure and makes the greatest effect. Consequently, Haydn’s remark left a bad impression on Beethoven and led him to think that Haydn was envious, jealous and ill-disposed toward him.”
“Powerful, mighty and moving,” an 1806 review said of the Op. 1 Trios. “Novelty and profusion, the ease with which he used his harmonic resources, a certain idiosyncrasy of style and treatment gave us every reason to suppose that the still young man would turn into an original and brilliant composer.”
Born in New Rochelle, New York, Joan Tower grew up in South America, where her father was a mining engineer. Returning to the United States at eighteen, she attended Bennington College and Columbia University, where she received a doctorate in composition. A founding member of the Da Capo Chamber Players, she played piano and composed for the group for fifteen years. Her five Fanfares for the Uncommon Woman have been played by over 400 different ensembles. Since 1972, Tower has taught at Bard College.
Friends of Chamber Music
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 2 in G major, Op.1 No. 2
Joan Tower: For Daniel (5/4/05)
Also, Charley anticipates John Brehm and Susan Cable's program of poetry and music this Friday.
John Brehm, poet; Susan Cable, piano
"Tough Town" (0:48) & "Help is on the Way" (1:12) from Small Talk
KVOD Performance Studio 11/3/09 MS
“I never learned anything from Haydn,” Beethoven claimed. The remark is typical of Beethoven, perhaps more an indication of professional jealousy than real enmity. He studied with Haydn until January, 1794. By then, Haydn had already made one triumphant trip to England and was world famous. Beethoven at the time was still working on his first published compositions, a set of three piano trios.
There was a private performance of all three at the home of Prince Karl von Lichnowsky, to whom the works were dedicated. Beethoven himself played the piano part, with violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh and cellist Anton Kraft.
Beethoven’s pupil, Ferdinand Ries, was there and reported that “most of the artists and music-lovers were invited, especially Haydn, for whose opinion all were eager. The Trios were played and at once commanded extraordinary attention. Haydn also said many pretty things about them, but advised Beethoven not to publish the third, in C minor. This astonished Beethoven, inasmuch as he considered the third the best of the Trios, as it is still the one which gives the most pleasure and makes the greatest effect. Consequently, Haydn’s remark left a bad impression on Beethoven and led him to think that Haydn was envious, jealous and ill-disposed toward him.”
“Powerful, mighty and moving,” an 1806 review said of the Op. 1 Trios. “Novelty and profusion, the ease with which he used his harmonic resources, a certain idiosyncrasy of style and treatment gave us every reason to suppose that the still young man would turn into an original and brilliant composer.”
Born in New Rochelle, New York, Joan Tower grew up in South America, where her father was a mining engineer. Returning to the United States at eighteen, she attended Bennington College and Columbia University, where she received a doctorate in composition. A founding member of the Da Capo Chamber Players, she played piano and composed for the group for fifteen years. Her five Fanfares for the Uncommon Woman have been played by over 400 different ensembles. Since 1972, Tower has taught at Bard College.
Monday November 9, 2009
Charley anticipates the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio's joint recital with the Miami String Quartet this Wednesday.
Friends of Chamber Music
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio
Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, Op.87
Franz Josef Haydn: “Gypsy Rondo” (4th movement) from Piano Trio in G major, Hob. XV:25 (5/4/05)
Also, Charley talks with Yumi Hwang-Williams and Dror Biron about the Jewish Arts, Authors, Movies and Music Fest (JAAMM fest) recital tomorrow.
Ernest Bloch: "Vidui" (Contrition): "Un poco lento" (1st movement) from Baal Shem
Felix Mendelssohn: "Allegro vivace" (1st movement) from Sonata in F Major (1838)
Yumi Hwang-Williams, violin; Dror Biran, piano
KVOD Performance Studio 11/9/09 MS
And, Charley anticipates the "Matthew Dane and Friends" faculty recital at CU Boulder tomorrow.
Frédéric Chopin: Etude in F major, Op.25 No. 3
David Korevaar, piano
KVOD Performance Studio 062408 MS
Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809): Piano Trio No. 39 in G major (Hob.XV: 25)
I. Andante
II. Poco adagio--Cantabile
III. Rondo all'ongarese (Hungarian Rondo): Presto
Haydn made two trips to London to compose and conduct for Johann Peter Salomon's concert series. As busy as he was in the English capital, Haydn still found time for an intense social life--even romance. One of his piano students was Rebecca Schroeter, the widow of the late music master to the queen. Before long love letters were exchanged.
In February, 1792, Rebecca wrote to Haydn: ``No language can express half the love and affection I feel for you, you are dearer to me every day of my life.'' And later the same year: ``Dearest Haydn, I feel for you the fondest and tenderest affection the human heart is capable of.''
Unfortunately, none of Haydn's replies have survived, but he later referred to ``an English widow in London who loved me...in all likelihood I should have married her if I had been single.''
Meanwhile, Haydn's wife, apparently having gotten wind of her husband's amatory adventures, sent off a series of nasty notes to London. Haydn described his reaction to these missives: ``My wife, that infernal beast, wrote me so many things that I was forced to answer that I was never coming back. To this letter she paid attention.''
During his second trip to London in 1794, Haydn took lodgings next to Rebecca's house. The following year he published three piano trios dedicated to ``Madame Schroeter'' (Hob.XV No.24 in D major, No.25 in G major, and No.26 in F sharp minor).
In his discussion of the piano trios of the period, Karl Geiringer observes that ``they are larger compositions than the earlier trios, and their contents are of greater importance. The wealth of modulations in these last trios in remarkable.... Characteristic pieces, such as the lovely theme and variations in the first movement of No.25, in G major, the simple and fervent prayer in E major of its second movement, and the high spirited rondo all'ungarese of the finale would never have been written by the earlier Haydn in the form of a piano trio.''
In his notes to the Beaux Arts Trio's recording, Hans Christoph Worbs describes the G major trio. ``In the first movement Haydn varies a song-like theme,'' he writes. ``The violin comes to the fore in the fine tracery of the third variation, and in the minor variation...it directly takes over from the piano...In the second movement too, it has an independent part. The cantabile in the middle section of this movement has an almost romantic expressiveness.'' In the famous ``Hungarian Rondo,'' ``sophisticated music and folk-song have been happily blended.''
Friends of Chamber Music
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio
Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, Op.87
Franz Josef Haydn: “Gypsy Rondo” (4th movement) from Piano Trio in G major, Hob. XV:25 (5/4/05)
Also, Charley talks with Yumi Hwang-Williams and Dror Biron about the Jewish Arts, Authors, Movies and Music Fest (JAAMM fest) recital tomorrow.
Ernest Bloch: "Vidui" (Contrition): "Un poco lento" (1st movement) from Baal Shem
Felix Mendelssohn: "Allegro vivace" (1st movement) from Sonata in F Major (1838)
Yumi Hwang-Williams, violin; Dror Biran, piano
KVOD Performance Studio 11/9/09 MS
And, Charley anticipates the "Matthew Dane and Friends" faculty recital at CU Boulder tomorrow.
Frédéric Chopin: Etude in F major, Op.25 No. 3
David Korevaar, piano
KVOD Performance Studio 062408 MS
Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809): Piano Trio No. 39 in G major (Hob.XV: 25)
I. Andante
II. Poco adagio--Cantabile
III. Rondo all'ongarese (Hungarian Rondo): Presto
Haydn made two trips to London to compose and conduct for Johann Peter Salomon's concert series. As busy as he was in the English capital, Haydn still found time for an intense social life--even romance. One of his piano students was Rebecca Schroeter, the widow of the late music master to the queen. Before long love letters were exchanged.
In February, 1792, Rebecca wrote to Haydn: ``No language can express half the love and affection I feel for you, you are dearer to me every day of my life.'' And later the same year: ``Dearest Haydn, I feel for you the fondest and tenderest affection the human heart is capable of.''
Unfortunately, none of Haydn's replies have survived, but he later referred to ``an English widow in London who loved me...in all likelihood I should have married her if I had been single.''
Meanwhile, Haydn's wife, apparently having gotten wind of her husband's amatory adventures, sent off a series of nasty notes to London. Haydn described his reaction to these missives: ``My wife, that infernal beast, wrote me so many things that I was forced to answer that I was never coming back. To this letter she paid attention.''
During his second trip to London in 1794, Haydn took lodgings next to Rebecca's house. The following year he published three piano trios dedicated to ``Madame Schroeter'' (Hob.XV No.24 in D major, No.25 in G major, and No.26 in F sharp minor).
In his discussion of the piano trios of the period, Karl Geiringer observes that ``they are larger compositions than the earlier trios, and their contents are of greater importance. The wealth of modulations in these last trios in remarkable.... Characteristic pieces, such as the lovely theme and variations in the first movement of No.25, in G major, the simple and fervent prayer in E major of its second movement, and the high spirited rondo all'ungarese of the finale would never have been written by the earlier Haydn in the form of a piano trio.''
In his notes to the Beaux Arts Trio's recording, Hans Christoph Worbs describes the G major trio. ``In the first movement Haydn varies a song-like theme,'' he writes. ``The violin comes to the fore in the fine tracery of the third variation, and in the minor variation...it directly takes over from the piano...In the second movement too, it has an independent part. The cantabile in the middle section of this movement has an almost romantic expressiveness.'' In the famous ``Hungarian Rondo,'' ``sophisticated music and folk-song have been happily blended.''
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Friday November 6, 2009
Charley talks with Rosetta Chamber Society conductor Scott O'Neil abouth their concert Sunday. Scott also demonstrates themes from Bach's A Musical Offering.
KVOD Performance Studio 11/4/09 MS
Johann Sebastian Bach: Menuet I, Menuet II, Bourrée & Gigue from Solo Violin Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006
Rachel Segal, violin
St. Joseph Hospital Chamber Music Series (7/26/05)
Charley anticipates this year's Jewish Arts, Authors, Movies and Music Fest by talking to musicians from last year's JAAMM Fest.
Joachim Stuchewsky: Kaddish
Inbal Megiddo, cello
KVOD Performance Studio 102708 MS
Four Brazilian Choros (arr. Roth)
Asaf Roth, marimba NCA Tracks 6-9 12:21
Charley talks with tenor Julian Gavin, who plays Hoffmann in Opera Colorado's production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, which opens tomorrow. Jacques Offenbach: "Il ètait une fois à la cour d'Eisenach" (Legend of Kleinzach) from Prologue to The Tales of Hoffmann
Julian Gavin, tenor; Steven Aguiló-Arbues, pianist
KVOD Performance Studio 10/20/09 MS
Charley talks with Columbine Chorale music director Brian Eichenberger, anticipating their concert Sunday.
Folk Songs: Feller from Fortune & Cindy
Columbine Chorale/ Brian Eichenberger
NCA 16-17 5:48
KVOD Performance Studio 11/4/09 MS
Johann Sebastian Bach: Menuet I, Menuet II, Bourrée & Gigue from Solo Violin Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006
Rachel Segal, violin
St. Joseph Hospital Chamber Music Series (7/26/05)
Charley anticipates this year's Jewish Arts, Authors, Movies and Music Fest by talking to musicians from last year's JAAMM Fest.
Joachim Stuchewsky: Kaddish
Inbal Megiddo, cello
KVOD Performance Studio 102708 MS
Four Brazilian Choros (arr. Roth)
Asaf Roth, marimba NCA Tracks 6-9 12:21
Charley talks with tenor Julian Gavin, who plays Hoffmann in Opera Colorado's production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, which opens tomorrow. Jacques Offenbach: "Il ètait une fois à la cour d'Eisenach" (Legend of Kleinzach) from Prologue to The Tales of Hoffmann
Julian Gavin, tenor; Steven Aguiló-Arbues, pianist
KVOD Performance Studio 10/20/09 MS
Charley talks with Columbine Chorale music director Brian Eichenberger, anticipating their concert Sunday.
Folk Songs: Feller from Fortune & Cindy
Columbine Chorale/ Brian Eichenberger
NCA 16-17 5:48
Thursday November 5, 2009
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor; Ingrid Fliter, piano
John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Robert Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus 54 (9/11-12/09)
Also, Charley talks with Rosetta Chamber Society conductor Scott O'Neil abouth their concert Sunday. Scott also demonstrates themes from Bach's A Musical Offering.
KVOD Performance Studio 11/4/09 MS
And, Charley talks with members of the Central City Outreach Ensemble and the CU Opera about "Opera Rocks the Rockies."
Wolfgang Mozart: Trio, “Soave sia il vento” from Act I of Così fan tutte, K.588
Claire Kuttler, soprano; Amanda Russo, mezzo-soprano; Wei Wu, bass; Beth Nielsen, piano; Deborah Morrow, page turner
KVOD Performance Studio 11/5/09 MS
John Adams (b.1947): Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Adams grew up in New Hampshire. He studied the clarinet, and later composition with Leon Kirchner at Harvard. Moving to California in 1971, he worked in a warehouse, then joined the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory. He was composer-in-residence with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra from 1979-1985. His opera Nixon in China won a Grammy in 1989 and his Violin Concerto won the Grawemeyer Award in 1995. Recent works include a clarinet concerto titled Gnarly Buttons for Michael Collins and a piano concerto titled Century Rolls for Emanuel Ax. Naïve and Sentimental Music was premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic this past February.
In an interview with Jonathon Cott in 1985, Adams remarked, ``Hindemith once said that a musical work should appear to the composer like an apparition in its completed form and that the act of composition is simply a matter of filling it all in. But to me, it's just the opposite. I find composing to be a journey through the underworld. And the reason I often have heroic endings in my pieces is that I'm totally amazed to have emerged from the tunnel out into the light. The act of composing is the creation of the light for me--it really is like a Biblical trial.''
Commissioned for the opening concert of the Great Woods Festival in Mansfield, Massachusetts, Short Ride in a Fast Machine was first performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas conducting, on June 13, 1986. The work is subtitled ``Fanfare for Great Woods.''
Asked to explain the title, Adams replied: ``You know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn't?'' Accordingly, the score is marked ``Delirando'' (frenzied), with a relentless clacking of the woodblock, which Adams calls ``almost sadistic.''
The score calls for 2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 4 clarinets, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, 2 synthesizers, timpani, percussion and strings.
Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus 54
I. Allegro affettuoso
II. Intermezzo: Andantino grazioso
III. Allegro vivace
``I think the piano concerto should either be in C major or in A minor,'' wrote Schumann to his teacher and future father-in-law, Friedrich Wieck, in 1833. The remark is typical of Schumann's inability to make up his mind about his only piano concerto. By 1839 he had married his teacher's daughter Clara, and was describing the work as ``something between a symphony, a concerto, and a large sonata. I can see that I am unable to write a virtuoso concerto; I must think of something else.''
``Something else'' turned out to be a one-movement Fantasy in A minor for piano and orchestra, which Clara Wieck introduced on August 13, 1841, with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Felix Mendelssohn's direction. The piece was also called Allegro Affettuoso and Concert Allegro.
Whatever its title, the publishers weren't interested, and so in 1845 Schumann added two more movements to form a full-fledged piano concerto. ``It has now become a concerto,'' Clara wrote in her diary. ``I am very glad about it for I have always wanted a great bravura piece by him.'' A month later, she noted that ``Robert has finished his concerto and handed it over to the copyist. I am happy as a king at the thought of playing it with orchestra.''
Clara Wieck gave the première in Dresden on December 4, 1845, with Ferdinand Hiller conducting. One critic noted her ``praiseworthy efforts to make her husband's curious rhapsody pass for music.'' Subsequent performances in Leipzig and Vienna produced similar reactions. Franz Liszt called it ``a concerto without piano'' and dropped it from his repertory.
With time the Schumann Piano Concerto became a staple. Sir Donald Francis Tovey wrote: ``It attains a beauty and depth quite transcendent of any mere prettiness, though the whole concerto, like all Schumann's deepest music, is recklessly pretty....Every note inspires affection, and only an inattentive critic can suspect the existence of weaknesses to condone. Fashion and musical party-politics have tried to play many games with Schumann's reputation, but works like this remain irresistible.''
The Concerto is scored for solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings.
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor; Ingrid Fliter, piano
John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Robert Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus 54 (9/11-12/09)
Also, Charley talks with Rosetta Chamber Society conductor Scott O'Neil abouth their concert Sunday. Scott also demonstrates themes from Bach's A Musical Offering.
KVOD Performance Studio 11/4/09 MS
And, Charley talks with members of the Central City Outreach Ensemble and the CU Opera about "Opera Rocks the Rockies."
Wolfgang Mozart: Trio, “Soave sia il vento” from Act I of Così fan tutte, K.588
Claire Kuttler, soprano; Amanda Russo, mezzo-soprano; Wei Wu, bass; Beth Nielsen, piano; Deborah Morrow, page turner
KVOD Performance Studio 11/5/09 MS
John Adams (b.1947): Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Adams grew up in New Hampshire. He studied the clarinet, and later composition with Leon Kirchner at Harvard. Moving to California in 1971, he worked in a warehouse, then joined the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory. He was composer-in-residence with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra from 1979-1985. His opera Nixon in China won a Grammy in 1989 and his Violin Concerto won the Grawemeyer Award in 1995. Recent works include a clarinet concerto titled Gnarly Buttons for Michael Collins and a piano concerto titled Century Rolls for Emanuel Ax. Naïve and Sentimental Music was premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic this past February.
In an interview with Jonathon Cott in 1985, Adams remarked, ``Hindemith once said that a musical work should appear to the composer like an apparition in its completed form and that the act of composition is simply a matter of filling it all in. But to me, it's just the opposite. I find composing to be a journey through the underworld. And the reason I often have heroic endings in my pieces is that I'm totally amazed to have emerged from the tunnel out into the light. The act of composing is the creation of the light for me--it really is like a Biblical trial.''
Commissioned for the opening concert of the Great Woods Festival in Mansfield, Massachusetts, Short Ride in a Fast Machine was first performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas conducting, on June 13, 1986. The work is subtitled ``Fanfare for Great Woods.''
Asked to explain the title, Adams replied: ``You know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn't?'' Accordingly, the score is marked ``Delirando'' (frenzied), with a relentless clacking of the woodblock, which Adams calls ``almost sadistic.''
The score calls for 2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 4 clarinets, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, 2 synthesizers, timpani, percussion and strings.
Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus 54
I. Allegro affettuoso
II. Intermezzo: Andantino grazioso
III. Allegro vivace
``I think the piano concerto should either be in C major or in A minor,'' wrote Schumann to his teacher and future father-in-law, Friedrich Wieck, in 1833. The remark is typical of Schumann's inability to make up his mind about his only piano concerto. By 1839 he had married his teacher's daughter Clara, and was describing the work as ``something between a symphony, a concerto, and a large sonata. I can see that I am unable to write a virtuoso concerto; I must think of something else.''
``Something else'' turned out to be a one-movement Fantasy in A minor for piano and orchestra, which Clara Wieck introduced on August 13, 1841, with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Felix Mendelssohn's direction. The piece was also called Allegro Affettuoso and Concert Allegro.
Whatever its title, the publishers weren't interested, and so in 1845 Schumann added two more movements to form a full-fledged piano concerto. ``It has now become a concerto,'' Clara wrote in her diary. ``I am very glad about it for I have always wanted a great bravura piece by him.'' A month later, she noted that ``Robert has finished his concerto and handed it over to the copyist. I am happy as a king at the thought of playing it with orchestra.''
Clara Wieck gave the première in Dresden on December 4, 1845, with Ferdinand Hiller conducting. One critic noted her ``praiseworthy efforts to make her husband's curious rhapsody pass for music.'' Subsequent performances in Leipzig and Vienna produced similar reactions. Franz Liszt called it ``a concerto without piano'' and dropped it from his repertory.
With time the Schumann Piano Concerto became a staple. Sir Donald Francis Tovey wrote: ``It attains a beauty and depth quite transcendent of any mere prettiness, though the whole concerto, like all Schumann's deepest music, is recklessly pretty....Every note inspires affection, and only an inattentive critic can suspect the existence of weaknesses to condone. Fashion and musical party-politics have tried to play many games with Schumann's reputation, but works like this remain irresistible.''
The Concerto is scored for solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings.
Wednesday November 4, 2009
Charley talks with tenor Julian Gavin, who plays Hoffmann in Opera Colorado's production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, which opens this Saturday.
Jacques Offenbach: "Il ètait une fois à la cour d'Eisenach" (Legend of Kleinzach) from Prologue to The Tales of Hoffmann
Julian Gavin, tenor; Steven Aguiló-Arbues, pianist
KVOD Performance Studio 10/20/09 MS
Also, Charley talks with Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra conductor Cynthia Katsarelis about their concert Saturday.
Katrina Wreede: How a Mosquito Operates
Colorado Chamber Players (Daniel Silver, clarinet; Paul Primus, violin; Scott Higgins, vibraphone; Nanette Shannon, piano) 5:50
KVOD Performance Studio 022708 MS
And, Charley anticipates the free Colorado Chamber Players concert Sunday.
Maria Castelnuovo-Tedesco: "Allegro, vivo e schietto" (1st movement) from Guitar Quintet, Op.143
Colorado Chamber Players (Masakazu Ito, guitar; Jerilyn Jorgensen, Paul Primus, violins; Barbara Hamilton-Primus, viola; Katharine Knight, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 9/30/09 MS
Moreover, Charley talks with Telling Stories director Jennie Dorris about their “Old, New, Borrowed, Blue" show Saturday.
Telling Stories
Anne Guzzo: 2 Pieces for Clarinet
Anne Guzzo, clarinet
KVOD Performance Studio 9/29/09 MS
Bu that's not all: Charley anticipates the Veronika String Quartet's house concerts this weekend.
Ludwig van Beethoven: "Allegro con brio" (1st movement) from String Quartet No.1 in F major, op. 18
Veronika String Quartet
(Veronika Afanassieva and Karine Garibova, violins, Ekaterina Dobrotvorskaia, viola; Mary Artmann, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 10/1/09 MS
As if that weren't enough: Charley talks with Joyce Shupe Kull about her Boulder Bach Festival preview of Bach's Goldberg Variations tomorrow.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Variation 30 ("Quodlibet") & "Aria da capo" from Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
Joyce Shupe Kull, piano
KVOD Performance Studio 10/30/09 MS
Jacques Offenbach: "Il ètait une fois à la cour d'Eisenach" (Legend of Kleinzach) from Prologue to The Tales of Hoffmann
Julian Gavin, tenor; Steven Aguiló-Arbues, pianist
KVOD Performance Studio 10/20/09 MS
Also, Charley talks with Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra conductor Cynthia Katsarelis about their concert Saturday.
Katrina Wreede: How a Mosquito Operates
Colorado Chamber Players (Daniel Silver, clarinet; Paul Primus, violin; Scott Higgins, vibraphone; Nanette Shannon, piano) 5:50
KVOD Performance Studio 022708 MS
And, Charley anticipates the free Colorado Chamber Players concert Sunday.
Maria Castelnuovo-Tedesco: "Allegro, vivo e schietto" (1st movement) from Guitar Quintet, Op.143
Colorado Chamber Players (Masakazu Ito, guitar; Jerilyn Jorgensen, Paul Primus, violins; Barbara Hamilton-Primus, viola; Katharine Knight, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 9/30/09 MS
Moreover, Charley talks with Telling Stories director Jennie Dorris about their “Old, New, Borrowed, Blue" show Saturday.
Telling Stories
Anne Guzzo: 2 Pieces for Clarinet
Anne Guzzo, clarinet
KVOD Performance Studio 9/29/09 MS
Bu that's not all: Charley anticipates the Veronika String Quartet's house concerts this weekend.
Ludwig van Beethoven: "Allegro con brio" (1st movement) from String Quartet No.1 in F major, op. 18
Veronika String Quartet
(Veronika Afanassieva and Karine Garibova, violins, Ekaterina Dobrotvorskaia, viola; Mary Artmann, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 10/1/09 MS
As if that weren't enough: Charley talks with Joyce Shupe Kull about her Boulder Bach Festival preview of Bach's Goldberg Variations tomorrow.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Variation 30 ("Quodlibet") & "Aria da capo" from Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
Joyce Shupe Kull, piano
KVOD Performance Studio 10/30/09 MS
Tuesday November 3, 2009
Lakewood Cultural Center Performing Arts Series
Davide Cabassi, piano
Modeste Moussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition
Claude Debussy: “Gardens in the Rain” from Estampes (11/6/08)
Also, Charley talks with Front Range Chamber Players artistic director David Brussell about their concert Sunday.
Intermezzo Chamber Players (Stacy Lesartre, violin; Kelly Shanafelt, viola; Dianne Betkowski, cello)
Franz Schubert: String Trio in B flat major, D.471
KVOD Performance Studio 061609 MS
And, Charley talks with Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra conductor Cynthia Katsarelis about their concert Saturday.
Modeste Moussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition
Promenade: Allegro guisto nel modo russico; senza
allegrezza ma poco sostenuto
I. Gnomus: Vivo
Promenade: Moderato comodo e con delicatezza
II. Il vecchio castello (The old castle). Andante molto cantabile e con dolore
Promenade: Moderato non tanto, pesante
III. Tuileries: Allegretto non troppo, capriccioso
IV. Bydlo: Sempre moderato pesante
Promenade: Tranquillo
V. Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks: Scherzino, Vivo
leggiero
VI. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle
VII. The Market Place at Limoges: Allegro vivo, sempre
scherzando
VIII. Catacombae, Sepulchrum Romanum: Largo
Cum mortuis in lingua mortua: Andante non troppo,
con lamento
IX. The Hut on Fowls' Legs (Baba-Yaga): Allegro con
brio, feroce
X. The Great Gate of Kiev: Allegro alla breve;
Maestoso; Con grandezza
In 1874 a memorial exhibition of some 400 paintings and drawings by Victor Hartmann was organized by critic Vladimir Stassov and Count Paul Suzor, president of the Architect's Society, in the galleries of the Academy of the Arts in St. Petersburg. Hartmann's death the year before was a shock to his friend Modeste Moussorgsky. “What a terrible blow!” he wrote. “Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, and creatures like Hartmann must die? There can and must be no consolation--it is a rotten mortality!”
Moussorgsky was inspired by the exhibition to write a piano suite “in memory of our dear Victor” titled Pictures at an Exhibition. The work went swiftly. “Sounds and ideas float in the air,” he said, “and my scribbling can hardly keep pace with them.” The music was finished in less than a month, during June, 1874.
Moussorgsky's suite contains ten “pictures,” interspersed with a “Promenade” meant to depict the composer himself, “roving right and left, now desultorily, now briskly, in order to get near the pictures that had caught his attention,” said Stassov. “My own physiognomy peeps out through the intermezzos,” wrote the composer, who weighed over two hundred pounds.
Here is a handy guide to the Pictures:
Promenade
1) “The Gnome.” In his introduction to the first edition, Stassov says that Hartmann's drawing represented “a little gnome awkwardly walking on deformed legs.” Elsewhere Stassov refers to “something in the style of the fabled Nutcracker, the nuts being inserted in the gnome's mouth.”
Promenade
2) “The Old Castle.” A troubador sings in front of a medieval castle.
Promenade
3) “In the Garden of the Tuileries.” Moussorgsky's subtitle is “Dispute of the Children after Play.”
4) “Bydlo.” A Polish wagon, drawn by oxen.
Promenade
5) “Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks.” Stassov says that “in 1870 Hartmann designed the costumes for the staging of the ballet Trilby at the Maryinsky Theater, St. Petersburg. In the cast were a number of boy and girl pupils of the theater school, arrayed as canaries. Others were dressed up as eggs.”
6) “Samuel Goldenburg and Schmuyle: Two Jews, One Rich and One Poor.” Moussorgsky liked this picture so much that Hartmann gave it to him.
7) “The Market place at Limoges.” In the margin of the score, Moussorgsky wrote: “Great news! M. de Puissangeout has just recovered his cow. The Fugitive. But the good crones of Limoges are not entirely agreed about this, because Mme. de Remboursac just acquired a beautiful new set of teeth, whereas M. de Panta-Pantaleon's nose, which is in the way, remains the color of a peony.”
8) “Catacombs, Roman Tombs” and “Cum mortuis in lingua mortua” (With the Dead in a Dead Language). In a footnote, Moussorgsky explained: “Well may it be in Latin! The creative spirit of the departed Hartmann leads me to the skulls, calls out to them, and the skulls begin to glow dimly from within.”
