National Repertory Orchestra
Carl Topilow, conductor
Antonín Dvořák: Slavonic Dance No. 7 in C major, Op.72 3:28
Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op.95 (From the New World) 37:35 (6/14/08)
Also, Charley anticipates Kantorei's Christmas program on Sunday, and talks with conductor Richard Larson about their new CD, "Little Tree.".
Steve Heitzig: Little Tree
John Rutter (arr.): Somerset Wassail
David J. Moore: Gaudete
Don Hilsberg, harp; Kantorei/ Richard Larson
"Little Tree" CD 7-8,4 7:24 + 2:14 + 2:11
Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904): Slavonic Dances
``He is decidedly a talented person and, besides that, a poor man!'' Brahms said of Dvorák. Brahms recommended that his publisher, Fritz Simrock, issue Dvorák's Moravian Duets. He did, and when they sold like hotcakes, Simrock encouraged Dvorák to write a collection of nationalistic dances, as Brahms had done with his Hungarian Dances in 1869.
Dvorák agreed, and in less than two months, composed the first set of eight Slavonic Dances (Op.46). He wrote the first dance on March 18, 1878. Originally for piano duet, Dvorák finished orchestrating them by August. Simrock paid him 300 marks for the set and made a bundle from their sales. When Dvorák wrote the second set of dances (Op.72), the fee was 3000 marks.
Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904): Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Opus 95 (From the New World)
I. Adagio; Allegro molto
II. Largo
III. Scherzo: Molto vivace
IV. Allegro con fuoco
Accompanied by his wife, six children and a cousin, Dvořák left Prague for the United States in September, 1892. The composer had misgivings about the trip, but the promise of an annual salary of $15,000 convinced him to accept the directorship of New York’s National Conservatory of Music.
During his two-year stay in this country, he taught, fed the pigeons in Central Park, indulged his passion for trains at the New York Central railroad yard, spent his summers at a Czech community in Spillville, Iowa, and composed his last symphony.
“I have just finished a new symphony in E minor,” he wrote in a letter. “It pleases me very much and will differ very substantially from my earlier compositions. Well, the influence of America can be felt by anyone who has a `nose’.”
Dvořák always claimed that the title referred to his “impressions and greetings from the New World,” but critics immediately accused him of wholesale theft of American folk music. While part of the first movement does resemble the spiritual Swing Low Sweet Chariot, the melody of the second movement was later borrowed by William Arms Fischer, one of Dvorák’s pupils, for his pseudo-spiritual Goin’ Home. Certain resemblances in the last movement to Three Blind Mice can also be regarded as allusions to the Czech folk song Weeding Flaxfields Blue.
“Omit that nonsense about my having made use of `Indian’ or `American’ themes--that is a lie,” wrote the composer. “I tried to write only the spirit of national American melodies.”
The Symphony received its first performance in Carnegie Hall in New York on December 15, 1893. According to Dvořák, it “created a furor.” He wrote to his publisher: “The papers say that no composer ever celebrated such a triumph…the audience applauded so that, like visiting royalty, I had to take my bows repeatedly from the box in which I sat.”
H.L. Mencken was then music critic for the Baltimore Evening Sun. His review described the work as “a first rate work of art, honestly constructed and superbly written. It is clear, it is ingenious, it is beautiful. You will search a long while, indeed, among symphonies of these later years before you find better writing and better music.”
The score calls for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, trumpet, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals and strings.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday December 10, 2009
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor; Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
Leonard Bernstein: Opening Prayer
Leonard Bernstein: Symphony No. 1 (Jeremiah) (10/9-11/09)
Also, Charley anticipates Kantorei's concerts this weekend, and talks with conductor Richard Larson about their new CD, "Little Tree."
Charles Forsberg: Exaltation of Christ
Auf Houkom: Rune of Hospitality
Michael Fink: What Sweeter Music
Eric Barnum: Sweeter Still
Stephen Paulus (arr.): Ding Dong Merrily on High
Alex Komodore, guitar; Monika Vischer, flute; Kantorei/ Richard Larson
"Little Tree" CD 1-2,5-6,12 4:17 + 4:15 + 2:05 +4:36 + 2:10
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990): Symphony No. 1 (Jeremiah)
I. Prophecy: Largamente
II. Profanation: Vivace con brio
III. Lamentation: Lento
``In the summer of 1939,'' Bernstein wrote, ``I made a sketch for a Lamentation for soprano and orchestra. This sketch lay forgotten for two years, until in the spring of 1942 I began a first movement of a symphony. I then realized that this new movement, and the Scherzo that I planned to follow it, made logical concomitants with the Lamentation. Thus the Symphony came into being, with the Lamentation greatly changed, and the soprano supplanted by a mezzo-soprano.''
Bernstein planned to enter the work in a competition sponsored by the New England Conservatory. With the deadline for submission just ten days away, his sister Shirley and friends helped him complete the orchestration and prepare the full score. They made the deadline (December 31, 1942) and hustled the work up to Boston. Jeremiah didn't win the contest--a work by Gardner Read did--but Fritz Reiner invited Bernstein to conduct the work with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Jennie Tourel was the soloist at the first performance on January 28, 1944. The Symphony won the Music Critics Circle award that same year.
When the New York Philharmonic played the Symphony in March, 1944, Bernstein supplied a program note: ``The Symphony does not make use to any great extent of actual Hebrew thematic material. The first theme of the Scherzo is paraphrased from a traditional Hebrew chant, and the opening phrase of the vocal part in the Lamentation is based on a liturgical cadence still sung today in commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon. Other resemblances to Hebrew liturgical music are a matter of emotional quality rather than of the notes themselves.
``As for programmatic meanings, the intention is again not one of literalness, but of emotional quality. Thus the first movement (Prophecy) aims only to parallel in feeling the intensity of the prophet's pleas with his people; and the Scherzo (Profanation) to give a general sense of the destruction and chaos brought on by the pagan corruption within the priesthood and the people. The third movement (Lamentation), being a setting of poetic text, is naturally a more literary conception. It is the cry of Jeremiah, as he mourns his beloved Jerusalem, ruined, pillaged and dishonored after his desperate efforts to save it. The text is from the book of Lamentations.''
The score calls for mezzo-soprano, piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, E flat clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, piano and strings.
Text of Jeremiah Symphony
Chapter l, 1-3
Eicha yashva vadad ha'ir
Rabati am
Hay'ta k'almana;
Rabati vagoyim
Sarati bam'dinot
Hay'ta lamas.
(How doth the city sit solitary,
That was full of people!
How is she become as a widow!
She that was great among the nations,
And princess among the provinces,
How is she become tributary!)
Bacho tivkeh balaila
V'dim'ata al leheiya;
Ein la m'nahem
Mikol ohavciha;
Kol re'cha bag'du va;
Hay la l'oyevim.
(She weepeth sore in the night,
And her tears are on her cheeks;
She hath none to comfort her
Among all her lovers;
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her.
They are become her enemies.)
Galta Y'huda meoni
Umerov avoda;
Hi yashva vagoyim,
Lo matz'a mano'ah;
Kol rod'feha hisiguha
Bein hamitzarim.
(Judah is gone into exile because of affliction,
And because of great servitude;
She dwelleth among the nations,
She findeth no rest.
All her pursuers overtook her
Within the narrow passes.)
Chapter l, 8
Het hat'a Y'rushalayim...
Eicha yashva vada ha'ir
...almana.
(Jerusalem hath grievously sinned...
How doth the city sit solitary
...a widow.)
Chapter 4, 14-15
Na'u ivrim bahutzot
N'go'alu badam;p
B'lo yuchlu
Yig'u bilvusheihem.
(They wander as blind men in the streets,
They are polluted with blood,
So that men cannot
Touch their garments.)
Suru tame! kar'u lamo,
Suru, suru! al tiga'u...
(Depart, ye unclean! they cried unto them,
Depart, depart! touch us not...)
Chapter 5, 20-21
Lama lanetzah tishkahenu..
Lanetzah ta'azvenu...
(Wherefore dost Thou forget us forever,
And forsake us so long time!...)
Hashivenu Adonai elecha...
(Turn Thou us into Thee, O Lord...)
Marin Alsop, conductor; Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
Leonard Bernstein: Opening Prayer
Leonard Bernstein: Symphony No. 1 (Jeremiah) (10/9-11/09)
Also, Charley anticipates Kantorei's concerts this weekend, and talks with conductor Richard Larson about their new CD, "Little Tree."
Charles Forsberg: Exaltation of Christ
Auf Houkom: Rune of Hospitality
Michael Fink: What Sweeter Music
Eric Barnum: Sweeter Still
Stephen Paulus (arr.): Ding Dong Merrily on High
Alex Komodore, guitar; Monika Vischer, flute; Kantorei/ Richard Larson
"Little Tree" CD 1-2,5-6,12 4:17 + 4:15 + 2:05 +4:36 + 2:10
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990): Symphony No. 1 (Jeremiah)
I. Prophecy: Largamente
II. Profanation: Vivace con brio
III. Lamentation: Lento
``In the summer of 1939,'' Bernstein wrote, ``I made a sketch for a Lamentation for soprano and orchestra. This sketch lay forgotten for two years, until in the spring of 1942 I began a first movement of a symphony. I then realized that this new movement, and the Scherzo that I planned to follow it, made logical concomitants with the Lamentation. Thus the Symphony came into being, with the Lamentation greatly changed, and the soprano supplanted by a mezzo-soprano.''