9) “The Hut on Fowls' Legs (Baba-Yaga).” Hartmann's drawing shows a clock in the form of the hut of the Russian witch Baba-Yaga, who eats bones ground up with a mortar and pestle, which she also uses to fly through the air.
10) “The Great Gate of Kiev.” Hartmann's design was submitted for city gates commemorating Tsar Alexander II's escape from assassination in 1866.
Davide Cabassi, piano
Modeste Moussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition
Claude Debussy: “Gardens in the Rain” from Estampes (11/6/08)
Also, Charley talks with Front Range Chamber Players artistic director David Brussell about their concert Sunday.
Intermezzo Chamber Players (Stacy Lesartre, violin; Kelly Shanafelt, viola; Dianne Betkowski, cello)
Franz Schubert: String Trio in B flat major, D.471
KVOD Performance Studio 061609 MS
And, Charley talks with Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra conductor Cynthia Katsarelis about their concert Saturday.
Modeste Moussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an Exhibition
Promenade: Allegro guisto nel modo russico; senza
allegrezza ma poco sostenuto
I. Gnomus: Vivo
Promenade: Moderato comodo e con delicatezza
II. Il vecchio castello (The old castle). Andante molto cantabile e con dolore
Promenade: Moderato non tanto, pesante
III. Tuileries: Allegretto non troppo, capriccioso
IV. Bydlo: Sempre moderato pesante
Promenade: Tranquillo
V. Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks: Scherzino, Vivo
leggiero
VI. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle
VII. The Market Place at Limoges: Allegro vivo, sempre
scherzando
VIII. Catacombae, Sepulchrum Romanum: Largo
Cum mortuis in lingua mortua: Andante non troppo,
con lamento
IX. The Hut on Fowls' Legs (Baba-Yaga): Allegro con
brio, feroce
X. The Great Gate of Kiev: Allegro alla breve;
Maestoso; Con grandezza
In 1874 a memorial exhibition of some 400 paintings and drawings by Victor Hartmann was organized by critic Vladimir Stassov and Count Paul Suzor, president of the Architect's Society, in the galleries of the Academy of the Arts in St. Petersburg. Hartmann's death the year before was a shock to his friend Modeste Moussorgsky. “What a terrible blow!” he wrote. “Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, and creatures like Hartmann must die? There can and must be no consolation--it is a rotten mortality!”
Moussorgsky was inspired by the exhibition to write a piano suite “in memory of our dear Victor” titled Pictures at an Exhibition. The work went swiftly. “Sounds and ideas float in the air,” he said, “and my scribbling can hardly keep pace with them.” The music was finished in less than a month, during June, 1874.
Moussorgsky's suite contains ten “pictures,” interspersed with a “Promenade” meant to depict the composer himself, “roving right and left, now desultorily, now briskly, in order to get near the pictures that had caught his attention,” said Stassov. “My own physiognomy peeps out through the intermezzos,” wrote the composer, who weighed over two hundred pounds.
Here is a handy guide to the Pictures:
Promenade
1) “The Gnome.” In his introduction to the first edition, Stassov says that Hartmann's drawing represented “a little gnome awkwardly walking on deformed legs.” Elsewhere Stassov refers to “something in the style of the fabled Nutcracker, the nuts being inserted in the gnome's mouth.”
Promenade
2) “The Old Castle.” A troubador sings in front of a medieval castle.
Promenade
3) “In the Garden of the Tuileries.” Moussorgsky's subtitle is “Dispute of the Children after Play.”
4) “Bydlo.” A Polish wagon, drawn by oxen.
Promenade
5) “Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks.” Stassov says that “in 1870 Hartmann designed the costumes for the staging of the ballet Trilby at the Maryinsky Theater, St. Petersburg. In the cast were a number of boy and girl pupils of the theater school, arrayed as canaries. Others were dressed up as eggs.”
6) “Samuel Goldenburg and Schmuyle: Two Jews, One Rich and One Poor.” Moussorgsky liked this picture so much that Hartmann gave it to him.
7) “The Market place at Limoges.” In the margin of the score, Moussorgsky wrote: “Great news! M. de Puissangeout has just recovered his cow. The Fugitive. But the good crones of Limoges are not entirely agreed about this, because Mme. de Remboursac just acquired a beautiful new set of teeth, whereas M. de Panta-Pantaleon's nose, which is in the way, remains the color of a peony.”
8) “Catacombs, Roman Tombs” and “Cum mortuis in lingua mortua” (With the Dead in a Dead Language). In a footnote, Moussorgsky explained: “Well may it be in Latin! The creative spirit of the departed Hartmann leads me to the skulls, calls out to them, and the skulls begin to glow dimly from within.”
9) “The Hut on Fowls' Legs (Baba-Yaga).” Hartmann's drawing shows a clock in the form of the hut of the Russian witch Baba-Yaga, who eats bones ground up with a mortar and pestle, which she also uses to fly through the air.
10) “The Great Gate of Kiev.” Hartmann's design was submitted for city gates commemorating Tsar Alexander II's escape from assassination in 1866.
Monday November 2, 2009
Charley talks with St. Martin's Chamber Choir music director Timothy Krueger about this weekend's concerts.
St. Martin’s Chamber Choir
Timothy J. Krueger, Jill Schroeder, conductors
Thomas Tallis: Lamentations, I & II 18:31
Johann Kuhnau: Tristis est anima mea 5:10
Jonathan Battishill: O Lord, look down 5:09 (4/3/09)
Also, Charley talks with tenor Julian Gavin, who plays Hoffmann in Opera Colorado's production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, which opens this Saturday.
Jacques Offenbach: "Il ètait une fois à la cour d'Eisenach" (Legend of Kleinzach) from Prologue to The Tales of Hoffmann
Julian Gavin, tenor; Steven Aguiló-Arbues, pianist
KVOD Performance Studio 10/20/09 MS
And, Charley talks with Telling Stories director Jennie Dorris about their “Old, New, Borrowed, Blue" show Saturday.
Benjamin Britten: "Andante sostenuto" (1st movement) from String Quartet No.1 in D major, Op.25
Telling Stories String Quartet (Chris Jusell (Juh sehl), Chris Short, violins; Megan Tipton, viola; Dave Short, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 9/29/09 MS 8:41
St. Martin’s Chamber Choir
Timothy J. Krueger, Jill Schroeder, conductors
Thomas Tallis: Lamentations, I & II 18:31
Johann Kuhnau: Tristis est anima mea 5:10
Jonathan Battishill: O Lord, look down 5:09 (4/3/09)
Also, Charley talks with tenor Julian Gavin, who plays Hoffmann in Opera Colorado's production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, which opens this Saturday.
Jacques Offenbach: "Il ètait une fois à la cour d'Eisenach" (Legend of Kleinzach) from Prologue to The Tales of Hoffmann
Julian Gavin, tenor; Steven Aguiló-Arbues, pianist
KVOD Performance Studio 10/20/09 MS
And, Charley talks with Telling Stories director Jennie Dorris about their “Old, New, Borrowed, Blue" show Saturday.
Benjamin Britten: "Andante sostenuto" (1st movement) from String Quartet No.1 in D major, Op.25
Telling Stories String Quartet (Chris Jusell (Juh sehl), Chris Short, violins; Megan Tipton, viola; Dave Short, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 9/29/09 MS 8:41
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Friday October 30, 2009
Charley anticipates the recital by Yeol Eum Son, this year's silver medalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, at the Lakewood Cultural Center next Thursday.
Lakewood Cultural Center Performing Arts Series
Davide Cabassi, piano
Franz Schubert: Impromptu in A flat major, Op.142 No. 2 (D.935)
Franz Schubert: Impromptu in A flat major, Op.90 No. 4 (D.899)
Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in A minor, Op.42 (D.845) (11/6/08)
Also, Charley talks with Littleton Symphony music director Jurgen de Lemos about their Halloween concert tomorrow.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828): Impromptu in A flat major, Op.142 No. 2 (D.935) & Impromptu in A flat major, Op.90 No. 4 (D.899)
Late in life, Schubert wrote two sets of four impromptus each. It was a who named the first set “impromptus,” probably hoping to exploit the popularity of Jan Václav Voříšek's Impromptus, Op.7, which had appeared in 1822. The idea of single-movement miniatures in three-part form had numerous precursors. Voříšek's teacher, Václav Jan Tomášek, had written Six Eclogues in 1807, because, he said, he objected “to the vapid variation compositions of the time.” Even earlier, Mozart's friend Joseph Mysliveček had composed one-movement Divertimenti per cembalo. Also, Beethoven's first set of bagatelles came out in 1802. Schubert would have known most, if not all of these pieces. He probably knew Vorisek personally.
Schubert played the second set of impromptus at his concert in Vienna on March 26, 1828. He reported that “this was received by a crowded house with such extraordinary enthusiasm that I have been asked to repeat the concert.”
Two of the eight impromptus are in the key of A flat major. In his biography of Schubert, Brian Newbould describes Op.142 No. 2: “The unassuming little Allegretto in A flat which begins the second impromptu has a simple chordal underlay to point the intimate, confiding tone of the melody. The 'trio' in D flat practices economy in another sense: it could almost be heard as an accompaniment to an absent melody, and one could readily 'do a Gounod' and spin a shapely lyrical line from first bar to last. But why? The pleasure is in picking up the implications of expressive linear movement—as they come and go—within the rolling triplet figuration itself.”
About the Op.90 No. 4, Newbould writes: “The ternary form of the last impromptu accommodates orderly contrasts. While the middle 'trio' pulsates with dark passion in C sharp minor, the outer sections sparkle with coruscating arpeggios which are attractive enough on their own, when presented as the 'theme' at the start, but gain extra magic when later supplemented with a surging inner theme whose purposeful simplicity has no double helped to make this one of Schubert's most popular miniatures.”
Franz Schubert (1797-1828): Piano Sonata in A minor, D.845 (Op.42)
I. Moderato
II. Andante poco moto
III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace
IV. Rondo: Allegro vivace
In July, 1825, Schubert wrote to his father about the reception his latest works were receiving. “Particularly appreciated,” he said, “were the variations from my new Sonata for two hands, which I played, and not without success. Several people assured me that under my hands the keys become singing voices which, if it is true, pleases me very much, because I cannot abide the cursed chopping which is a characteristic even of first-class pianists, as it pleases neither the ear nor the spirit.” This was the A minor sonata, the first Schubert sonata published in his lifetime. It was dedicated to the Archduke Rudolf of Austria, one of Beethoven's patrons (the “Archduke” Trio, Op.97 and other works).
“It can probably be compared only with the greatest and most free-ranging of Beethoven's sonatas,” wrote a Leipzig critic. “We are indebted for this uncommonly attractive and also truly significant work to Herr Schubert, who is, we hear, a still quite young artist of and in Vienna.”
Brian Newbould says the A minor sonata “begins with the sort of dramatic re-interpretation of sonata form that one might expect from Beethoven rather than Schubert. An opening phrase in octaves receives a hesitant harmonized response. A long crescendo build to a new theme, again made of two terse contrasting blocks. This adds up to a volatile, highly charged opening paragraph for a sonata....Everything pushes forward. The crescendo drives to the next idea; and the lack of self-fulfillment in the first theme leaves the ear expectant of later resumption and development. This cross-cutting technique is familiar in modern film, where a number of discrete scenes or episodes follow each other rapidly, to be drawn into a meaningful relationship later as the story unfolds.”
The second movement is the theme and four variations that Schubert said was “particularly appreciated” by its first hearers. In his liner notes to Alfred Brendel's recording, William Kinderman writes, “The third movement is a bold and vigorous scherzo, whose middle section reaches the remote tonal region of A flat minor, before returning, in a hauntingly beautiful passage, to the tonic A minor. The trio brings a calm, comforting episode before the repetition of the scherzo.” In his book on Schubert, Alfred Einstein notes the influence of Mozart's A minor sonata, K.310 on Schubert's rondo finale.
Lakewood Cultural Center Performing Arts Series
Davide Cabassi, piano
Franz Schubert: Impromptu in A flat major, Op.142 No. 2 (D.935)
Franz Schubert: Impromptu in A flat major, Op.90 No. 4 (D.899)
Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in A minor, Op.42 (D.845) (11/6/08)
Also, Charley talks with Littleton Symphony music director Jurgen de Lemos about their Halloween concert tomorrow.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828): Impromptu in A flat major, Op.142 No. 2 (D.935) & Impromptu in A flat major, Op.90 No. 4 (D.899)
Late in life, Schubert wrote two sets of four impromptus each. It was a who named the first set “impromptus,” probably hoping to exploit the popularity of Jan Václav Voříšek's Impromptus, Op.7, which had appeared in 1822. The idea of single-movement miniatures in three-part form had numerous precursors. Voříšek's teacher, Václav Jan Tomášek, had written Six Eclogues in 1807, because, he said, he objected “to the vapid variation compositions of the time.” Even earlier, Mozart's friend Joseph Mysliveček had composed one-movement Divertimenti per cembalo. Also, Beethoven's first set of bagatelles came out in 1802. Schubert would have known most, if not all of these pieces. He probably knew Vorisek personally.
Schubert played the second set of impromptus at his concert in Vienna on March 26, 1828. He reported that “this was received by a crowded house with such extraordinary enthusiasm that I have been asked to repeat the concert.”
Two of the eight impromptus are in the key of A flat major. In his biography of Schubert, Brian Newbould describes Op.142 No. 2: “The unassuming little Allegretto in A flat which begins the second impromptu has a simple chordal underlay to point the intimate, confiding tone of the melody. The 'trio' in D flat practices economy in another sense: it could almost be heard as an accompaniment to an absent melody, and one could readily 'do a Gounod' and spin a shapely lyrical line from first bar to last. But why? The pleasure is in picking up the implications of expressive linear movement—as they come and go—within the rolling triplet figuration itself.”
About the Op.90 No. 4, Newbould writes: “The ternary form of the last impromptu accommodates orderly contrasts. While the middle 'trio' pulsates with dark passion in C sharp minor, the outer sections sparkle with coruscating arpeggios which are attractive enough on their own, when presented as the 'theme' at the start, but gain extra magic when later supplemented with a surging inner theme whose purposeful simplicity has no double helped to make this one of Schubert's most popular miniatures.”
Franz Schubert (1797-1828): Piano Sonata in A minor, D.845 (Op.42)
I. Moderato
II. Andante poco moto
III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace
IV. Rondo: Allegro vivace
In July, 1825, Schubert wrote to his father about the reception his latest works were receiving. “Particularly appreciated,” he said, “were the variations from my new Sonata for two hands, which I played, and not without success. Several people assured me that under my hands the keys become singing voices which, if it is true, pleases me very much, because I cannot abide the cursed chopping which is a characteristic even of first-class pianists, as it pleases neither the ear nor the spirit.” This was the A minor sonata, the first Schubert sonata published in his lifetime. It was dedicated to the Archduke Rudolf of Austria, one of Beethoven's patrons (the “Archduke” Trio, Op.97 and other works).
“It can probably be compared only with the greatest and most free-ranging of Beethoven's sonatas,” wrote a Leipzig critic. “We are indebted for this uncommonly attractive and also truly significant work to Herr Schubert, who is, we hear, a still quite young artist of and in Vienna.”
Brian Newbould says the A minor sonata “begins with the sort of dramatic re-interpretation of sonata form that one might expect from Beethoven rather than Schubert. An opening phrase in octaves receives a hesitant harmonized response. A long crescendo build to a new theme, again made of two terse contrasting blocks. This adds up to a volatile, highly charged opening paragraph for a sonata....Everything pushes forward. The crescendo drives to the next idea; and the lack of self-fulfillment in the first theme leaves the ear expectant of later resumption and development. This cross-cutting technique is familiar in modern film, where a number of discrete scenes or episodes follow each other rapidly, to be drawn into a meaningful relationship later as the story unfolds.”
The second movement is the theme and four variations that Schubert said was “particularly appreciated” by its first hearers. In his liner notes to Alfred Brendel's recording, William Kinderman writes, “The third movement is a bold and vigorous scherzo, whose middle section reaches the remote tonal region of A flat minor, before returning, in a hauntingly beautiful passage, to the tonic A minor. The trio brings a calm, comforting episode before the repetition of the scherzo.” In his book on Schubert, Alfred Einstein notes the influence of Mozart's A minor sonata, K.310 on Schubert's rondo finale.
Thursday October 29, 2009
Charley talks with Boulder Philharmonic music director Michael Butterman about their opening night concert tomorrow.
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra
Michael Butterman, conductor; Kenrick Mervine, organ
Camille Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op.78 (Organ) 37:26
Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 (10/4/08)
Boulder Philharmonic Chamber Players (Michael Butterman, piano; Jennifer Carsillo, violin; Charles Lee, cello)
Maurice Ravel: "Allegro" (1st movement) from Sonata for Violin and Cello
Kevin Puts: Aria
Astor Piazzolla (arr. José Bragato): Oblivion
KVOD Performance Studio 9/24/09 MS
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921): Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Opus 78 (Organ Symphony)
I. Adagio, Allegro moderato, Poco adagio
II. Allegro moderato; Presto; Maestoso
``With it, I have given all I could give,'' said Saint-Saëns of his Third Symphony. ``What I did I could not achieve again.''
Saint-Saëns had already sketched a few ideas for a new symphony when he visited Franz Liszt in Paris in April, 1886. By the time he reached London, Francesco Berger approached him with a commission from the London Philharmonic Society.
A few months later, Saint-Saëns wrote Berger that the symphony was ``well under way. It will be terrifying, I warn you....This imp of a symphony has gone up a half-tone; it didn't want to stay in B minor and is now in C minor. It will be a treat for me to conduct it. Will it be a treat, though, for the people who hear it? That is the question. It's you who asked for it. I wash my hands of the whole thing.''
Saint-Saëns conducted the London Philharmonic in the first performance of the Third Symphony on May 19, 1886. Sir Arthur Sullivan conducted the balance of the program, which included Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, with Saint-Saëns as soloist. When the Symphony was played in Paris, Charles Gounod remarked: ``Behold, the French Beethoven!''
For the London performance, the composer provided the following analysis: ``This symphony, divided into two parts, nevertheless includes practically the traditional four movements: the first, checked in its development, serves as an introduction to the Adagio, and the Scherzo is connected after the same manner with the Finale. The composer has thus sought to shun in a certain measure the interminable repetitions that are more and more disappearing from instrumental music.''
The Third Symphony is called the Organ Symphony for obvious reasons, but the organist's role in the work is more of a participant than soloist. Saint-Saëns once provided a clue to his intent in the Symphony: ``If the sound of the organ, an harmonious noise rather than exact music, produced little that is worth writing down on paper, then it belongs to the same category as those old stained-glass windows where you can hardly discern the shapes but which, nevertheless, have more charm than their modern counterparts.''
When Liszt died in Bayreuth just two months after the London première of the Third Symphony, Saint-Saëns dedicated the work to the great pianist.
Vincent d'Indy said the Third was ``full of indisputable talent and seems to constitute a wager against the traditional laws of tonal construction--a wager that the composer sustains with adroitness and eloquence. But in spite of this work's undeniable interest...the final impression remains one of doubt and sadness.''
Biographer James Harding points to the finale, ``in which every trick of the trade is used to pile up an exciting climax underlined by thunderous reverberations from the organ. The texture of the score is lightened from time time with runs and arpeggios written to be played at will on the piano by two performers or one. A very large orchestra is required for this monumental attempt at grandiose utterance by a man whose natural bent was for wit rather than passion. The emotion is strangulated. Like Tchaikovsky, he strives for tragedy and achieves pathos. It is as if Ravel had attempted, with sincerity, to write Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. And yet...and yet there are half lights, muted moments, when the pangs of genuine emotion stab through the glittering web that the magician of the orchestra is so deftly spinning.''
The Symphony is scored for piccolo, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contra-bassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, timpani, organ, piano and strings.
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra
Michael Butterman, conductor; Kenrick Mervine, organ
Camille Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op.78 (Organ) 37:26
Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 (10/4/08)
Boulder Philharmonic Chamber Players (Michael Butterman, piano; Jennifer Carsillo, violin; Charles Lee, cello)
Maurice Ravel: "Allegro" (1st movement) from Sonata for Violin and Cello
Kevin Puts: Aria
Astor Piazzolla (arr. José Bragato): Oblivion
KVOD Performance Studio 9/24/09 MS
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921): Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Opus 78 (Organ Symphony)
I. Adagio, Allegro moderato, Poco adagio
II. Allegro moderato; Presto; Maestoso
``With it, I have given all I could give,'' said Saint-Saëns of his Third Symphony. ``What I did I could not achieve again.''
Saint-Saëns had already sketched a few ideas for a new symphony when he visited Franz Liszt in Paris in April, 1886. By the time he reached London, Francesco Berger approached him with a commission from the London Philharmonic Society.
A few months later, Saint-Saëns wrote Berger that the symphony was ``well under way. It will be terrifying, I warn you....This imp of a symphony has gone up a half-tone; it didn't want to stay in B minor and is now in C minor. It will be a treat for me to conduct it. Will it be a treat, though, for the people who hear it? That is the question. It's you who asked for it. I wash my hands of the whole thing.''
Saint-Saëns conducted the London Philharmonic in the first performance of the Third Symphony on May 19, 1886. Sir Arthur Sullivan conducted the balance of the program, which included Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, with Saint-Saëns as soloist. When the Symphony was played in Paris, Charles Gounod remarked: ``Behold, the French Beethoven!''
For the London performance, the composer provided the following analysis: ``This symphony, divided into two parts, nevertheless includes practically the traditional four movements: the first, checked in its development, serves as an introduction to the Adagio, and the Scherzo is connected after the same manner with the Finale. The composer has thus sought to shun in a certain measure the interminable repetitions that are more and more disappearing from instrumental music.''
The Third Symphony is called the Organ Symphony for obvious reasons, but the organist's role in the work is more of a participant than soloist. Saint-Saëns once provided a clue to his intent in the Symphony: ``If the sound of the organ, an harmonious noise rather than exact music, produced little that is worth writing down on paper, then it belongs to the same category as those old stained-glass windows where you can hardly discern the shapes but which, nevertheless, have more charm than their modern counterparts.''
When Liszt died in Bayreuth just two months after the London première of the Third Symphony, Saint-Saëns dedicated the work to the great pianist.
Vincent d'Indy said the Third was ``full of indisputable talent and seems to constitute a wager against the traditional laws of tonal construction--a wager that the composer sustains with adroitness and eloquence. But in spite of this work's undeniable interest...the final impression remains one of doubt and sadness.''
Biographer James Harding points to the finale, ``in which every trick of the trade is used to pile up an exciting climax underlined by thunderous reverberations from the organ. The texture of the score is lightened from time time with runs and arpeggios written to be played at will on the piano by two performers or one. A very large orchestra is required for this monumental attempt at grandiose utterance by a man whose natural bent was for wit rather than passion. The emotion is strangulated. Like Tchaikovsky, he strives for tragedy and achieves pathos. It is as if Ravel had attempted, with sincerity, to write Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. And yet...and yet there are half lights, muted moments, when the pangs of genuine emotion stab through the glittering web that the magician of the orchestra is so deftly spinning.''
The Symphony is scored for piccolo, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contra-bassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, timpani, organ, piano and strings.
Wednesday October 28, 2009
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor
Pierre Jalbert: In Aeternam
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op.52 (5/29-31/09)
Also, Charley talks with Boulder Philharmonic music director Michael Butterman about their opening night concert Friday.
Astor Piazzolla (arr. José Bragato): Oblivion, La Muerte del Angel 7:09
Boulder Philharmonic Chamber Players (Michael Butterman, piano; Jennifer Carsillo, violin; Charles Lee, cello; Janet Braccio, page-turner on Oblivion)
KVOD Performance Studio 9/24/09 MS
And, Charley talks with the Littleton Chorale's conductor, Michael Krueger, about their concert on Friday.
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor
Pierre Jalbert: In Aeternam
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op.52 (5/29-31/09)
Also, Charley talks with Boulder Philharmonic music director Michael Butterman about their opening night concert Friday.
Astor Piazzolla (arr. José Bragato): Oblivion, La Muerte del Angel 7:09
Boulder Philharmonic Chamber Players (Michael Butterman, piano; Jennifer Carsillo, violin; Charles Lee, cello; Janet Braccio, page-turner on Oblivion)
KVOD Performance Studio 9/24/09 MS
And, Charley talks with the Littleton Chorale's conductor, Michael Krueger, about their concert on Friday.
Tuesday October 27, 2009
Charley talks with Littleton Symphony music director Jurgen de Lemos about their Halloween concert Saturday.
Colorado Music Festival Orchestra
Michael Christie, conductor
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op.67 34:53 (7/11/08)
Also, Charley talks with Boulder Philharmonic music director Michael Butterman about their opening night concert Friday.
Alberto Ginastera: Four Dances from Estancia 14:07
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra/ Michael Butterman, conductor
NCA (3/21/09)
And, Charley anticipates Lang Lang's appearance with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra this Friday.
Johannes Brahms: Intermezzo in F minor & Romance in F major from Six Pieces, Op.118
Lang Lang, piano
Telarc 80524 10-11 6:49
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67
I. Allegro con brio
II. Andante con moto
III. Scherzo: Allegro
IV. Allegro
“So often heard,” Robert Schumann wrote of the Fifth Symphony, “it still exercises its power over all ages, just as those great phenomena of nature that, no matter how often they recur, fill us with awe and wonder. This Symphony will go on centuries hence, as long as the world and world's music endure.”
According to Beethoven's biographer, Alexander Thayer, “this wondrous work was no sudden inspiration. Themes for (three of the movements) are found in sketchbooks belonging, at the very latest, to the years 1800 and 1801.” After interrupting himself to write the Fourth Symphony, Beethoven finished the Fifth in the spring of 1808.
Beethoven conducted the first performance at a typically massive all-Beethoven concert in Vienna on December 22, 1808. Besides the Fifth, the program included the Sixth Symphony, the concert aria Ah, Perfido, two movements from the Mass in C major, the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Choral Fantasy. One listener complained: “There we continued, in the bitterest cold, too, from half past six to half past ten, and experienced the truth that one can easily have too much of a good thing--and still more of a loud....Many a failure in the performance vexed our patience in the highest degree.”
“In spite of several faults which I could not prevent,” said Beethoven, “the public received everything most enthusiastically.” Critic Amadeus Wendt wrote: “Beethoven's music inspires in its listeners awe, fear, horror, pain, and that exquisite nostalgia that is the soul of romanticism.” E.T.A. Hoffmann called the Fifth “one of the most important works of the master whose position in the first rank of composers of instrumental music can now be denied by no one....It is a concept of genius, executed with profound deliberation, which in a very high degree brings the romantic content of the music to expression.”
In 1830, Mendelssohn played the first movement on the piano for Goethe, who said: “It is tremendous--quite crazy--one is almost afraid the house will collapse; and imagine how it must sound in the orchestra!” Of the celebrated four notes that begin the movement, Beethoven is supposed to have said: “Thus Fate knocks at the door.” Much has been made of this remark, most of it nonsense. Pointing to the same four notes in the Fourth Piano Concerto, theorist Heinrich Schenker wondered, “Was this another door on which Fate knocked or was someone else knocking at the same door?” By coincidence, the rhythm of the four notes corresponds to the Morse code for the letter “V.” That, coupled with Winston Churchill's “V for Victory” gesture, inspired the BBC to use the phrase as a signature during World War II.
Sir Donald Francis Tovey compared the second movement to Shakespeare's heroines, for “the same courage, the same beauty of goodness, and the same humor.” Berlioz claimed that the third movement produces “the inexplicable emotion that one experiences under the magnetic gaze of certain individuals.” With the finale, writes George Grove, “all the noisy elements at Beethoven's command in those simpler days (burst) like a thunder-clap into the major key and into a triumphal march.”
The Symphony is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and strings.
Biographer Maynard Solomon notes the Symphony’s “unheralded rhythmic concentration, economy of thematic material, and startling innovations—-the oboe cadenza in the first movement, the addition of piccolo and double bassoon to the winds, the ‘spectral’ effects of the double basses in the scherzo and trio, the trombones in the finale, the return of material from the scherzo in the finale.” For Paul Henry Lang, the Fifth is “the consummate example of symphonic logic.”