Bernstein planned to enter the work in a competition sponsored by the New England Conservatory. With the deadline for submission just ten days away, his sister Shirley and friends helped him complete the orchestration and prepare the full score. They made the deadline (December 31, 1942) and hustled the work up to Boston. Jeremiah didn't win the contest--a work by Gardner Read did--but Fritz Reiner invited Bernstein to conduct the work with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Jennie Tourel was the soloist at the first performance on January 28, 1944. The Symphony won the Music Critics Circle award that same year.
When the New York Philharmonic played the Symphony in March, 1944, Bernstein supplied a program note: ``The Symphony does not make use to any great extent of actual Hebrew thematic material. The first theme of the Scherzo is paraphrased from a traditional Hebrew chant, and the opening phrase of the vocal part in the Lamentation is based on a liturgical cadence still sung today in commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon. Other resemblances to Hebrew liturgical music are a matter of emotional quality rather than of the notes themselves.
``As for programmatic meanings, the intention is again not one of literalness, but of emotional quality. Thus the first movement (Prophecy) aims only to parallel in feeling the intensity of the prophet's pleas with his people; and the Scherzo (Profanation) to give a general sense of the destruction and chaos brought on by the pagan corruption within the priesthood and the people. The third movement (Lamentation), being a setting of poetic text, is naturally a more literary conception. It is the cry of Jeremiah, as he mourns his beloved Jerusalem, ruined, pillaged and dishonored after his desperate efforts to save it. The text is from the book of Lamentations.''
The score calls for mezzo-soprano, piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, E flat clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, piano and strings.
Text of Jeremiah Symphony
Chapter l, 1-3
Eicha yashva vadad ha'ir
Rabati am
Hay'ta k'almana;
Rabati vagoyim
Sarati bam'dinot
Hay'ta lamas.
(How doth the city sit solitary,
That was full of people!
How is she become as a widow!
She that was great among the nations,
And princess among the provinces,
How is she become tributary!)
Bacho tivkeh balaila
V'dim'ata al leheiya;
Ein la m'nahem
Mikol ohavciha;
Kol re'cha bag'du va;
Hay la l'oyevim.
(She weepeth sore in the night,
And her tears are on her cheeks;
She hath none to comfort her
Among all her lovers;
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her.
They are become her enemies.)
Galta Y'huda meoni
Umerov avoda;
Hi yashva vagoyim,
Lo matz'a mano'ah;
Kol rod'feha hisiguha
Bein hamitzarim.
(Judah is gone into exile because of affliction,
And because of great servitude;
She dwelleth among the nations,
She findeth no rest.
All her pursuers overtook her
Within the narrow passes.)
Chapter l, 8
Het hat'a Y'rushalayim...
Eicha yashva vada ha'ir
...almana.
(Jerusalem hath grievously sinned...
How doth the city sit solitary
...a widow.)
Chapter 4, 14-15
Na'u ivrim bahutzot
N'go'alu badam;p
B'lo yuchlu
Yig'u bilvusheihem.
(They wander as blind men in the streets,
They are polluted with blood,
So that men cannot
Touch their garments.)
Suru tame! kar'u lamo,
Suru, suru! al tiga'u...
(Depart, ye unclean! they cried unto them,
Depart, depart! touch us not...)
Chapter 5, 20-21
Lama lanetzah tishkahenu..
Lanetzah ta'azvenu...
(Wherefore dost Thou forget us forever,
And forsake us so long time!...)
Hashivenu Adonai elecha...
(Turn Thou us into Thee, O Lord...)
Wednesday December 9, 2009
Charley talks with Ars Nova singers music director Thomas Morgan about their Christmas concerts this weekend and next. He also samples their new "Yuletide" CD.
Vince Guaraldi (arr. Thomas Edward Morgan): Christmas Time Is Here
Traditional (arr. Thomas Edward Morgan): Angels We Have Heard on High
Peter Warlock: Benedicamus Domino
David Morgan: In a Field as I Lay
Michae Head: The Little Road to Bethlehem
Michae Harrison: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
Thomas Edward Morgan: In Bethlehem, That Noble Place
John Tavener: The Lamb
Traditional (arr. Thomas Edward Morgan): Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Steven Sametz: Peace on Earth
Tomás Luis de Victoria: Alma Redemptoris Mater
Hieronymous Praetorius: Joseph Lieber, Joseph Mein
Luis Jorge Gonzalez: Vengan ad Pastores
Eric Whitacre: Lux Aurumquae
Traditional (arr. Phil Mattson): Here We Come A-Caroling
(Arr. Ars Nova Singers): A Boulder Wassail
Ars Nova Singers/ Thomas Edward Morgan
"Yuletide" CD NAR 010 1-16
Luis Jorge Gonzalez: Siamo I tre Re
Ars Nova Singers/ Thomas Edward Morgan
Vince Guaraldi (arr. Thomas Edward Morgan): Christmas Time Is Here
Traditional (arr. Thomas Edward Morgan): Angels We Have Heard on High
Peter Warlock: Benedicamus Domino
David Morgan: In a Field as I Lay
Michae Head: The Little Road to Bethlehem
Michae Harrison: Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
Thomas Edward Morgan: In Bethlehem, That Noble Place
John Tavener: The Lamb
Traditional (arr. Thomas Edward Morgan): Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Steven Sametz: Peace on Earth
Tomás Luis de Victoria: Alma Redemptoris Mater
Hieronymous Praetorius: Joseph Lieber, Joseph Mein
Luis Jorge Gonzalez: Vengan ad Pastores
Eric Whitacre: Lux Aurumquae
Traditional (arr. Phil Mattson): Here We Come A-Caroling
(Arr. Ars Nova Singers): A Boulder Wassail
Ars Nova Singers/ Thomas Edward Morgan
"Yuletide" CD NAR 010 1-16
Luis Jorge Gonzalez: Siamo I tre Re
Ars Nova Singers/ Thomas Edward Morgan
Tuesday December 8, 2009
Colorado Music Festival Chamber Players (Lisa-Maree Amos, flute; Olav Van Hezewijk, oboe; Jeanette Jonquil, clarinet; Glenn Einschlag, bassoon; Amy Jo Rhine, horn; Vivienne Spy, piano)
Madeleine Dring: Trio 11:31
Carl Nielsen: Wind Quintet, Op.43 27:36 (7/31/07)
Also, Charley anticipates the Newman Center Presents program by Cantus this Thursday.
Gregorian Chant: Puer natus est
Basque Carol (arr. John Rutter): Gabriel's Message
Franz Biebl: Ave Maria
Jacob Handl: O magnum mysterium
Cantus
Cantus Recordings 1204 1-3, 6 14:19
Madeleine Dring: Trio 11:31
Carl Nielsen: Wind Quintet, Op.43 27:36 (7/31/07)
Also, Charley anticipates the Newman Center Presents program by Cantus this Thursday.
Gregorian Chant: Puer natus est
Basque Carol (arr. John Rutter): Gabriel's Message
Franz Biebl: Ave Maria
Jacob Handl: O magnum mysterium
Cantus
Cantus Recordings 1204 1-3, 6 14:19
Monday December 7, 2009
Kantorei/ Richard Larson
Morten Lauridsen: “O Nata Lux” from Lux Aeterna 3:50
Trond Kverno: Ave Maris Stella
John Tavener: The Rose
Casals-Robert Shaw: Carol of the Birds
Salli Terri: Jesus Jesus Rest Your Head
Morten Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium
Benjamin Britten Hymn to the Virgin
Steve Sametz: Gaudete
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Wassail
F.M. Christiansen: Wake Awake
Healey Willan: Three Kings
Stephen Paulus: Sing Hallelu
Morten Lauridsen: “O Nata Lux” from Lux Aeterna 3:50
Trond Kverno: Ave Maris Stella
John Tavener: The Rose
Casals-Robert Shaw: Carol of the Birds
Salli Terri: Jesus Jesus Rest Your Head
Morten Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium
Benjamin Britten Hymn to the Virgin
Steve Sametz: Gaudete
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Wassail
F.M. Christiansen: Wake Awake
Healey Willan: Three Kings
Stephen Paulus: Sing Hallelu
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday December 4, 2009
Charley talks with Colorado Symphony principal hornist Michael Thornton about his appearance with the Orchestra tonight and tomorrow.
Ludwig van Beethoven: “Allegro moderato” (1st movement) from Horn Sonata in F major, Op.17
Michael Thornton, horn; Anne Epperson, piano 6:07
KVOD Performance Studio 12/15/05 MS
Also, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Edward Elgar: Enigma Variations, Op.36 34:06 (7/13/07)
And, Charley talks with another CSO horn player, David Brussel, the new conductor of the Broomfield Civic Orchestra, which has a concert Sunday.