Colorado Music Festival Orchestra
Michael Christie, conductor
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op.67 34:53 (7/11/08)
Also, Charley talks with Boulder Philharmonic music director Michael Butterman about their opening night concert Friday.
Alberto Ginastera: Four Dances from Estancia 14:07
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra/ Michael Butterman, conductor
NCA (3/21/09)
And, Charley anticipates Lang Lang's appearance with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra this Friday.
Johannes Brahms: Intermezzo in F minor & Romance in F major from Six Pieces, Op.118
Lang Lang, piano
Telarc 80524 10-11 6:49
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67
I. Allegro con brio
II. Andante con moto
III. Scherzo: Allegro
IV. Allegro
“So often heard,” Robert Schumann wrote of the Fifth Symphony, “it still exercises its power over all ages, just as those great phenomena of nature that, no matter how often they recur, fill us with awe and wonder. This Symphony will go on centuries hence, as long as the world and world's music endure.”
According to Beethoven's biographer, Alexander Thayer, “this wondrous work was no sudden inspiration. Themes for (three of the movements) are found in sketchbooks belonging, at the very latest, to the years 1800 and 1801.” After interrupting himself to write the Fourth Symphony, Beethoven finished the Fifth in the spring of 1808.
Beethoven conducted the first performance at a typically massive all-Beethoven concert in Vienna on December 22, 1808. Besides the Fifth, the program included the Sixth Symphony, the concert aria Ah, Perfido, two movements from the Mass in C major, the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Choral Fantasy. One listener complained: “There we continued, in the bitterest cold, too, from half past six to half past ten, and experienced the truth that one can easily have too much of a good thing--and still more of a loud....Many a failure in the performance vexed our patience in the highest degree.”
“In spite of several faults which I could not prevent,” said Beethoven, “the public received everything most enthusiastically.” Critic Amadeus Wendt wrote: “Beethoven's music inspires in its listeners awe, fear, horror, pain, and that exquisite nostalgia that is the soul of romanticism.” E.T.A. Hoffmann called the Fifth “one of the most important works of the master whose position in the first rank of composers of instrumental music can now be denied by no one....It is a concept of genius, executed with profound deliberation, which in a very high degree brings the romantic content of the music to expression.”
In 1830, Mendelssohn played the first movement on the piano for Goethe, who said: “It is tremendous--quite crazy--one is almost afraid the house will collapse; and imagine how it must sound in the orchestra!” Of the celebrated four notes that begin the movement, Beethoven is supposed to have said: “Thus Fate knocks at the door.” Much has been made of this remark, most of it nonsense. Pointing to the same four notes in the Fourth Piano Concerto, theorist Heinrich Schenker wondered, “Was this another door on which Fate knocked or was someone else knocking at the same door?” By coincidence, the rhythm of the four notes corresponds to the Morse code for the letter “V.” That, coupled with Winston Churchill's “V for Victory” gesture, inspired the BBC to use the phrase as a signature during World War II.
Sir Donald Francis Tovey compared the second movement to Shakespeare's heroines, for “the same courage, the same beauty of goodness, and the same humor.” Berlioz claimed that the third movement produces “the inexplicable emotion that one experiences under the magnetic gaze of certain individuals.” With the finale, writes George Grove, “all the noisy elements at Beethoven's command in those simpler days (burst) like a thunder-clap into the major key and into a triumphal march.”
The Symphony is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and strings.
Biographer Maynard Solomon notes the Symphony’s “unheralded rhythmic concentration, economy of thematic material, and startling innovations—-the oboe cadenza in the first movement, the addition of piccolo and double bassoon to the winds, the ‘spectral’ effects of the double basses in the scherzo and trio, the trombones in the finale, the return of material from the scherzo in the finale.” For Paul Henry Lang, the Fifth is “the consummate example of symphonic logic.”
Monday October 26, 2009
Friends of Chamber Music
Jupiter String Quartet
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet in F minor, Op.80
Claude Debussy: String Quartet in G minor (12/7/07)
Claude Debussy (1862-1910): String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10
I. Animé et très décidée
II. Assez vif et bien rythmé
III. Andantino, doucement expressif
IV. Très modéré--Très movementé et avec passion
Debussy started his only string quartet in 1892, about the same time as the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. He had trouble with the last movement, as he confided to Ernest Chausson: “I can’t get it into the shape I want, and that’s the third time of trying.” He finished the work the following year and dedicated it to the Ysaÿe Quartet, which gave the first performance in Paris on December 29, 1893.
The audience, accustomed to the quartets of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, was bewildered. One critic mentioned “orgies of modulation” from a composer “rotten with talent.” One of the quartet’s champions was Paul Dukas, who hailed Debussy as “one of the most gifted and original artists of the young generation of musicians…a lyricist in the full sense of the term.” Despite being consulted in the composition of the quartet, Chausson disliked it. Debussy promised to write a second quartet, which would “bring more dignity to the form,” but never finished a second quartet.
The first quartet owes a debut to Alexander Borodin and César Frank, especially the latter’s “cyclical form.” Accordingly Debussy begins his quartet with a germinal theme, which figures in all the other movements. The second movement is a scherzo with rhythmic plucked strings and guitar-like effects. Manuel de Falla said “most of it could pass for one of the finest Andalusian dances ever written.” The third movement begins and ends with muted strings, with an increasingly intense climax in between. The finale starts with a fugue-like slow introduction, then launches into a whirlwind summary of the previous movements.
Jupiter String Quartet
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet in F minor, Op.80
Claude Debussy: String Quartet in G minor (12/7/07)
Claude Debussy (1862-1910): String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10
I. Animé et très décidée
II. Assez vif et bien rythmé
III. Andantino, doucement expressif
IV. Très modéré--Très movementé et avec passion
Debussy started his only string quartet in 1892, about the same time as the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. He had trouble with the last movement, as he confided to Ernest Chausson: “I can’t get it into the shape I want, and that’s the third time of trying.” He finished the work the following year and dedicated it to the Ysaÿe Quartet, which gave the first performance in Paris on December 29, 1893.
The audience, accustomed to the quartets of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, was bewildered. One critic mentioned “orgies of modulation” from a composer “rotten with talent.” One of the quartet’s champions was Paul Dukas, who hailed Debussy as “one of the most gifted and original artists of the young generation of musicians…a lyricist in the full sense of the term.” Despite being consulted in the composition of the quartet, Chausson disliked it. Debussy promised to write a second quartet, which would “bring more dignity to the form,” but never finished a second quartet.
The first quartet owes a debut to Alexander Borodin and César Frank, especially the latter’s “cyclical form.” Accordingly Debussy begins his quartet with a germinal theme, which figures in all the other movements. The second movement is a scherzo with rhythmic plucked strings and guitar-like effects. Manuel de Falla said “most of it could pass for one of the finest Andalusian dances ever written.” The third movement begins and ends with muted strings, with an increasingly intense climax in between. The finale starts with a fugue-like slow introduction, then launches into a whirlwind summary of the previous movements.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Friday October 23, 2009
Charley talks with composer Libby Larson, whose new Mass setting receives its world premiere Sunday at St. Paul Lutheran Church.
Libby Larsen: Deep Summer Music
Colorado Symphony Orchestra/ Marin Alsop
Koch 75202 Track 1 7:17
Charley anticipates the Englewood Arts recital by the Colorado Symphony's new principal cellist, Silver Ainomae, with pianist Katie Mahan tomorrow.
Franz Schubert: Impromptu No. 4 in A flat major, D.899
Katie Mahan, piano
katiemahan@comcast.net Track 7 7:40
Charley talks with Cherry Creek Chorale conductor Brian Leatherman about their concert at the Comedy Works tomorrow.
Charley anticipates harpist Lynne Abbey-Lee's appearance with the Jefferson Symphony Sunday.
Claude Debussy: "Profane Dance" from Danses sacrée et profane (Sacred and Profane Dances) 4:47
Lynne Abbey-Lee, harp; Paul Primus and David Waldman, violins; Barbara Hamilton-Primus, viola; Jeffrey Watson, cello
KVOD Performance Studio 101607 MS
Charley anticipates the Denver Young Artists Orchestra's concert Sunday.
Ottorino Respighi: “St. Michael Archangel”(2nd movement) from Church Windows
Denver Young Artists Orchestra/ Scott O'Neil)
NCA (11/9/08) 5:50
Charley anticipates the Ivy Street Trio's recital at the King Center Monday, and talks with composer David Mullikin.
David Mullikin: Trio for flutes, violin and viola
Ivy Street Ensemble (Catherine Peterson, flutes, alto flute, piccolo; Erik Peterson, violin; Phillip Stevens, viola) 13:30
KVOD Performance Studio 6/1/06 MS
Libby Larsen: Deep Summer Music
Colorado Symphony Orchestra/ Marin Alsop
Koch 75202 Track 1 7:17
Charley anticipates the Englewood Arts recital by the Colorado Symphony's new principal cellist, Silver Ainomae, with pianist Katie Mahan tomorrow.
Franz Schubert: Impromptu No. 4 in A flat major, D.899
Katie Mahan, piano
katiemahan@comcast.net Track 7 7:40
Charley talks with Cherry Creek Chorale conductor Brian Leatherman about their concert at the Comedy Works tomorrow.
Charley anticipates harpist Lynne Abbey-Lee's appearance with the Jefferson Symphony Sunday.
Claude Debussy: "Profane Dance" from Danses sacrée et profane (Sacred and Profane Dances) 4:47
Lynne Abbey-Lee, harp; Paul Primus and David Waldman, violins; Barbara Hamilton-Primus, viola; Jeffrey Watson, cello
KVOD Performance Studio 101607 MS
Charley anticipates the Denver Young Artists Orchestra's concert Sunday.
Ottorino Respighi: “St. Michael Archangel”(2nd movement) from Church Windows
Denver Young Artists Orchestra/ Scott O'Neil)
NCA (11/9/08) 5:50
Charley anticipates the Ivy Street Trio's recital at the King Center Monday, and talks with composer David Mullikin.
David Mullikin: Trio for flutes, violin and viola
Ivy Street Ensemble (Catherine Peterson, flutes, alto flute, piccolo; Erik Peterson, violin; Phillip Stevens, viola) 13:30
KVOD Performance Studio 6/1/06 MS
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Thursday October 22, 2009
Charley anticipates pianist Olga Kern's appearance with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra this weekend during the Orchestra's Rachmaninoff Festival.
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Polichinelle in F sharp minor, Op.3 No. 4
Olga Kern, piano
KVOD Performance Studio NCA 091907 MS
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Serenade, Op.3 No.5
Olga Kern, piano
Harmonia Mundi 907399 Track 8 3:03
Dan Drayer talks with pianist Olga Kern about her personal connection with Rachmaninoff.
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
James Gaffigan, conductor
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Opus 36 (5/15-17/09)
Also, Charley talks with Denver Philharmonic conductor laureate Horst Buchholz about their concert tomorrow, and with violinist Ignace Jang about his appearance with the Littleton Symphony Orchestra tomorrow.
Claude Debussy: La plus que lente
Ignace Jang, violin; Shirin Pancaroğlu, harp
Doublemoon 0009 Track 2 5:36
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 2 in D major,
Opus 36
I. Adagio molto; Allegro con brio
II. Larghetto
III. Scherzo: Allegro
IV. Allegro molto
Sketches for the Second Symphony date from as early as 1800. Most of the work was done during the summer and fall of 1802, about the time that Beethoven realized the “roaring” in his ears would lead to total deafness.
The first performance took place in Vienna on April 5, 1803. It was a typically mammoth all-Beethoven concert. Besides the Second Symphony, the program included the First Symphony, the Third Piano Concerto and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives.
Rehearsals began at eight that same morning. According to an eyewitness, “it was a terrible rehearsal, and at half past two everybody was exhausted and more or less dissatisfied. Prince Karl Lichnowsky (one of Beethoven’s patrons)…had sent for bread and butter, cold meat and wine, in large baskets. He pleasantly asked all to help themselves, and this was done with both hands, the result being that good nature was restored again.”
After the premiere, the Second Symphony was criticized for its “striving for the new and surprising.” A Leipzig performance a year later moved one reviewer to describe the work as “a gross enormity, an immense wounded snake, unwilling to die, but writhing in its last agonies and, though bleeding to death, furiously beats about with its tail in the finale.” But for Hector Berlioz, “in this symphony, everything is noble, energetic, proud.”
In his book on the Beethoven symphonies, George Grove wrote: “The Second Symphony is a great advance on the First….The advance is more in dimensions and style, and in the wonderful fire and force of the treatment, than in any really new ideas, such as its author afterwards introduced and are specially connected in our minds with the name of Beethoven….The first movement is distinctly of the old world, though carried out with a spirit, vigor, and effect, and occasionally with a caprice, which are nowhere surpassed, if indeed they are equaled, by Haydn and Mozart. Nor is there anything in the extraordinary grace, beauty, and finish of the Larghetto to alter this…nor in the Finale, grotesque and strong as much of it is: it is all still of the old world, till we come to the Coda, and that, indeed, is distinctly of the other order.”
Grove regards the Second Symphony as “the culminating point of the old pre-Revolution world, the world of Haydn and Mozart; it was the farthest point to which Beethoven could go before he burst into that wonderful new region into which no man had before penetrated, of which no man had even dreamed, but which is now one of our dearest possessions, and will always be known by his immortal name.”
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Polichinelle in F sharp minor, Op.3 No. 4
Olga Kern, piano
KVOD Performance Studio NCA 091907 MS
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Serenade, Op.3 No.5
Olga Kern, piano
Harmonia Mundi 907399 Track 8 3:03
Dan Drayer talks with pianist Olga Kern about her personal connection with Rachmaninoff.
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
James Gaffigan, conductor
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Opus 36 (5/15-17/09)
Also, Charley talks with Denver Philharmonic conductor laureate Horst Buchholz about their concert tomorrow, and with violinist Ignace Jang about his appearance with the Littleton Symphony Orchestra tomorrow.
Claude Debussy: La plus que lente
Ignace Jang, violin; Shirin Pancaroğlu, harp
Doublemoon 0009 Track 2 5:36
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 2 in D major,
Opus 36
I. Adagio molto; Allegro con brio
II. Larghetto
III. Scherzo: Allegro
IV. Allegro molto
Sketches for the Second Symphony date from as early as 1800. Most of the work was done during the summer and fall of 1802, about the time that Beethoven realized the “roaring” in his ears would lead to total deafness.
The first performance took place in Vienna on April 5, 1803. It was a typically mammoth all-Beethoven concert. Besides the Second Symphony, the program included the First Symphony, the Third Piano Concerto and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives.
Rehearsals began at eight that same morning. According to an eyewitness, “it was a terrible rehearsal, and at half past two everybody was exhausted and more or less dissatisfied. Prince Karl Lichnowsky (one of Beethoven’s patrons)…had sent for bread and butter, cold meat and wine, in large baskets. He pleasantly asked all to help themselves, and this was done with both hands, the result being that good nature was restored again.”
After the premiere, the Second Symphony was criticized for its “striving for the new and surprising.” A Leipzig performance a year later moved one reviewer to describe the work as “a gross enormity, an immense wounded snake, unwilling to die, but writhing in its last agonies and, though bleeding to death, furiously beats about with its tail in the finale.” But for Hector Berlioz, “in this symphony, everything is noble, energetic, proud.”
In his book on the Beethoven symphonies, George Grove wrote: “The Second Symphony is a great advance on the First….The advance is more in dimensions and style, and in the wonderful fire and force of the treatment, than in any really new ideas, such as its author afterwards introduced and are specially connected in our minds with the name of Beethoven….The first movement is distinctly of the old world, though carried out with a spirit, vigor, and effect, and occasionally with a caprice, which are nowhere surpassed, if indeed they are equaled, by Haydn and Mozart. Nor is there anything in the extraordinary grace, beauty, and finish of the Larghetto to alter this…nor in the Finale, grotesque and strong as much of it is: it is all still of the old world, till we come to the Coda, and that, indeed, is distinctly of the other order.”
Grove regards the Second Symphony as “the culminating point of the old pre-Revolution world, the world of Haydn and Mozart; it was the farthest point to which Beethoven could go before he burst into that wonderful new region into which no man had before penetrated, of which no man had even dreamed, but which is now one of our dearest possessions, and will always be known by his immortal name.”
Wednesday October 21, 2009
Colorado Music Festival Festival Orchestra
Michael Christie, conductor
Peter Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 3 in G major, Op.55 42:56 (7/27/07)
Also, Charley talks with violinist Ignace Jang, the soloist with the Littleton Symphony Orchestra Friday.
Manuel de Falla: Spanish Dance from La Vida Breve
Ignace Jang, violin; Sirin Pancaroğlu, harp
Doublemoon 0009 Track 11 3:59
And, Charley talks with Denver Philharmonic conductor laureate Horst Buchholz.
Wolfgang Mozart: Così fan tutte Overture
Denver Philharmonic/ Horst Buchholz (3/28/09)
Michael Christie, conductor
Peter Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 3 in G major, Op.55 42:56 (7/27/07)
Also, Charley talks with violinist Ignace Jang, the soloist with the Littleton Symphony Orchestra Friday.
Manuel de Falla: Spanish Dance from La Vida Breve
Ignace Jang, violin; Sirin Pancaroğlu, harp
Doublemoon 0009 Track 11 3:59
And, Charley talks with Denver Philharmonic conductor laureate Horst Buchholz.
Wolfgang Mozart: Così fan tutte Overture
Denver Philharmonic/ Horst Buchholz (3/28/09)
Tuesday October 20, 2009
Colorado College Summer Music Festival
Festival Orchestra Scott Yoo, conductor
Mark Fewer, violin
Felix Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, op. 21 (7/5/05)
Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, op. 19 (7/5/05)
Also, Charley talks with Colorado Ballet artistic director Gil Boggs about their production of Don Quixote, which closes Sunday.
Ludwig Minkus: Grand Pas de Deux from Act III of Don Quixote
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra/ Erich Kunzel
Telarc 80625 Track 5 6:30
And, Charley anticipates Masakazu Ito's benefit for the Boulder Guitar Society Thursday.
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: "Allegro, vivo e schietto" (1st movement) from Guitar Quintet, Op.143
Colorado Chamber Players (Masakazu Ito, guitar; Jerilyn Jorgensen, Paul Primus, violins; Barbara Hamilton-Primus, viola; Katharine Knight, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 9/30/09 MS
Moreover, Charley anticipates The King's Singers appearance on the Augustana Arts series Saturday.
William Byrd: O Lord, Make Thy Servant Elizabeth, Our Queen
King's Singers
RCA 68004 Track 18 3:41
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847): Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, Opus 21
The Mendelssohn family loved their Shakespeare. ``From our youth on we were entwined in A Midsummer Night's Dream,'' said Fanny Mendelssohn, ``and Felix particularly made it his own. He identified with all of the characters. He re-created them, so to speak, every one of those whom Shakespeare produced in the immensity of his genius.''
In July, 1826, at the age of seventeen, Felix wrote to his sister: ``I have grown accustomed to composing in our garden.... Today or tomorrow I am going to start dreaming there A Midsummer Night's Dream.'' By August 6, he had finished the Overture to Shakespeare's play. Its original piano duet version was introduced by brother and sister at a private party in Berlin in November. The orchestral version was first performed on April 29, 1827 in Stettin, with Karl Loewe conducting.
The Overture is an amazing achievement, especially for a teenager. Seventeen years later, Frederick Wilhelm IV, recently crowned regent of Prussia, commissioned incidental music for a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in Potsdam. To his youthful Overture, Mendelssohn added thirteen more numbers, including the famous Wedding March, and in that form, the music was introduced on October 14, 1843.
Mendelssohn was asked by his publishers to describe the Overture. ``It is impossible for me to outline...the sequence of ideas that gave rise to the composition,'' he replied. ``It follows the play closely, however, so that it may perhaps be very proper to indicate the outstanding situations of the drama in order that the audience may have Shakespeare in mind or form an idea of the piece. I think it should be enough to point out that the fairy rulers, Oberon and Titania, appear throughout the play with all their people....At the end, after everything has been settled satisfactorily and the principal players have joyfully left the stage, the elves follow them, bless the house and disappear with the dawn. So the play ends.''
Biographer Philip Radcliffe writes: ``This is the work of a thoroughly mature composer working at the height of his inspiration....After the magically effective opening chords there is the fairy-like theme...followed by another of far more ceremonious character...vividly suggestive of Theseus's court. Later comes the gently sentimental theme for the lovers, leading to the very lively portrayal of the rustics, with even a suggestion of Bottom's `translation.' All these form the material for an admirably balanced movement in sonata form, with a long and imaginative development, and a coda of great beauty in which the fairies have the last word and even spread their spell over Theseus's palace.''
The score calls for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 3 trumpets, tuba, 3 trombones, timpani, triangle, cymbals and strings.
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major,
Opus 19
I. Andantino
II. Scherzo: Vivacissimo
III. Moderato; Allegro moderato
Early in 1915 Prokofiev sketched an opening melody for a one-movement violin concertino. ``I often regretted,'' he later recalled, ``that other work prevented me from returning to the pensive opening'' of the piece.
His chance came two years later, when he spent the summer at a country house near Petrograd reading Kant and Schopenhauer and turning his early sketch into a full three-movement violin concerto. A pianist, Prokofiev sought advice in writing for the violin from the Polish violinist Paul Kochanski, who was scheduled to play the premiere the following November. But World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution intervened, and the planned performance was postponed.
Indeed, the first performance didn't take place until October 18, 1923 in Paris. By then Prokofiev had left Russia, toured the United States and made his way to Paris, where Serge Koussevitzky offered to conduct the work. Several soloists, including Bronislaw Huberman, had refused to play it, so the concertmaster Marcel Darrieux was engaged. He ``did quite well with it,'' according to the composer.
Modernists criticized the work for not being complex enough. Georges Auric accused it of ``Mendelssohnism.'' A year later Joseph Szigeti took up the Concerto, playing it all over Europe, and its entry into the standard repertory was assured.
Biographer Israel Nestyev writes of the ``unusual sequence'' of the Concerto's three movements, ``the first and third are predominantly tender and melodic, while the second...is a fast, grotesque, and mocking scherzo....Unexpectedly for Prokofiev's music, a tenderly melodious, lyrical theme predominates in the first movement (and is restated in the finale). It is almost impossible to find in any of Prokofiev's early works a melody so simple and clear, so soulful and warm.''
In the second movement, says Nestyev, ``the whole gamut of scherzo-like moods and images'' is presented. ```Perpetuum mobile' and sparkling, sometimes mischievous humour predominate....In the third movement serene lyricism once again prevails....Just as in the beginning, the violin sings in a full voice of the beautiful and lofty feelings of man.''
The score calls for solo violin, piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, tuba, timpani, side drum, tambourine, harp and strings.
Festival Orchestra Scott Yoo, conductor
Mark Fewer, violin
Felix Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, op. 21 (7/5/05)
Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, op. 19 (7/5/05)
Also, Charley talks with Colorado Ballet artistic director Gil Boggs about their production of Don Quixote, which closes Sunday.
Ludwig Minkus: Grand Pas de Deux from Act III of Don Quixote
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra/ Erich Kunzel
Telarc 80625 Track 5 6:30
And, Charley anticipates Masakazu Ito's benefit for the Boulder Guitar Society Thursday.
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: "Allegro, vivo e schietto" (1st movement) from Guitar Quintet, Op.143
Colorado Chamber Players (Masakazu Ito, guitar; Jerilyn Jorgensen, Paul Primus, violins; Barbara Hamilton-Primus, viola; Katharine Knight, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 9/30/09 MS
Moreover, Charley anticipates The King's Singers appearance on the Augustana Arts series Saturday.
William Byrd: O Lord, Make Thy Servant Elizabeth, Our Queen
King's Singers
RCA 68004 Track 18 3:41
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847): Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, Opus 21
The Mendelssohn family loved their Shakespeare. ``From our youth on we were entwined in A Midsummer Night's Dream,'' said Fanny Mendelssohn, ``and Felix particularly made it his own. He identified with all of the characters. He re-created them, so to speak, every one of those whom Shakespeare produced in the immensity of his genius.''
In July, 1826, at the age of seventeen, Felix wrote to his sister: ``I have grown accustomed to composing in our garden.... Today or tomorrow I am going to start dreaming there A Midsummer Night's Dream.'' By August 6, he had finished the Overture to Shakespeare's play. Its original piano duet version was introduced by brother and sister at a private party in Berlin in November. The orchestral version was first performed on April 29, 1827 in Stettin, with Karl Loewe conducting.
The Overture is an amazing achievement, especially for a teenager. Seventeen years later, Frederick Wilhelm IV, recently crowned regent of Prussia, commissioned incidental music for a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in Potsdam. To his youthful Overture, Mendelssohn added thirteen more numbers, including the famous Wedding March, and in that form, the music was introduced on October 14, 1843.
Mendelssohn was asked by his publishers to describe the Overture. ``It is impossible for me to outline...the sequence of ideas that gave rise to the composition,'' he replied. ``It follows the play closely, however, so that it may perhaps be very proper to indicate the outstanding situations of the drama in order that the audience may have Shakespeare in mind or form an idea of the piece. I think it should be enough to point out that the fairy rulers, Oberon and Titania, appear throughout the play with all their people....At the end, after everything has been settled satisfactorily and the principal players have joyfully left the stage, the elves follow them, bless the house and disappear with the dawn. So the play ends.''
Biographer Philip Radcliffe writes: ``This is the work of a thoroughly mature composer working at the height of his inspiration....After the magically effective opening chords there is the fairy-like theme...followed by another of far more ceremonious character...vividly suggestive of Theseus's court. Later comes the gently sentimental theme for the lovers, leading to the very lively portrayal of the rustics, with even a suggestion of Bottom's `translation.' All these form the material for an admirably balanced movement in sonata form, with a long and imaginative development, and a coda of great beauty in which the fairies have the last word and even spread their spell over Theseus's palace.''
The score calls for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 3 trumpets, tuba, 3 trombones, timpani, triangle, cymbals and strings.
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major,
Opus 19
I. Andantino
II. Scherzo: Vivacissimo
III. Moderato; Allegro moderato
Early in 1915 Prokofiev sketched an opening melody for a one-movement violin concertino. ``I often regretted,'' he later recalled, ``that other work prevented me from returning to the pensive opening'' of the piece.
His chance came two years later, when he spent the summer at a country house near Petrograd reading Kant and Schopenhauer and turning his early sketch into a full three-movement violin concerto. A pianist, Prokofiev sought advice in writing for the violin from the Polish violinist Paul Kochanski, who was scheduled to play the premiere the following November. But World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution intervened, and the planned performance was postponed.
Indeed, the first performance didn't take place until October 18, 1923 in Paris. By then Prokofiev had left Russia, toured the United States and made his way to Paris, where Serge Koussevitzky offered to conduct the work. Several soloists, including Bronislaw Huberman, had refused to play it, so the concertmaster Marcel Darrieux was engaged. He ``did quite well with it,'' according to the composer.
Modernists criticized the work for not being complex enough. Georges Auric accused it of ``Mendelssohnism.'' A year later Joseph Szigeti took up the Concerto, playing it all over Europe, and its entry into the standard repertory was assured.
Biographer Israel Nestyev writes of the ``unusual sequence'' of the Concerto's three movements, ``the first and third are predominantly tender and melodic, while the second...is a fast, grotesque, and mocking scherzo....Unexpectedly for Prokofiev's music, a tenderly melodious, lyrical theme predominates in the first movement (and is restated in the finale). It is almost impossible to find in any of Prokofiev's early works a melody so simple and clear, so soulful and warm.''
In the second movement, says Nestyev, ``the whole gamut of scherzo-like moods and images'' is presented. ```Perpetuum mobile' and sparkling, sometimes mischievous humour predominate....In the third movement serene lyricism once again prevails....Just as in the beginning, the violin sings in a full voice of the beautiful and lofty feelings of man.''
The score calls for solo violin, piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, tuba, timpani, side drum, tambourine, harp and strings.