Franz Strauss: Nocturno, Op.7 (5:51)
Michael Thornton, horn; Anne Epperson, piano
Eric Ewazen: Dance
Julie Duncan Thornton, flute; Michael Thornton, horn; Anne Epperson, piano 6:01
CPR Performance Studio 12/15/05 MS
Edward Elgar (1857-1934): Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 36 (Enigma)
Theme: Andante
I. L'istesso tempo
II. Allegro
III. Allegretto
IV. Allegro di molto
V. Moderato
VI. Andantino
VII. Presto
VIII. Allegretto
IX. Adagio
X. Intermezzo: Allegretto
XI. Allegro di molto
XII. Andante
XIII. Romanza: Moderato
XIV. Finale: Allegro--Presto
``Dedicated to My Friends Pictured Within,'' Elgar's Enigma Variations consist of musical portraits of thirteen of the composer's friends, and a finale depicting Elgar himself. Elgar never revealed either the significance or the origin of the theme, which he labeled Enigma in the score. The theme came to him, he said, ``after a long and tiresome day's teaching, aided by a cigar.''
Here is the cast of characters, in the order of their appearance as variations: 1) Caroline Alice, Elgar's wife; 2) pianist Hew David Stuart-Powell; 3) actor Richard Baxter Townshend; 4) Elgar's neighbor William Meath Baker; 5) Richard Penrose Arnold, Matthew Arnold's son; 6) violist Isobel Fitton; 7) architect Arthur Troyte Griffith; 8) pianist Winifred Norbury; 9) ``Nimrod,'' or Arthur Jaeger, Elgar's close friend; 10) ``Dorabella,'' or Dora Penny; 11) organist George Robertson Sinclair and his bulldog, Dan; 12) cellist Basil Nevinson; 13) (the score is marked only with three asterisks and the word ``Romanza''), believed to be Lady Mary Lygon. The last variation is really the finale, a portrait of Elgar himself.
The first performance of the Enigma Variations was conducted by Hans Richter on June 19, 1899, in London. The critic for The Times complained that ``it is evidently impossible for the uninitiated to discuss the meaning of the work,'' but admitted that ``on the surface'' the work was ``exceedingly clever, often charming and always original, and excellently worked out.'' Another review said that ``the Variations stand in no need of a programme; as abstract music they fully satisfy.''
The subject of the ``Nimrod'' variation, Arthur Jaeger, wrote: ``Here is an English musician who has something to say and knows how to say it in his own individual and beautiful way....He writes as he feels, there is no affectation or make-believe. Effortless originality--the only true originality--combined with thorough savoir-faire and, most important of all, beauty of theme, warmth and feeling are his credentials, and they should open to him the hearts of all who have faith in the future of our English art and appreciate beautiful music wherever it is met.''
After his name on the score, Elgar wrote: ``This is the best of me, for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated like another; my life was as the vapour and is not; but this I saw and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory.''
The score calls for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, triangle, cymbals, organ and strings.
Ludwig van Beethoven: “Allegro moderato” (1st movement) from Horn Sonata in F major, Op.17
Michael Thornton, horn; Anne Epperson, piano 6:07
KVOD Performance Studio 12/15/05 MS
Also, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Edward Elgar: Enigma Variations, Op.36 34:06 (7/13/07)
And, Charley talks with another CSO horn player, David Brussel, the new conductor of the Broomfield Civic Orchestra, which has a concert Sunday.
Franz Strauss: Nocturno, Op.7 (5:51)
Michael Thornton, horn; Anne Epperson, piano
Eric Ewazen: Dance
Julie Duncan Thornton, flute; Michael Thornton, horn; Anne Epperson, piano 6:01
CPR Performance Studio 12/15/05 MS
Edward Elgar (1857-1934): Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 36 (Enigma)
Theme: Andante
I. L'istesso tempo
II. Allegro
III. Allegretto
IV. Allegro di molto
V. Moderato
VI. Andantino
VII. Presto
VIII. Allegretto
IX. Adagio
X. Intermezzo: Allegretto
XI. Allegro di molto
XII. Andante
XIII. Romanza: Moderato
XIV. Finale: Allegro--Presto
``Dedicated to My Friends Pictured Within,'' Elgar's Enigma Variations consist of musical portraits of thirteen of the composer's friends, and a finale depicting Elgar himself. Elgar never revealed either the significance or the origin of the theme, which he labeled Enigma in the score. The theme came to him, he said, ``after a long and tiresome day's teaching, aided by a cigar.''
Here is the cast of characters, in the order of their appearance as variations: 1) Caroline Alice, Elgar's wife; 2) pianist Hew David Stuart-Powell; 3) actor Richard Baxter Townshend; 4) Elgar's neighbor William Meath Baker; 5) Richard Penrose Arnold, Matthew Arnold's son; 6) violist Isobel Fitton; 7) architect Arthur Troyte Griffith; 8) pianist Winifred Norbury; 9) ``Nimrod,'' or Arthur Jaeger, Elgar's close friend; 10) ``Dorabella,'' or Dora Penny; 11) organist George Robertson Sinclair and his bulldog, Dan; 12) cellist Basil Nevinson; 13) (the score is marked only with three asterisks and the word ``Romanza''), believed to be Lady Mary Lygon. The last variation is really the finale, a portrait of Elgar himself.
The first performance of the Enigma Variations was conducted by Hans Richter on June 19, 1899, in London. The critic for The Times complained that ``it is evidently impossible for the uninitiated to discuss the meaning of the work,'' but admitted that ``on the surface'' the work was ``exceedingly clever, often charming and always original, and excellently worked out.'' Another review said that ``the Variations stand in no need of a programme; as abstract music they fully satisfy.''
The subject of the ``Nimrod'' variation, Arthur Jaeger, wrote: ``Here is an English musician who has something to say and knows how to say it in his own individual and beautiful way....He writes as he feels, there is no affectation or make-believe. Effortless originality--the only true originality--combined with thorough savoir-faire and, most important of all, beauty of theme, warmth and feeling are his credentials, and they should open to him the hearts of all who have faith in the future of our English art and appreciate beautiful music wherever it is met.''
After his name on the score, Elgar wrote: ``This is the best of me, for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated like another; my life was as the vapour and is not; but this I saw and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory.''
The score calls for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, triangle, cymbals, organ and strings.
Thursday December 3, 2009
Christmas with the Colorado Children’s Chorale
Colorado Children’s Chorale
Deborah DeSantis, artistic director
Mary Louise Burke, associate director
Emily Crile, Jay Carnes, assistant conductors
Tad Koriath, principal accompanist
Dan Leavitt, Roberta Goodall, Bruce Barrie, trumpets; Janet Harriman, harp; Richard Chinisci, guitar; John Kinzie, percussion, Ron Bland, bass
John Leavitt: Hodie
Tradition French (arr. Snyder): Chanson de Noël
Traditional French (arr. Poorman): Noël Nouvelet
Traditional Canadian (arr. Strid/Donnelly): Winter Carol
Traditional Burgundian (arr. Stid/Donnelly): The Drum Carol
Traditional Swahili (arr. Althouse): Heri Za Krismas
Sing We Now of Christmas (arr. Randol Bass)
Conrad Susa: “Chiquirriquitín,” “A la Nanita Nana” & “Alegría” from Christmas in the Southwest
Andrea Klouse: All I Want for Christmas Is a Dinosaur
Irving Fine: “Polaroli” from Childhood Fables for Grownups
J. Fred Coots & Henry Gillespie (arr. Huff): Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town
Gene Autry (arr. Klatka): Here Comes Santa Claus
Franz Gruber (arr. Wolfe): Silent Night
Burt Bacharach (arr. Kuzma): The World Is a Circle
Sy Miller & Bill Jackson (arr. Kuzma): Let There Be Peace on Earth
(12/4/05)
Colorado Children’s Chorale
Deborah DeSantis, artistic director
Mary Louise Burke, associate director
Emily Crile, Jay Carnes, assistant conductors
Tad Koriath, principal accompanist
Dan Leavitt, Roberta Goodall, Bruce Barrie, trumpets; Janet Harriman, harp; Richard Chinisci, guitar; John Kinzie, percussion, Ron Bland, bass
John Leavitt: Hodie
Tradition French (arr. Snyder): Chanson de Noël
Traditional French (arr. Poorman): Noël Nouvelet
Traditional Canadian (arr. Strid/Donnelly): Winter Carol
Traditional Burgundian (arr. Stid/Donnelly): The Drum Carol
Traditional Swahili (arr. Althouse): Heri Za Krismas
Sing We Now of Christmas (arr. Randol Bass)
Conrad Susa: “Chiquirriquitín,” “A la Nanita Nana” & “Alegría” from Christmas in the Southwest
Andrea Klouse: All I Want for Christmas Is a Dinosaur
Irving Fine: “Polaroli” from Childhood Fables for Grownups
J. Fred Coots & Henry Gillespie (arr. Huff): Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town
Gene Autry (arr. Klatka): Here Comes Santa Claus
Franz Gruber (arr. Wolfe): Silent Night
Burt Bacharach (arr. Kuzma): The World Is a Circle
Sy Miller & Bill Jackson (arr. Kuzma): Let There Be Peace on Earth
(12/4/05)
Wednesday December 2, 2009
Live Broadcast fro Boettcher Concert Hall.