Monday October 19, 2009
Friends of Chamber Music
Alarm Will Sound
Alan Pierson, conductor
Derek Bermel: Three Rivers 10:38
Gavin Chuck: Seen 7:20
Edgard Varese (arr. Hause): Poem electronique 8:47 (1/21/09)
Also, Charley anticipates the Antero Winds performance at the Boulder Public Library tomorrow.
Astor Piazzolla: Milonga sin Palabras
Georges Bizet: Carmen Fantasy
Antero Winds (Formerly Arundo Winds) [Cobus Du Toit, flute; Sarah Mellander, oboe; Jerome Fleg, clarinet; Megan Garrison, horn; Kaori Uno, bassoon]
KVOD Performance Studio 103108 MS
And, Charley anticipates Hsing-ay Hsu's recital tomorrow at CU Boulder
Frédéric Chopin: Mazurka in B flat major, Op.24 No. 4 4:13
Frédéric Chopin: Waltz in A flat major, Op. 34 No. 1 (Grande Valse Brilliante) 5:09
Hsing-ay Hsu, piano
KVOD Performance Studio 110608 MS
Alarm Will Sound
Alan Pierson, conductor
Derek Bermel: Three Rivers 10:38
Gavin Chuck: Seen 7:20
Edgard Varese (arr. Hause): Poem electronique 8:47 (1/21/09)
Also, Charley anticipates the Antero Winds performance at the Boulder Public Library tomorrow.
Astor Piazzolla: Milonga sin Palabras
Georges Bizet: Carmen Fantasy
Antero Winds (Formerly Arundo Winds) [Cobus Du Toit, flute; Sarah Mellander, oboe; Jerome Fleg, clarinet; Megan Garrison, horn; Kaori Uno, bassoon]
KVOD Performance Studio 103108 MS
And, Charley anticipates Hsing-ay Hsu's recital tomorrow at CU Boulder
Frédéric Chopin: Mazurka in B flat major, Op.24 No. 4 4:13
Frédéric Chopin: Waltz in A flat major, Op. 34 No. 1 (Grande Valse Brilliante) 5:09
Hsing-ay Hsu, piano
KVOD Performance Studio 110608 MS
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Friday October 16, 2009
Charley anticipates pianist Olga Kern's appearance with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra this weekend and next, during the Orchestra's Rachmaninoff Festival.
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Polichinelle in F sharp minor, Op.3 No. 4
Olga Kern, piano
Kern demonstrates themes from Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op.43
KVOD Performance Studio NCA 091907 MS
Dan Drayer talks with pianist Olga Kern about her personal connection with Rachmaninoff.
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C sharp minor & “Melody” from Fantasy Pieces, Op.3
Olga Kern, piano
Harmonia Mundi 907399 4-6 15:23
Also,Charley anticipates the Veronika String Quartet's opening program this Sunday in Colorado Springs.
Ludwig van Beethoven: "Allegro con brio" (1st movement) from String Quartet No.1 in F major, op. 18
Dmitri Shostakovich: "Allegretto" (1st movement) from String Quartet No.3 in F major, Op. 73
Veronika String Quartet
(Veronika Afanassieva and Karine Garibova, violins, Ekaterina Dobrotvorskaia, viola; Mary Artmann, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 10/1/09 MS
And, Charley anticipates violinist Linda Wang's appearance with the Greeley Philharmonic tomorrow.
Traditional Chinese: Fisherman’s Song 3:29
Ludwig van Beethoven: “Allegro assai” (1st movement) from Violin Sonata No. 8 in G major, Op.30 No. 3 4:24
Henryk Wieniawski: Variations on an Original Theme, Op.15
Linda Wang, violin; Alice Rybak, piano
KVOD Performance Studio NCA 6:36 021307 MS
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Polichinelle in F sharp minor, Op.3 No. 4
Olga Kern, piano
Kern demonstrates themes from Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op.43
KVOD Performance Studio NCA 091907 MS
Dan Drayer talks with pianist Olga Kern about her personal connection with Rachmaninoff.
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C sharp minor & “Melody” from Fantasy Pieces, Op.3
Olga Kern, piano
Harmonia Mundi 907399 4-6 15:23
Also,Charley anticipates the Veronika String Quartet's opening program this Sunday in Colorado Springs.
Ludwig van Beethoven: "Allegro con brio" (1st movement) from String Quartet No.1 in F major, op. 18
Dmitri Shostakovich: "Allegretto" (1st movement) from String Quartet No.3 in F major, Op. 73
Veronika String Quartet
(Veronika Afanassieva and Karine Garibova, violins, Ekaterina Dobrotvorskaia, viola; Mary Artmann, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 10/1/09 MS
And, Charley anticipates violinist Linda Wang's appearance with the Greeley Philharmonic tomorrow.
Traditional Chinese: Fisherman’s Song 3:29
Ludwig van Beethoven: “Allegro assai” (1st movement) from Violin Sonata No. 8 in G major, Op.30 No. 3 4:24
Henryk Wieniawski: Variations on an Original Theme, Op.15
Linda Wang, violin; Alice Rybak, piano
KVOD Performance Studio NCA 6:36 021307 MS
Thursday October 15, 2009
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
James Gaffigan, conductor; Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Serenade No. 13 in G major, K.525 (Eine kleine Nachtmusik)
Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major (5/15-17/09)
Also, Charley anticipates Olga Kern's appearance with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra this weekend and next.
Mily Balakirev: In the Garden & Islamey
Olga Kern, piano
Harmonia Mundi 14-15 4:43 + 9:12
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Serenade No. 13 in G major, K.525 (Eine kleine Nachtmusik)
I. Allegro
II. Romance: Andante
III. Menuetto: Allegretto
IV. Rondo: Allegro
Mozart finished his last serenade (K.525) on August 10, 1787, while working on the second act of Don Giovanni. Apparently the work was not commissioned. The score bears no dedication, nor is there any record of a performance in Mozart's lifetime.
So why did he write it? Alfred Einstein has a theory: ``All the riddles presented by this work would be solved by the assumption that Mozart wrote it for himself, to satisfy an inner need, and that it served as a corrective counterpart to the Musical Joke....After Mozart had disturbed the cosmic system by the Musical Joke, he set it to rights again with the Kleine Nachtmusik.''
Mozart's own thematic catalogue clearly indicates that the piece had two minuets, but in the autograph manuscript the first minuet is missing, apparently ripped out by some unknown hand.
One of the best known works in all of classical music, K.525 is a ``singularly perfect worklet, thoroughly polished in a classical way,'' according to Eric Blom. For Einstein, ``this is supreme mastery in the smallest possible frame.''
The work is scored for strings.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Piano Concerto in G major
I. Allegramente
II. Adagio assai
III. Presto
Ravel wrote only two piano concertos, but he worked on both at the same time, from 1929 to 1931. The so-called ``Left Hand'' Concerto had been commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm in World War I.
Having finished the ``Left Hand'' Concerto in August of 1930, Ravel faced the deadline for the G major Concerto (for both hands). ``The time is flying,'' he told a friend. ``I have just now completed correcting the orchestration for the Concerto for the Left Hand. I have only two and half months left to finish the other. It is terrifying to think about! I sleep no more than six hours, and usually less than that.''
Ravel had just returned to Paris from a concert tour of the United States and Canada. He was amazed at the ``magnificent cities and enchanting country,'' but hated the food. The G major Concerto was to be used during a planned second North American tour.
That tour never materialized. The Concerto was introduced in Paris on January 14, 1932. The composer's declining health prevented him from being the soloist. He did conduct, though, and Marguerite Long was the pianist. He dedicated the Concerto to her, remarking that the second movement's long opening melody had been written ``two bars at a time, with frequent recourse to Mozart's Clarinet Quintet.''
Ravel described the work as ``a concerto in the strict sense, written in the spirit of Mozart and Saint-Saëns. I believe that a concerto can be gay and brilliant and that there is no necessity for it to aim at profundity or big dramatic effects. It has been said that the concertos of some great classical composers were written not for but against the piano, and I think this criticism is justified. At the beginning, I thought of naming the G major a `divertissement;' but I reflected that this was not necessary, for the title `concerto' explains the music sufficiently....It includes elements borrowed from jazz, but only in moderation.''
The score calls for solo piano, piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, trumpet, trombone, harp, strings, timpani, bass drum, side drum, cymbals, gong, triangle, wood block and whip.
James Gaffigan, conductor; Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Serenade No. 13 in G major, K.525 (Eine kleine Nachtmusik)
Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major (5/15-17/09)
Also, Charley anticipates Olga Kern's appearance with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra this weekend and next.
Mily Balakirev: In the Garden & Islamey
Olga Kern, piano
Harmonia Mundi 14-15 4:43 + 9:12
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Serenade No. 13 in G major, K.525 (Eine kleine Nachtmusik)
I. Allegro
II. Romance: Andante
III. Menuetto: Allegretto
IV. Rondo: Allegro
Mozart finished his last serenade (K.525) on August 10, 1787, while working on the second act of Don Giovanni. Apparently the work was not commissioned. The score bears no dedication, nor is there any record of a performance in Mozart's lifetime.
So why did he write it? Alfred Einstein has a theory: ``All the riddles presented by this work would be solved by the assumption that Mozart wrote it for himself, to satisfy an inner need, and that it served as a corrective counterpart to the Musical Joke....After Mozart had disturbed the cosmic system by the Musical Joke, he set it to rights again with the Kleine Nachtmusik.''
Mozart's own thematic catalogue clearly indicates that the piece had two minuets, but in the autograph manuscript the first minuet is missing, apparently ripped out by some unknown hand.
One of the best known works in all of classical music, K.525 is a ``singularly perfect worklet, thoroughly polished in a classical way,'' according to Eric Blom. For Einstein, ``this is supreme mastery in the smallest possible frame.''
The work is scored for strings.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Piano Concerto in G major
I. Allegramente
II. Adagio assai
III. Presto
Ravel wrote only two piano concertos, but he worked on both at the same time, from 1929 to 1931. The so-called ``Left Hand'' Concerto had been commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm in World War I.
Having finished the ``Left Hand'' Concerto in August of 1930, Ravel faced the deadline for the G major Concerto (for both hands). ``The time is flying,'' he told a friend. ``I have just now completed correcting the orchestration for the Concerto for the Left Hand. I have only two and half months left to finish the other. It is terrifying to think about! I sleep no more than six hours, and usually less than that.''
Ravel had just returned to Paris from a concert tour of the United States and Canada. He was amazed at the ``magnificent cities and enchanting country,'' but hated the food. The G major Concerto was to be used during a planned second North American tour.
That tour never materialized. The Concerto was introduced in Paris on January 14, 1932. The composer's declining health prevented him from being the soloist. He did conduct, though, and Marguerite Long was the pianist. He dedicated the Concerto to her, remarking that the second movement's long opening melody had been written ``two bars at a time, with frequent recourse to Mozart's Clarinet Quintet.''
Ravel described the work as ``a concerto in the strict sense, written in the spirit of Mozart and Saint-Saëns. I believe that a concerto can be gay and brilliant and that there is no necessity for it to aim at profundity or big dramatic effects. It has been said that the concertos of some great classical composers were written not for but against the piano, and I think this criticism is justified. At the beginning, I thought of naming the G major a `divertissement;' but I reflected that this was not necessary, for the title `concerto' explains the music sufficiently....It includes elements borrowed from jazz, but only in moderation.''
The score calls for solo piano, piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, trumpet, trombone, harp, strings, timpani, bass drum, side drum, cymbals, gong, triangle, wood block and whip.
Wednesday October 14, 2009
Colorado Music Festival Orchestra
Michael Christie, conductor
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op.36 34:01 (7/11/08)
Also, Charley anticipates the Intermezzo Chamber Players's appearance on the next Denver Eclectic Concert tomorrow.
Franz Schubert: String Trio in B flat major, D.471
Intermezzo Chamber Players (Stacy Lesartre, violin; Kelly Shanafelt, viola; Dianne Betkowski, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 061609 MS
And, Charley anticipates the Veronika String Quartet's opening program this Sunday in Pueblo and on October 18 in Colorado Springs.
Dmitri Shostakovich: "Allegretto" (1st movement) from String Quartet No.3 in F major, Op. 73
Veronika String Quartet
(Veronika Afanassieva and Karine Garibova, violins, Ekaterina Dobrotvorskaia, viola; Mary Artmann, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 10/1/09 MS
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 2 in D major,
Opus 36
I. Adagio molto; Allegro con brio
II. Larghetto
III. Scherzo: Allegro
IV. Allegro molto
Sketches for the Second Symphony date from as early as 1800. Most of the work was done during the summer and fall of 1802, about the time that Beethoven realized the “roaring” in his ears would lead to total deafness.
The first performance took place in Vienna on April 5, 1803. It was a typically mammoth all-Beethoven concert. Besides the Second Symphony, the program included the First Symphony, the Third Piano Concerto and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives.
Rehearsals began at eight that same morning. According to an eyewitness, “it was a terrible rehearsal, and at half past two everybody was exhausted and more or less dissatisfied. Prince Karl Lichnowsky (one of Beethoven’s patrons)…had sent for bread and butter, cold meat and wine, in large baskets. He pleasantly asked all to help themselves, and this was done with both hands, the result being that good nature was restored again.”
After the premiere, the Second Symphony was criticized for its “striving for the new and surprising.” A Leipzig performance a year later moved one reviewer to describe the work as “a gross enormity, an immense wounded snake, unwilling to die, but writhing in its last agonies and, though bleeding to death, furiously beats about with its tail in the finale.” But for Hector Berlioz, “in this symphony, everything is noble, energetic, proud.”
In his book on the Beethoven symphonies, George Grove wrote: “The Second Symphony is a great advance on the First….The advance is more in dimensions and style, and in the wonderful fire and force of the treatment, than in any really new ideas, such as its author afterwards introduced and are specially connected in our minds with the name of Beethoven….The first movement is distinctly of the old world, though carried out with a spirit, vigor, and effect, and occasionally with a caprice, which are nowhere surpassed, if indeed they are equaled, by Haydn and Mozart. Nor is there anything in the extraordinary grace, beauty, and finish of the Larghetto to alter this…nor in the Finale, grotesque and strong as much of it is: it is all still of the old world, till we come to the Coda, and that, indeed, is distinctly of the other order.”