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Julian Kuerti, conductor; Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Antonin Dvořák: In Nature’s Realm Overture, Op.91
Antonin Dvořák: Carnival Overture, Op.92
Antonin Dvořák: Othello Overture, Op.93
Antonin Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.104
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Julian Kuerti, conductor; Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Antonin Dvořák: In Nature’s Realm Overture, Op.91
Antonin Dvořák: Carnival Overture, Op.92
Antonin Dvořák: Othello Overture, Op.93
Antonin Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.104
Tuesday December 1, 2009
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor; Olga Kern, piano
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Opus 30 (10/18/09)
Also, Anatol Liadov: The Musical Snuff Box, Op.32
Olga Kern, piano
Harmonia Mundi 907399 Track 13 2:45
Johannes Brahms: Variations on a Hungarian Song, Op.21 No.2
Olga Kern, piano
Harmonia Mundi 907392 Track 1 7:30
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943): Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Opus 30
I. Allegro ma non tanto
II. Intermezzo: Adagio
III. Finale: Alla breve
``I wrote it for elephants,'' said Rachmaninoff about his third piano concerto, referring to the strength and endurance needed to play it. Intended for use during his first American tour, the work was begun during the summer of 1909. By October 19--the day of his departure--he complained: ``These last few days I have been working like a convict on hard labor, in an attempt to finish my new concerto before I leave.'' He practiced on a silent piano during the ocean voyage.
Walter Damrosch conducted the first performance, with the New York Symphony Orchestra, on November 28, 1909. The program notes called the new work ``Russian throughout, Russian in its melodic conception, in its rhythms and in the robust, virile qualities even of its gentler passages.'' The critics were less kind. ``Sound, reasonable music this,'' wrote the New York Sun, ``though not a great or memorable proclamation.''
Two months later, Rachmaninoff played the Concerto with Gustav Mahler and the New York Philharmonic. Rachmaninoff said that Mahler ``devoted himself to the concerto until the accompaniment, which is rather complicated, had been practiced to the point of perfection, although he had already gone through another long rehearsal. According to Mahler, every detail of the score was important--an attitude too rare among conductors. Though the rehearsal was scheduled to end at 12:30, we played and played far beyond this hour and when Mahler announced that the first movement would be rehearsed again, I expected some sort of protest from the musicians but I did not notice a single sign of annoyance. The orchestra played the first movement with a keen or perhaps even closer application than the previous time.''
This time the critics were more enthusiastic. The reviewer for the New York Herald wrote: ``The work grows in impressiveness upon acquaintance and will doubtless take rank among the most interesting piano concertos of recent years, although its great length and extreme difficulties bar it from performances by any but pianists of exceptional technical powers.''
By 1923 Rachmaninoff regarded his third as his favorite piano concerto. ``I believe in what might be called indigenous music for the piano,'' he said in an interview. ``So much has been written for the instrument that is really alien...Even with my own concertos I much prefer the third, because my second is uncomfortable to play.''
Musicologist Joseph Yasser pointed out the similarity between the opening theme of the first movement and the Russian orthodox chant Thy Tomb, O Savior, Soldier's Guarding. Rachmaninoff disagreed: ``The first theme of my Third Concerto is borrowed neither from folk song nor from church sources. It simply `wrote itself!' If I had any plan while composing this theme, I was thinking only of sound. I wanted the melody to `sing' on the piano as a singer would sing it--and to find a suitable orchestral accompaniment, or rather one that would not muffle this singing. Thus, I aspired to impart neither a folk-song nor a liturgical character to this theme.'' The tune returns in the middle movement and its rhythm recurs in the finale.
The score calls for solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals and strings.
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor; Olga Kern, piano
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Opus 30 (10/18/09)
Also, Anatol Liadov: The Musical Snuff Box, Op.32
Olga Kern, piano
Harmonia Mundi 907399 Track 13 2:45
Johannes Brahms: Variations on a Hungarian Song, Op.21 No.2
Olga Kern, piano
Harmonia Mundi 907392 Track 1 7:30
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943): Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Opus 30
I. Allegro ma non tanto
II. Intermezzo: Adagio
III. Finale: Alla breve
``I wrote it for elephants,'' said Rachmaninoff about his third piano concerto, referring to the strength and endurance needed to play it. Intended for use during his first American tour, the work was begun during the summer of 1909. By October 19--the day of his departure--he complained: ``These last few days I have been working like a convict on hard labor, in an attempt to finish my new concerto before I leave.'' He practiced on a silent piano during the ocean voyage.
Walter Damrosch conducted the first performance, with the New York Symphony Orchestra, on November 28, 1909. The program notes called the new work ``Russian throughout, Russian in its melodic conception, in its rhythms and in the robust, virile qualities even of its gentler passages.'' The critics were less kind. ``Sound, reasonable music this,'' wrote the New York Sun, ``though not a great or memorable proclamation.''
Two months later, Rachmaninoff played the Concerto with Gustav Mahler and the New York Philharmonic. Rachmaninoff said that Mahler ``devoted himself to the concerto until the accompaniment, which is rather complicated, had been practiced to the point of perfection, although he had already gone through another long rehearsal. According to Mahler, every detail of the score was important--an attitude too rare among conductors. Though the rehearsal was scheduled to end at 12:30, we played and played far beyond this hour and when Mahler announced that the first movement would be rehearsed again, I expected some sort of protest from the musicians but I did not notice a single sign of annoyance. The orchestra played the first movement with a keen or perhaps even closer application than the previous time.''
This time the critics were more enthusiastic. The reviewer for the New York Herald wrote: ``The work grows in impressiveness upon acquaintance and will doubtless take rank among the most interesting piano concertos of recent years, although its great length and extreme difficulties bar it from performances by any but pianists of exceptional technical powers.''
By 1923 Rachmaninoff regarded his third as his favorite piano concerto. ``I believe in what might be called indigenous music for the piano,'' he said in an interview. ``So much has been written for the instrument that is really alien...Even with my own concertos I much prefer the third, because my second is uncomfortable to play.''
Musicologist Joseph Yasser pointed out the similarity between the opening theme of the first movement and the Russian orthodox chant Thy Tomb, O Savior, Soldier's Guarding. Rachmaninoff disagreed: ``The first theme of my Third Concerto is borrowed neither from folk song nor from church sources. It simply `wrote itself!' If I had any plan while composing this theme, I was thinking only of sound. I wanted the melody to `sing' on the piano as a singer would sing it--and to find a suitable orchestral accompaniment, or rather one that would not muffle this singing. Thus, I aspired to impart neither a folk-song nor a liturgical character to this theme.'' The tune returns in the middle movement and its rhythm recurs in the finale.
The score calls for solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals and strings.
Monday November 30, 2009
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor; Olga Kern, piano
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, Opus 18 (10/24/09)
Also, Frédéric Chopin: Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op.66 & Fantasie in F minor, Op.49
Olga Kern, piano
Harmonia Mundi 907402 6,4 5:21 + 14:03
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943): Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18
I. Moderato
II. Adagio sostenuto (Andante)
III. Allegro scherzando
After the disastrous failure of his First Symphony in 1895, Rachmaninoff fell into a deep depression. ``Something within me snapped,'' he said. ``All my self-confidence broke down....When the indescribable torture of (the première had ended), I was a different man. During the evening I...hid myself, sitting on an iron fire-escape staircase....Sometimes I stuck my fingers in my ears to prevent myself from hearing my own music....No sooner had the last chords died away than I fled, horrified, into the street....All my hopes, all belief in myself, had been destroyed.''
Among the effects of this despondency was a massive creative block: the composer found it impossible to compose. A friend suggested that Rachmaninoff consult Dr. Nikolai Dahl, an early hypnotist and amateur cellist. Every day, from January to April of 1900, he visited the doctor, who repeated over and over to his entranced patient: ``You will begin to write your concerto. You will work with great ease. The concerto will be of excellent quality.''
As Rachmaninoff recalled later, ``although it may sound incredible, this cure really helped me. Already at the beginning of the summer I began to compose. The material grew in bulk and new ideas began to stir within me--far more than I needed for my concerto. Out of gratitude I dedicated the Piano Concerto No. 2 to Dr. Dahl.''
The last two movements were introduced on December 15, 1900. Their success emboldened Rachmaninoff to finish the first movement and on November 9, 1901, the entire Concerto was given its first performance in Moscow. Rachmaninoff was the soloist; his cousin, Alexander Siloti, conducted the Moscow Philharmonic.