Grove regards the Second Symphony as “the culminating point of the old pre-Revolution world, the world of Haydn and Mozart; it was the farthest point to which Beethoven could go before he burst into that wonderful new region into which no man had before penetrated, of which no man had even dreamed, but which is now one of our dearest possessions, and will always be known by his immortal name.”
Michael Christie, conductor
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op.36 34:01 (7/11/08)
Also, Charley anticipates the Intermezzo Chamber Players's appearance on the next Denver Eclectic Concert tomorrow.
Franz Schubert: String Trio in B flat major, D.471
Intermezzo Chamber Players (Stacy Lesartre, violin; Kelly Shanafelt, viola; Dianne Betkowski, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 061609 MS
And, Charley anticipates the Veronika String Quartet's opening program this Sunday in Pueblo and on October 18 in Colorado Springs.
Dmitri Shostakovich: "Allegretto" (1st movement) from String Quartet No.3 in F major, Op. 73
Veronika String Quartet
(Veronika Afanassieva and Karine Garibova, violins, Ekaterina Dobrotvorskaia, viola; Mary Artmann, cello)
KVOD Performance Studio 10/1/09 MS
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 2 in D major,
Opus 36
I. Adagio molto; Allegro con brio
II. Larghetto
III. Scherzo: Allegro
IV. Allegro molto
Sketches for the Second Symphony date from as early as 1800. Most of the work was done during the summer and fall of 1802, about the time that Beethoven realized the “roaring” in his ears would lead to total deafness.
The first performance took place in Vienna on April 5, 1803. It was a typically mammoth all-Beethoven concert. Besides the Second Symphony, the program included the First Symphony, the Third Piano Concerto and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives.
Rehearsals began at eight that same morning. According to an eyewitness, “it was a terrible rehearsal, and at half past two everybody was exhausted and more or less dissatisfied. Prince Karl Lichnowsky (one of Beethoven’s patrons)…had sent for bread and butter, cold meat and wine, in large baskets. He pleasantly asked all to help themselves, and this was done with both hands, the result being that good nature was restored again.”
After the premiere, the Second Symphony was criticized for its “striving for the new and surprising.” A Leipzig performance a year later moved one reviewer to describe the work as “a gross enormity, an immense wounded snake, unwilling to die, but writhing in its last agonies and, though bleeding to death, furiously beats about with its tail in the finale.” But for Hector Berlioz, “in this symphony, everything is noble, energetic, proud.”
In his book on the Beethoven symphonies, George Grove wrote: “The Second Symphony is a great advance on the First….The advance is more in dimensions and style, and in the wonderful fire and force of the treatment, than in any really new ideas, such as its author afterwards introduced and are specially connected in our minds with the name of Beethoven….The first movement is distinctly of the old world, though carried out with a spirit, vigor, and effect, and occasionally with a caprice, which are nowhere surpassed, if indeed they are equaled, by Haydn and Mozart. Nor is there anything in the extraordinary grace, beauty, and finish of the Larghetto to alter this…nor in the Finale, grotesque and strong as much of it is: it is all still of the old world, till we come to the Coda, and that, indeed, is distinctly of the other order.”
Grove regards the Second Symphony as “the culminating point of the old pre-Revolution world, the world of Haydn and Mozart; it was the farthest point to which Beethoven could go before he burst into that wonderful new region into which no man had before penetrated, of which no man had even dreamed, but which is now one of our dearest possessions, and will always be known by his immortal name.”
Tuesday October 13, 2009
National Repertory Orchestra
Carl Topilow, conductor
Richard Strauss: A Hero's Life, Op.40 44:49
Also, Charley talks with Colorado Ballet artistic director Gil Boggs about their production of Don Quixote, which opens Friday.
Richard Strauss (1864-1949): Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), Opus 40
The Hero
The Hero's Adversaries
The Hero's Courship
The Hero's Battlefield
The Hero's Works of Peace
The Hero's Retreat from the World, and Fulfillment
``Beethoven's Eroica is so little liked by our conductors and, for that reason, now only rarely performed,'' wrote Strauss in 1898, ``that to fulfill a pressing need, I am composing a rather large tone poem entitled A Hero's Life, admittedly without a funeral march, but still in E flat, with lots of horns, which are always a yardstick of heroism.''
Strauss finished the work on December 27, 1898, and conducted the first performance on March 3, 1899 in Frankfurt. The audience and the critics assumed that the ``hero'' was Strauss himself. ``It is enough to know that there is a hero, fighting his enemies'' was all the composer would say.
Some amount of controversy has emerged regarding the intended program of A Hero's Life. The various sections of the work all have titles: ``The Hero,'' ``The Hero's Adversaries,'' ``The Hero's Helpmate,'' ``The Hero's Battlefield,'' ``The Hero's Works of Peace,'' and ``The Hero's Escape from the World and his Fulfillment.''
By ``adversaries,'' Strauss clearly meant his own critics. After the premiere, he wrote to his father that the critics ``spewed poison and gall, principally because they thought they could read from the analysis that the carpers and adversaries, who are thoroughly hatefully portrayed, were meant to be themselves, and the hero myself--the latter being only partly true.''
The ``helpmate'' is Pauline Strauss. The composer once said that A Hero's Life was a better introduction to his wife than any amount of handshaking. ``It's my wife I wanted to show,'' he told Romain Rolland. ``She is very complex, very feminine...never like herself, at every minute different from how she had been the moment before.''
In the section marked ``The Hero's Works of Peace,'' Strauss quotes from no fewer than nine of his own works, including Death and Transfiguration, Don Quixote, Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel, Macbeth and Also Sprach Zarathustra.
Reaction to the first performance of the work was mixed. One wag noted: ``This is no hero's life, but a dog's life.'' Others found the piece to be ``smug self-satisfaction'' or ``a blatant blowing of his own horns (all eight of them).''
At least one reviewer liked the music: ``It assuredly represents the peak of Richard Strauss' creative work, and displays the good qualities of his music, rather than its more controversial aspects. As always, it shows a mature composition technique. The orchestration is brilliant, and from the purely musical side, there are passages of remarkable beauty.''
The score calls for piccolo, 3 flutes, 4 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 8 horns, 5 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, timpani, percussion, 2 harps and strings.
Carl Topilow, conductor
Richard Strauss: A Hero's Life, Op.40 44:49
Also, Charley talks with Colorado Ballet artistic director Gil Boggs about their production of Don Quixote, which opens Friday.
Richard Strauss (1864-1949): Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), Opus 40
The Hero
The Hero's Adversaries
The Hero's Courship
The Hero's Battlefield
The Hero's Works of Peace
The Hero's Retreat from the World, and Fulfillment
``Beethoven's Eroica is so little liked by our conductors and, for that reason, now only rarely performed,'' wrote Strauss in 1898, ``that to fulfill a pressing need, I am composing a rather large tone poem entitled A Hero's Life, admittedly without a funeral march, but still in E flat, with lots of horns, which are always a yardstick of heroism.''
Strauss finished the work on December 27, 1898, and conducted the first performance on March 3, 1899 in Frankfurt. The audience and the critics assumed that the ``hero'' was Strauss himself. ``It is enough to know that there is a hero, fighting his enemies'' was all the composer would say.
Some amount of controversy has emerged regarding the intended program of A Hero's Life. The various sections of the work all have titles: ``The Hero,'' ``The Hero's Adversaries,'' ``The Hero's Helpmate,'' ``The Hero's Battlefield,'' ``The Hero's Works of Peace,'' and ``The Hero's Escape from the World and his Fulfillment.''
By ``adversaries,'' Strauss clearly meant his own critics. After the premiere, he wrote to his father that the critics ``spewed poison and gall, principally because they thought they could read from the analysis that the carpers and adversaries, who are thoroughly hatefully portrayed, were meant to be themselves, and the hero myself--the latter being only partly true.''
The ``helpmate'' is Pauline Strauss. The composer once said that A Hero's Life was a better introduction to his wife than any amount of handshaking. ``It's my wife I wanted to show,'' he told Romain Rolland. ``She is very complex, very feminine...never like herself, at every minute different from how she had been the moment before.''
In the section marked ``The Hero's Works of Peace,'' Strauss quotes from no fewer than nine of his own works, including Death and Transfiguration, Don Quixote, Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel, Macbeth and Also Sprach Zarathustra.
Reaction to the first performance of the work was mixed. One wag noted: ``This is no hero's life, but a dog's life.'' Others found the piece to be ``smug self-satisfaction'' or ``a blatant blowing of his own horns (all eight of them).''
At least one reviewer liked the music: ``It assuredly represents the peak of Richard Strauss' creative work, and displays the good qualities of his music, rather than its more controversial aspects. As always, it shows a mature composition technique. The orchestration is brilliant, and from the purely musical side, there are passages of remarkable beauty.''
The score calls for piccolo, 3 flutes, 4 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 8 horns, 5 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, timpani, percussion, 2 harps and strings.
Monday October 12, 2009
Strings in the Mountains Music Festival
Frédéric Chopin: Introduction and Polonaise Brillante, Op.3
Alisa Weilerstein, cello; José Feghali, piano (7/1/06) 13:15
Georges Enesco: Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1
Todd Phillips, Catherine Cho, violins; Yizhak Schotten, viola; Alisa Weilerstein, cello; DaXun Zhang, double bass; José Feghali, piano (7/1/06) 9:50
Ludwig van Beethoven: “Tempo ordinario d’un menuetto” (2nd movement) & “Allegro molto” (3rd movement) from Serenade in D major, Op.25
Christina Jennings, flute; Jasmine Lin, violin; Yizhak Schotten, viola (7/22/06) 7:05
Johannes Brahms: “Andante, ma moderato” (2nd movement) from String Sextet No. 1 in B flat major, Op.18
Todd Phillips, Catherine Cho, violins; Yizhak Schotten, Martin Sher, violas; Robert deMaine, Thomas Heinrich, cellos (7/4/06) 9:55
Also, Charley anticipates the Intermezzo Chamber Players's appearance on the next Denver Eclectic Concert Thursday.
Intermezzo Chamber Players (Stacy Lesartre, violin; Kelly Shanafelt, viola; Dianne Betkowski, cello)
Franz Schubert: String Trio in B flat major, D.471
KVOD Performance Studio 061609 MS
Georges Enesco (1881-1955): Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major, Opus 11
Enesco once described himself as ``a savage, whom nothing could fully discipline, a staunch adept of independence, who accepted no constraint and did not recognize any school.'' He studied first at the Vienna Conservatory, and later at the Paris Conservatory. His teachers included Massenet and Fauré, and his own pupils included Dinu Lipatti and Yehudi Menuhin. Menuhin called him ``the one man to whom I owe everything.''
Despite his internationalism, he maintained ties with his native Rumania, serving as court violinist to the Queen of Rumania, conductor of the Bucharest Philharmonic and founder of the Enesco Prize for composition. He said Rumanian folk music ``is influenced not by the neighboring Slavs, but by the Indian and Egyptian folk songs introduced by the members of these remote races, now classed as gypsies, brought to Rumania as servants of the Roman conquerors. The deeply Oriental character of our own folk music derives from these sources and possesses a flavor as singular as it is beautiful.''
The two Rumanian Rhapsodies appeared in 1901. Both were introduced at a Pablo Casals concert in Paris on Feb 7, 1908 with Enesco conducting. A drinking song (I Have a Coin and I Want a Drink) and four other national melodies appear in No. 1, which S.W. Bennett describes as ``all jollity, from its opening `call' by clarinets and oboe through its chain of rousing dance motifs, and without ever losing its earthly folk quality, it achieves near the end a Dionysiac rapture.''
Frédéric Chopin: Introduction and Polonaise Brillante, Op.3
Alisa Weilerstein, cello; José Feghali, piano (7/1/06) 13:15
Georges Enesco: Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1
Todd Phillips, Catherine Cho, violins; Yizhak Schotten, viola; Alisa Weilerstein, cello; DaXun Zhang, double bass; José Feghali, piano (7/1/06) 9:50
Ludwig van Beethoven: “Tempo ordinario d’un menuetto” (2nd movement) & “Allegro molto” (3rd movement) from Serenade in D major, Op.25
Christina Jennings, flute; Jasmine Lin, violin; Yizhak Schotten, viola (7/22/06) 7:05
Johannes Brahms: “Andante, ma moderato” (2nd movement) from String Sextet No. 1 in B flat major, Op.18
Todd Phillips, Catherine Cho, violins; Yizhak Schotten, Martin Sher, violas; Robert deMaine, Thomas Heinrich, cellos (7/4/06) 9:55
Also, Charley anticipates the Intermezzo Chamber Players's appearance on the next Denver Eclectic Concert Thursday.
Intermezzo Chamber Players (Stacy Lesartre, violin; Kelly Shanafelt, viola; Dianne Betkowski, cello)
Franz Schubert: String Trio in B flat major, D.471
KVOD Performance Studio 061609 MS
Georges Enesco (1881-1955): Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major, Opus 11
Enesco once described himself as ``a savage, whom nothing could fully discipline, a staunch adept of independence, who accepted no constraint and did not recognize any school.'' He studied first at the Vienna Conservatory, and later at the Paris Conservatory. His teachers included Massenet and Fauré, and his own pupils included Dinu Lipatti and Yehudi Menuhin. Menuhin called him ``the one man to whom I owe everything.''
Despite his internationalism, he maintained ties with his native Rumania, serving as court violinist to the Queen of Rumania, conductor of the Bucharest Philharmonic and founder of the Enesco Prize for composition. He said Rumanian folk music ``is influenced not by the neighboring Slavs, but by the Indian and Egyptian folk songs introduced by the members of these remote races, now classed as gypsies, brought to Rumania as servants of the Roman conquerors. The deeply Oriental character of our own folk music derives from these sources and possesses a flavor as singular as it is beautiful.''
The two Rumanian Rhapsodies appeared in 1901. Both were introduced at a Pablo Casals concert in Paris on Feb 7, 1908 with Enesco conducting. A drinking song (I Have a Coin and I Want a Drink) and four other national melodies appear in No. 1, which S.W. Bennett describes as ``all jollity, from its opening `call' by clarinets and oboe through its chain of rousing dance motifs, and without ever losing its earthly folk quality, it achieves near the end a Dionysiac rapture.''
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