Biographer Geoffrey Norris says the work's ``almost unbroken lyricism has undoubtedly led not only to its phenomenal popularity but also to its being plagiarized by song-writers the world over.'' Among the tunes purloined from the Concerto are Full Moon and Empty arms, Ever and Forever, If This Is Goodbye and This Is My Kind of Love. Norris continues: ``The Second Concerto is notable for its conciseness and for its lyrical themes, which are just sufficiently contrasted to ensure that they are not spoilt either by over-abundance or over-exposure.''
The Concerto is scored for solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals and strings.
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor; Olga Kern, piano
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, Opus 18 (10/24/09)
Also, Frédéric Chopin: Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op.66 & Fantasie in F minor, Op.49
Olga Kern, piano
Harmonia Mundi 907402 6,4 5:21 + 14:03
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943): Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18
I. Moderato
II. Adagio sostenuto (Andante)
III. Allegro scherzando
After the disastrous failure of his First Symphony in 1895, Rachmaninoff fell into a deep depression. ``Something within me snapped,'' he said. ``All my self-confidence broke down....When the indescribable torture of (the première had ended), I was a different man. During the evening I...hid myself, sitting on an iron fire-escape staircase....Sometimes I stuck my fingers in my ears to prevent myself from hearing my own music....No sooner had the last chords died away than I fled, horrified, into the street....All my hopes, all belief in myself, had been destroyed.''
Among the effects of this despondency was a massive creative block: the composer found it impossible to compose. A friend suggested that Rachmaninoff consult Dr. Nikolai Dahl, an early hypnotist and amateur cellist. Every day, from January to April of 1900, he visited the doctor, who repeated over and over to his entranced patient: ``You will begin to write your concerto. You will work with great ease. The concerto will be of excellent quality.''
As Rachmaninoff recalled later, ``although it may sound incredible, this cure really helped me. Already at the beginning of the summer I began to compose. The material grew in bulk and new ideas began to stir within me--far more than I needed for my concerto. Out of gratitude I dedicated the Piano Concerto No. 2 to Dr. Dahl.''
The last two movements were introduced on December 15, 1900. Their success emboldened Rachmaninoff to finish the first movement and on November 9, 1901, the entire Concerto was given its first performance in Moscow. Rachmaninoff was the soloist; his cousin, Alexander Siloti, conducted the Moscow Philharmonic.
Biographer Geoffrey Norris says the work's ``almost unbroken lyricism has undoubtedly led not only to its phenomenal popularity but also to its being plagiarized by song-writers the world over.'' Among the tunes purloined from the Concerto are Full Moon and Empty arms, Ever and Forever, If This Is Goodbye and This Is My Kind of Love. Norris continues: ``The Second Concerto is notable for its conciseness and for its lyrical themes, which are just sufficiently contrasted to ensure that they are not spoilt either by over-abundance or over-exposure.''
The Concerto is scored for solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals and strings.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Friday November 27, 2009
Colorado College Summer Music Festival
Carl Vine: Flute Sonata
Michael Parloff, flute; Susan Grace, piano (7/3/05)
Ernö Dohnányi: Sextet in C Major, Op. 37
Steven Copes, violin; Roger Chase, viola; Bion Tsang, cello; Jon Manasse, clarinet; Stewart Rose, horn; John Novacek, piano (7/3/05)
Also, Charley anticipates the Walden Chamber Music Society's program Sunday in Salida.
Ludwig van Beethoven: "Allegretto" (3rd movement) from Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op.16
Walden Piano Quartet
Walden Track 3 5:59
Born in Perth, Australia, Vine studied piano and composition at the University of Western Australia before moving to Sydney in 1975. He has been resident composer with the Sydney Dance Company, the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, the New South Wales State Conservatorium, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and the Western Australian University. In 1979 he was co-founder of the contemporary music ensemble Flederman. Since 2000, he has been the Artistic Director of Musica Viva Australia.
Born in Pressburg (Bratislava), Dohnányi entered the Royal Hungarian Academy of Music in Budapest in 1894. When Brahms heard his Quintet in C minor, he exclaimed, ``I could not have written it better myself.'' Dohnányi's Symphony in F major was awarded the king's prize in 1897, the same year he began studying with Eugen d'Albert. He taught at the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin, and in 1919 was appointed director of the Budapest Conservatory and conductor of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1948, having lost two sons in the War, he left Hungary, traveling to Austria, then spent a year in Argentina. In the fall of 1949 he came to the United States to teach at Florida State College in Tallahassee.
Carl Vine: Flute Sonata
Michael Parloff, flute; Susan Grace, piano (7/3/05)
Ernö Dohnányi: Sextet in C Major, Op. 37
Steven Copes, violin; Roger Chase, viola; Bion Tsang, cello; Jon Manasse, clarinet; Stewart Rose, horn; John Novacek, piano (7/3/05)
Also, Charley anticipates the Walden Chamber Music Society's program Sunday in Salida.
Ludwig van Beethoven: "Allegretto" (3rd movement) from Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op.16
Walden Piano Quartet
Walden Track 3 5:59
Born in Perth, Australia, Vine studied piano and composition at the University of Western Australia before moving to Sydney in 1975. He has been resident composer with the Sydney Dance Company, the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, the New South Wales State Conservatorium, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and the Western Australian University. In 1979 he was co-founder of the contemporary music ensemble Flederman. Since 2000, he has been the Artistic Director of Musica Viva Australia.
Born in Pressburg (Bratislava), Dohnányi entered the Royal Hungarian Academy of Music in Budapest in 1894. When Brahms heard his Quintet in C minor, he exclaimed, ``I could not have written it better myself.'' Dohnányi's Symphony in F major was awarded the king's prize in 1897, the same year he began studying with Eugen d'Albert. He taught at the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin, and in 1919 was appointed director of the Budapest Conservatory and conductor of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1948, having lost two sons in the War, he left Hungary, traveling to Austria, then spent a year in Argentina. In the fall of 1949 he came to the United States to teach at Florida State College in Tallahassee.
Thursday November 26, 2009
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Opus 55 (Eroica) (10/2-4/09)
Also, Charley anticipates the Opus Two (William Terwilliger, violin; Andrew Cooperstock, piano) recital at the Boulder Public Library.
Aaron Copland: Ukelele Serenade
Azica 71205 Track 9 4:28
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Opus 55 (Eroica)
I. Allegro con brio
II. Marcia funèbre: Adagio assai
III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace
IV. Finale: Allegro molto
As early as the spring of 1798, so the legend goes, the French ambassador to Vienna, General Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, suggested that Beethoven write a symphony about Napoleon Bonaparte. At the time, Napoleon was one of Beethoven's idols, but it wasn't until 1801 that the composer first sketched ``Third Symphony, written on Bonaparte.'' He worked on it during 1803 in the countryside near Vienna and finished during the spring of 1804.
The title page originally read ``Grand Symphony composed on Bonaparte.'' But in May, 1804, Beethoven heard the news that Napoleon had proclaimed himself Emperor. Beethoven flew into a rage, tore up the title page, and bellowed: ``Is he too no more than a mere mortal? Now he will trample on all the rights of man, and indulge only his ambition. He will exalt himself above all others, become a tyrant!'' He later gave the symphony a new title, ``heroic symphony to celebrate the memory of a great man,'' and dedicated it to his patron Prince Lobkowitz.
After several private performances, the Third Symphony received its first public performance in Vienna on April 7, 1805. One critic found the work ``strident and bizarre,'' but another recognized ``the true style of really great music.'' The Director of the Prague Conservatory banned the piece as a ``dangerously immoral composition.''
When the Third Symphony was published, Beethoven included a note, requesting that ``this Symphony, being purposely written much longer than is usual, should be performed nearer the beginning rather than at the end of a concert...if it is heard too late it will lose for the listener, already tired out by previous performances, its own proposed effect.'' At the première, one heckler in the audience exclaimed, ``I'd give a kreutzer with pleasure if it would only end.'' But others were undeterred by the size of the Third Symphony. Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia once insisted on hearing it three times in a single evening.
Paul Henry Lang called the Eroica ``one of the incomprehensible deeds in arts and letters, the greatest single step made by an individual composer in the history of the symphony and the history of music in general.'' For Richard Wagner, ``the first movement embraces, as in a glowing furnace, all the emotions of a richly-gifted nature in the heyday of unresting youth.'' When, in 1821, Beethoven heard the news of Napoleon's death, he remarked: ``Well, I've written the funeral oration for that catastrophe seventeen years ago,'' referring to the second movement, a funeral march. Donald Francis Tovey said the third movement is ``the first in which Beethoven fully attained Haydn's desire to replace the minuet by something on a scale comparable to the rest of a great symphony.'' The Finale is a set of twelve variations on a tune Beethoven first used in a little country dance in 1801, then again in The Creatures of Prometheus ballet and also in the Eroica Variations for piano. Edward Downes comments that ``each variation is a little cosmos in itself and the sum of them is overwhelming.''
The score calls for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 3 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings.
Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Opus 55 (Eroica) (10/2-4/09)
Also, Charley anticipates the Opus Two (William Terwilliger, violin; Andrew Cooperstock, piano) recital at the Boulder Public Library.
Aaron Copland: Ukelele Serenade
Azica 71205 Track 9 4:28
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Opus 55 (Eroica)
I. Allegro con brio
II. Marcia funèbre: Adagio assai
III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace
IV. Finale: Allegro molto
As early as the spring of 1798, so the legend goes, the French ambassador to Vienna, General Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, suggested that Beethoven write a symphony about Napoleon Bonaparte. At the time, Napoleon was one of Beethoven's idols, but it wasn't until 1801 that the composer first sketched ``Third Symphony, written on Bonaparte.'' He worked on it during 1803 in the countryside near Vienna and finished during the spring of 1804.
The title page originally read ``Grand Symphony composed on Bonaparte.'' But in May, 1804, Beethoven heard the news that Napoleon had proclaimed himself Emperor. Beethoven flew into a rage, tore up the title page, and bellowed: ``Is he too no more than a mere mortal? Now he will trample on all the rights of man, and indulge only his ambition. He will exalt himself above all others, become a tyrant!'' He later gave the symphony a new title, ``heroic symphony to celebrate the memory of a great man,'' and dedicated it to his patron Prince Lobkowitz.
After several private performances, the Third Symphony received its first public performance in Vienna on April 7, 1805. One critic found the work ``strident and bizarre,'' but another recognized ``the true style of really great music.'' The Director of the Prague Conservatory banned the piece as a ``dangerously immoral composition.''
When the Third Symphony was published, Beethoven included a note, requesting that ``this Symphony, being purposely written much longer than is usual, should be performed nearer the beginning rather than at the end of a concert...if it is heard too late it will lose for the listener, already tired out by previous performances, its own proposed effect.'' At the première, one heckler in the audience exclaimed, ``I'd give a kreutzer with pleasure if it would only end.'' But others were undeterred by the size of the Third Symphony. Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia once insisted on hearing it three times in a single evening.
Paul Henry Lang called the Eroica ``one of the incomprehensible deeds in arts and letters, the greatest single step made by an individual composer in the history of the symphony and the history of music in general.'' For Richard Wagner, ``the first movement embraces, as in a glowing furnace, all the emotions of a richly-gifted nature in the heyday of unresting youth.'' When, in 1821, Beethoven heard the news of Napoleon's death, he remarked: ``Well, I've written the funeral oration for that catastrophe seventeen years ago,'' referring to the second movement, a funeral march. Donald Francis Tovey said the third movement is ``the first in which Beethoven fully attained Haydn's desire to replace the minuet by something on a scale comparable to the rest of a great symphony.'' The Finale is a set of twelve variations on a tune Beethoven first used in a little country dance in 1801, then again in The Creatures of Prometheus ballet and also in the Eroica Variations for piano. Edward Downes comments that ``each variation is a little cosmos in itself and the sum of them is overwhelming.''
The score calls for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 3 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings.
Wednesday November 25, 2009
Colorado Music Festival Orchestra
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor; Calin Lupanu, violin
Roberto Sierra: Fandangos 10:17
Camille Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op.61 30:08 (7/13/07)
Also, Charley anticipates the Ft. Collins Symphony's concert Saturday.
Ellen Zwilich: Concerto Grosso 1985
New York Philharmonic/ Zubin Mehta
New World 372 1-5 14:09
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921): Violin Concerto No. 3 in B
minor, Opus 61
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Andantino quasi allegretto
III. Molto moderato e maestoso; Allegro non troppo
Every Monday evening, musicians would gather at Saint-Saëns's house for informal musicales. Later the composer recalled: ``Those who used to come to my musical evenings in the old days have not forgotten the distinction my celebrated friend used to lend them, a distinction such that for several years no other violinist would agree to play at my house. All were terrified at the idea of being compared with him. He distinguished himself not only by his talent but also by his wit and the inexhaustible verve of his conversation, which was ever lively and much to be relished.''
Saint-Saëns was talking about the Spanish virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate, for who he wrote his Third Violin Concerto. Sarasate introduced the work at one of Saint-Saëns's Monday evenings in 1880. The first public performance, again with Sarasate as soloist, took place in Paris on January 2, 1881.
Biographer James Harding writes: ``It begins with a powerful searching theme which, in Sarasate's hands, was perfectly contrasted with the movement's second motif, one of meditative tenderness. Then comes a voluptuously sweet barcarolle, and after a wide-ranging cadenza the concerto ends with an airily triumphant allegro. More than any of Saint-Saëns's other works for the violin, it shows the professional benefit he reaped from his lifelong partnership with Sarasate who revealed to him, as no one else could, the secrets of the instrument's resources.''
The score calls for solo violin, piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and strings.
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor; Calin Lupanu, violin
Roberto Sierra: Fandangos 10:17
Camille Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op.61 30:08 (7/13/07)
Also, Charley anticipates the Ft. Collins Symphony's concert Saturday.
Ellen Zwilich: Concerto Grosso 1985
New York Philharmonic/ Zubin Mehta
New World 372 1-5 14:09
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921): Violin Concerto No. 3 in B
minor, Opus 61
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Andantino quasi allegretto
III. Molto moderato e maestoso; Allegro non troppo
Every Monday evening, musicians would gather at Saint-Saëns's house for informal musicales. Later the composer recalled: ``Those who used to come to my musical evenings in the old days have not forgotten the distinction my celebrated friend used to lend them, a distinction such that for several years no other violinist would agree to play at my house. All were terrified at the idea of being compared with him. He distinguished himself not only by his talent but also by his wit and the inexhaustible verve of his conversation, which was ever lively and much to be relished.''
Saint-Saëns was talking about the Spanish virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate, for who he wrote his Third Violin Concerto. Sarasate introduced the work at one of Saint-Saëns's Monday evenings in 1880. The first public performance, again with Sarasate as soloist, took place in Paris on January 2, 1881.
Biographer James Harding writes: ``It begins with a powerful searching theme which, in Sarasate's hands, was perfectly contrasted with the movement's second motif, one of meditative tenderness. Then comes a voluptuously sweet barcarolle, and after a wide-ranging cadenza the concerto ends with an airily triumphant allegro. More than any of Saint-Saëns's other works for the violin, it shows the professional benefit he reaped from his lifelong partnership with Sarasate who revealed to him, as no one else could, the secrets of the instrument's resources.''
The score calls for solo violin, piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and strings.
Tuesday November 24, 2009
Strings in the Mountains Music Festival
Claude Debussy: Piano Trio in G major
Katherine Collier, piano; Joseph Lin, violin; David Hardy, cello (7/29/06) 22:52
Claude Debussy: String Quartet in G minor, Op.10
Joseph Lin, Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Yizhak Schotten, viola; Marc Johnson, cello (7/29/06) 26:03
Also, Charley anticipates the Denver Brass concert this Saturday.
Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. Michael Allen): Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 (Little(
Giacomo Puccini (arr.Andrew Wolfe): "Nessun dorma" from Act III of Turandot
Denver Brass/ Kenneth Singleton
"Epics in Brass" 7,5 6:20
Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Piano Trio in G major
Andantino con moto allegro--Allegro appasssionato--Tempo primo
Scherzo. Intermezzo: Moderato con allegro
Andante espressivo
Finale: Appassionato
Debussy was still a student at the Paris Conservatory when a rich foreigner inquired if there was a pianist at the school who would be willing to accompany her on a tour. Nadezhda von Meck had married a noble Lithuanian engineer, whose death in 1876 left her a considerable income, enough to become Tchaikovsky's patroness. Debussy joined her at Interlaken, traveled with the family for four months and later lived with them in Russia. "He is going to bring life to the entire household," she wrote to Tchaikovsky. "He is Parisian to his fingertips. He is a true gamin, witty, and an excellent mimic. His imitations of Gounod and Ambroise Thomas are perfect and most amusing."
Debussy's job description included piano duet partner with Madame von Meck, piano teacher to her eleven children, and pianist in her household trio, which included violinist Heinrich Pachulsky and a cellist named Danilchenko. It was for this group that he composed the Trio in G major. He finished it in Fiesole, Italy, during the summer of 1880. It was dedicated to his harmony teacher at the Paris Conservatory, Émile Durand, "with many friendly thoughts."
A hundred years would pass before the Trio would make another appearance. Around 1980, an autograph score of the first movement and an autograph cello part of the entire work showed up in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. In 1982 Ellwood Derr found autograph scores of the last three movements in Maurice Dumesnil's papers at the School of Music at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Dumesnil, a pupil of Debussy, had given the last four measures of the autograph to James Francis Cooke, a former president of Theodore Presser Co. in Philadelphia. Fortunately he copied the measures first, as the autograph version of those four measures has disappeared. Derr reconciled all these sources for the present performing edition.
In his book The Piano Trio, Basil Smallman writes, "The trio is a substantial four-movement work, somehat in the style of Massenet, but with features derived also from Schumann and from César Franck, whose class at the Paris Conservatory Debussy was then attending. Skillfully scored, it is an effective piece and has considerable melodic charm." Likewise, Susan Cable says the work "is full of beautiful themes and fresh interplay of the three instruments," especially in the opening movement. She notes "the pizzicato whimsy" in the Scherzo, the expressive writing for the strings in the slow movement and the excitement of the finale.
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.
Claude Debussy: Piano Trio in G major
Katherine Collier, piano; Joseph Lin, violin; David Hardy, cello (7/29/06) 22:52
Claude Debussy: String Quartet in G minor, Op.10
Joseph Lin, Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Yizhak Schotten, viola; Marc Johnson, cello (7/29/06) 26:03
Also, Charley anticipates the Denver Brass concert this Saturday.
Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. Michael Allen): Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 (Little(
Giacomo Puccini (arr.Andrew Wolfe): "Nessun dorma" from Act III of Turandot
Denver Brass/ Kenneth Singleton
"Epics in Brass" 7,5 6:20
Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Piano Trio in G major
Andantino con moto allegro--Allegro appasssionato--Tempo primo
Scherzo. Intermezzo: Moderato con allegro
Andante espressivo
Finale: Appassionato
Debussy was still a student at the Paris Conservatory when a rich foreigner inquired if there was a pianist at the school who would be willing to accompany her on a tour. Nadezhda von Meck had married a noble Lithuanian engineer, whose death in 1876 left her a considerable income, enough to become Tchaikovsky's patroness. Debussy joined her at Interlaken, traveled with the family for four months and later lived with them in Russia. "He is going to bring life to the entire household," she wrote to Tchaikovsky. "He is Parisian to his fingertips. He is a true gamin, witty, and an excellent mimic. His imitations of Gounod and Ambroise Thomas are perfect and most amusing."
Debussy's job description included piano duet partner with Madame von Meck, piano teacher to her eleven children, and pianist in her household trio, which included violinist Heinrich Pachulsky and a cellist named Danilchenko. It was for this group that he composed the Trio in G major. He finished it in Fiesole, Italy, during the summer of 1880. It was dedicated to his harmony teacher at the Paris Conservatory, Émile Durand, "with many friendly thoughts."
A hundred years would pass before the Trio would make another appearance. Around 1980, an autograph score of the first movement and an autograph cello part of the entire work showed up in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. In 1982 Ellwood Derr found autograph scores of the last three movements in Maurice Dumesnil's papers at the School of Music at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Dumesnil, a pupil of Debussy, had given the last four measures of the autograph to James Francis Cooke, a former president of Theodore Presser Co. in Philadelphia. Fortunately he copied the measures first, as the autograph version of those four measures has disappeared. Derr reconciled all these sources for the present performing edition.
In his book The Piano Trio, Basil Smallman writes, "The trio is a substantial four-movement work, somehat in the style of Massenet, but with features derived also from Schumann and from César Franck, whose class at the Paris Conservatory Debussy was then attending. Skillfully scored, it is an effective piece and has considerable melodic charm." Likewise, Susan Cable says the work "is full of beautiful themes and fresh interplay of the three instruments," especially in the opening movement. She notes "the pizzicato whimsy" in the Scherzo, the expressive writing for the strings in the slow movement and the excitement of the finale.
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.
Monday November 23, 2009
Charley anticipates Catherine Peterson's appearance at Englewood Arts this Sunday.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita in A minor, BWV 1013 11:59
Catherine Peterson, flute
KVOD Performance Studio 093008 MS
Ludwig van Beethoven: Variations on “La ci darem la mano” from Mozart's Don Giovanni, WoO 28
Ivy Street Ensemble (Catherine Peterson, flute; Erik Peterson, violin; Phillip Stevens, viola)
KVOD Performance Studio 011508 MS
David Mullikin: The Frozen Castle (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
Also, Charley anticipates the Colorado Symphony's "Drums of the World" concert this Sunday.
William Hill: Simple Waltz
William Hill, vibraphone & piano; Iggy Jang, violin
"Rhythms of Innocence" Track 10 3:51
Moreover, Charley talks with the Playground Ensemble's Conrad Kehn about their call for scores.
Anthony Green: String Quartet (Chance)
Playground Ensemble
NCA 6:55
Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita in A minor, BWV 1013 11:59
Catherine Peterson, flute
KVOD Performance Studio 093008 MS
Ludwig van Beethoven: Variations on “La ci darem la mano” from Mozart's Don Giovanni, WoO 28
Ivy Street Ensemble (Catherine Peterson, flute; Erik Peterson, violin; Phillip Stevens, viola)
KVOD Performance Studio 011508 MS
David Mullikin: The Frozen Castle (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
Also, Charley anticipates the Colorado Symphony's "Drums of the World" concert this Sunday.
William Hill: Simple Waltz
William Hill, vibraphone & piano; Iggy Jang, violin
"Rhythms of Innocence" Track 10 3:51
Moreover, Charley talks with the Playground Ensemble's Conrad Kehn about their call for scores.
Anthony Green: String Quartet (Chance)
Playground Ensemble
NCA 6:55
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Friday November 20, 2009
Colorado College Summer Music Festival
Pietro Bottesini: Andante and Variations
Michael Parloff, flute; Jon Manasse, clarinet; Steven Copes, violin; Mark Fewer, violin; Virginia Barron, viola; Bion Tsang, cello (6/30/05)
Franz Doppler: Rigoletto Fantasy
Marina Piccinini, flute; Michael Parloff, flute; Susan Grace, piano (6/30/05)
Franz Liszt: La Sonnambula Fantasy
John Novacek and Susan Grace, piano (6/30/05)
Hector Berlioz: Rêverie and Caprice
Robert Walters, English horn; Susan Grace, piano (7/3/05)
Also, Charley talks with Paul Primus about the Colorado Chamber Players concert at RedLine Denver Art Gallery Sunday.
D'Arcy Reynolds: "The Camel Yard" (opening section) from Cloven Dreams (2:34)
Gordon Jacob: "Gavotte" (2nd movement) from Four Fancies
Colorado Chamber Players (Paul Nagem, Flute; Paul Primus, Violin; Barbara Hamilton-Primus, Viola; Judith McIntyre, Cello)
CPR Performance Studio 1/16/09 MS
Pietro Bottesini: Andante and Variations
Michael Parloff, flute; Jon Manasse, clarinet; Steven Copes, violin; Mark Fewer, violin; Virginia Barron, viola; Bion Tsang, cello (6/30/05)
Franz Doppler: Rigoletto Fantasy
Marina Piccinini, flute; Michael Parloff, flute; Susan Grace, piano (6/30/05)
Franz Liszt: La Sonnambula Fantasy
John Novacek and Susan Grace, piano (6/30/05)
Hector Berlioz: Rêverie and Caprice
Robert Walters, English horn; Susan Grace, piano (7/3/05)
Also, Charley talks with Paul Primus about the Colorado Chamber Players concert at RedLine Denver Art Gallery Sunday.
D'Arcy Reynolds: "The Camel Yard" (opening section) from Cloven Dreams (2:34)
Gordon Jacob: "Gavotte" (2nd movement) from Four Fancies
Colorado Chamber Players (Paul Nagem, Flute; Paul Primus, Violin; Barbara Hamilton-Primus, Viola; Judith McIntyre, Cello)
CPR Performance Studio 1/16/09 MS
Thursday November 19, 2009
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor; Augustin Hadelich, violin
Jimmy López: Fiesta!
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K.219 (Turkish) (10/2-4/09)
Also, Charley anticipates Christine Brewer's appearances with the Colorado Symphony this weekend.
Richard Strauss: "Im Abendrot" (At Sunset) from Four Last Songs
Christine Brewer, soprano; Atlanta Symphony Orchesstra/ Donald Runnicles
Telarc 80661 Track 6 7:41
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K.219 (Turkish)
I. Allegro aperto
II. Adagio
III. Rondeau: Tempo di menuetto
``You have no idea how well you play the violin,'' wrote Mozart's father to his son. ``If only you would do yourself justice and play with boldness, spirit and fire, you would be the first violinist in Europe.''
Within a period of nine months in 1775, Mozart wrote five violin concertos, either for his own use as concertmaster of the Salzburg orchestra, or for his successor in the post, Antonio Brunetti. The fifth of the set was finished on December 20. It is subtitled Turkish because of the so-called ``Turkish music'' in the last movement, which Mozart lifted from his own opera Lucio Silla.
Alfred Einstein considers the Fifth Concerto ``unsurpassed for brilliance, tenderness and wit.'' Describing all five violin conertos, H.C. Robbins Landon writes: ``Melody is piled upon melody, and new ideas succeed each other in blissful insouciance of each other and of any strict formal pattern. What immediately captivates the listener is the matchless elegance of conception and execution, the suavity of orchestration--which even at this comparatively early stage has that natural brilliance which is so characteristic of mature Mozart--and the luxurious delight in pure melody.''
The score calls for solo violin, 2 oboes, 2 horns and strings.
Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor; Augustin Hadelich, violin
Jimmy López: Fiesta!
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K.219 (Turkish) (10/2-4/09)
Also, Charley anticipates Christine Brewer's appearances with the Colorado Symphony this weekend.
Richard Strauss: "Im Abendrot" (At Sunset) from Four Last Songs
Christine Brewer, soprano; Atlanta Symphony Orchesstra/ Donald Runnicles
Telarc 80661 Track 6 7:41
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K.219 (Turkish)
I. Allegro aperto
II. Adagio
III. Rondeau: Tempo di menuetto
``You have no idea how well you play the violin,'' wrote Mozart's father to his son. ``If only you would do yourself justice and play with boldness, spirit and fire, you would be the first violinist in Europe.''
Within a period of nine months in 1775, Mozart wrote five violin concertos, either for his own use as concertmaster of the Salzburg orchestra, or for his successor in the post, Antonio Brunetti. The fifth of the set was finished on December 20. It is subtitled Turkish because of the so-called ``Turkish music'' in the last movement, which Mozart lifted from his own opera Lucio Silla.
Alfred Einstein considers the Fifth Concerto ``unsurpassed for brilliance, tenderness and wit.'' Describing all five violin conertos, H.C. Robbins Landon writes: ``Melody is piled upon melody, and new ideas succeed each other in blissful insouciance of each other and of any strict formal pattern. What immediately captivates the listener is the matchless elegance of conception and execution, the suavity of orchestration--which even at this comparatively early stage has that natural brilliance which is so characteristic of mature Mozart--and the luxurious delight in pure melody.''
The score calls for solo violin, 2 oboes, 2 horns and strings.
Wednesday November 18, 2009
Colorado Music Festival Orchestra
Michael Christie, conductor
Ottorino Respighi: The Fountains of Rome 16:46
Ottorino Respighi: The Pines of Rome 24:22 (6/29/07)
Also, Charley talks with Barbara Hamilton-Primus and Paul Primus about the Colorado Chamber Players concert at RedLine Denver Art Gallery Sunday.
Gordon Jacob: "Gavotte" (2nd movement) from Four Fancies
Mark Fish: "Self-Portrait" (7th movement), "The Escape Ladder" (8th movement) & "The Red Sun Gnaws at the Spider" (10th movement) from Pictures of Miró
D'Arcy Reynolds: "The Camel Yard" (opening section) from Cloven Dreams (2:34)
Colorado Chamber Players (Paul Nagem, Flute; Paul Primus, Violin; Barbara Hamilton-Primus, Viola; Judith McIntyre, Cello)
CPR Performance Studio 1/16/09 MS
And, Charley anticipates Alex Komodore's appearance with the Denver Philharmonic this Friday.
Heitor Villa-Lobos: Prelude No. 1
Alex Komodore, guitar
Passport 1002 Track 8 4:04
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Fontane di Roma (The Fountains of Rome)
I. The Fountain of Valle Giulia at Dawn
II. The Triton Fountain in the Morning
III. The Fountain of Trevi at Midday
IV. The Villa Medici Fountain at Sunset
``Take your umbrella and galoshes'' was Respighi's advice to listeners of The Fountains of Rome. The work is the first of the so-called ``Roman trilogy'' of symphonic poems, the others being The Pines of Rome and Roman Festivals.
As early as 1902, Respighi wondered why no one had yet written music about Rome's fountains, which he felt were ``the very voice of this city.'' Spurred by Arturo Toscanini's promise of a performance, The Fountains of Rome was completed in 1916. ``The Maestro,'' said Respighi, ``is very pleased with the work and is sure of its success.''
By the time of the concert, the audience was tense. Toscanini had programmed two Wagner pieces at a time when Italy and Germany were at war. In Padua, many women and children had been killed by a direct hit on an air-raid shelter. As Toscanini conducted the Funeral March from Die Götterdämmerung, a voice shouted from the balcony, ``This is for the Paduan dead.'' At this, the conductor hurled his baton at the floor, left the stage and cancelled his remaining concerts, leaving Fountains unperformed.
The première of The Fountains of Rome had to wait until March 11, 1917, when Antonio Guarnieri conducted it in Rome. ``My Fountains of Rome is being given today,'' Respighi wrote to a friend. ``They'll open the taps and drench the Roman audience with water--fetid water. Let's hope they don't protest by hissing too much.''
After the performance, Respighi's wife Elsa noted in her diary: ``Rather cold reception with some hissing at the end of the work. I am delighted with it and have a violent argument with someone who does not share my view. Almost all the press notices poor, yet there is unreserved praise for the orchestration.'' For his part, Respighi threw the score on the bed and exclaimed, ``Bah! This has been a failure! I'll write another.'' It was Toscanini who rescued the music in 1918 with a wildly successful performance in Milan.
Respighi was fairly specific about the program of the work. In the preface to the score, he wrote: ``In this symphonic poem, the composer has endeavored to give expression to the sentiments and visions suggested to him by four of Rome's fountains, contemplated at the hour in which their character is most in harmony with the surrounding landscape, or in which their beauty appears most impressive to the observer.
``The first part of the poem, inspired by the Fountain of Valle Giulia, depicts a pastoral landscape. Droves of cattle pass and disappear in the fresh, damp mists of a Roman dawn. A sudden loud and insistent blast above the trills of the whole orchestra introduces the second part. It is like a joyous call, summoning troops of naiads and tritons, who come running up pursuing each other and mingling in a frenzied dance between the jets of water.
``Next there appears a solemn theme, borne on the undulations of the orchestra. It is the Fountain of Trevi at midday. The solemn theme, passing from the wood to the brass instruments, assumes a triumphal character. Trumpets peal; across the radiant surface of the water there passes Neptune's chariot, drawn by sea-horses and followed by a train of sirens and tritons. The procession then vanishes, while faint trumpet blasts sound in the distance.
``The fourth part is announced by a sad theme which rises above a subdued warbling. It is the nostalgic hour of sunset. The air is full of the sound of tolling bells, birds twittering, leaves rustling. Then all dies peacefully into the silence of the night.''
The score calls for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, carillon, celeste, bells, 2 harps, piano, organ 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.
Michael Christie, conductor
Ottorino Respighi: The Fountains of Rome 16:46
Ottorino Respighi: The Pines of Rome 24:22 (6/29/07)
Also, Charley talks with Barbara Hamilton-Primus and Paul Primus about the Colorado Chamber Players concert at RedLine Denver Art Gallery Sunday.
Gordon Jacob: "Gavotte" (2nd movement) from Four Fancies
Mark Fish: "Self-Portrait" (7th movement), "The Escape Ladder" (8th movement) & "The Red Sun Gnaws at the Spider" (10th movement) from Pictures of Miró
D'Arcy Reynolds: "The Camel Yard" (opening section) from Cloven Dreams (2:34)
Colorado Chamber Players (Paul Nagem, Flute; Paul Primus, Violin; Barbara Hamilton-Primus, Viola; Judith McIntyre, Cello)
CPR Performance Studio 1/16/09 MS
And, Charley anticipates Alex Komodore's appearance with the Denver Philharmonic this Friday.
Heitor Villa-Lobos: Prelude No. 1
Alex Komodore, guitar
Passport 1002 Track 8 4:04
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): Fontane di Roma (The Fountains of Rome)
I. The Fountain of Valle Giulia at Dawn
II. The Triton Fountain in the Morning
III. The Fountain of Trevi at Midday
IV. The Villa Medici Fountain at Sunset
``Take your umbrella and galoshes'' was Respighi's advice to listeners of The Fountains of Rome. The work is the first of the so-called ``Roman trilogy'' of symphonic poems, the others being The Pines of Rome and Roman Festivals.
As early as 1902, Respighi wondered why no one had yet written music about Rome's fountains, which he felt were ``the very voice of this city.'' Spurred by Arturo Toscanini's promise of a performance, The Fountains of Rome was completed in 1916. ``The Maestro,'' said Respighi, ``is very pleased with the work and is sure of its success.''
By the time of the concert, the audience was tense. Toscanini had programmed two Wagner pieces at a time when Italy and Germany were at war. In Padua, many women and children had been killed by a direct hit on an air-raid shelter. As Toscanini conducted the Funeral March from Die Götterdämmerung, a voice shouted from the balcony, ``This is for the Paduan dead.'' At this, the conductor hurled his baton at the floor, left the stage and cancelled his remaining concerts, leaving Fountains unperformed.
The première of The Fountains of Rome had to wait until March 11, 1917, when Antonio Guarnieri conducted it in Rome. ``My Fountains of Rome is being given today,'' Respighi wrote to a friend. ``They'll open the taps and drench the Roman audience with water--fetid water. Let's hope they don't protest by hissing too much.''
After the performance, Respighi's wife Elsa noted in her diary: ``Rather cold reception with some hissing at the end of the work. I am delighted with it and have a violent argument with someone who does not share my view. Almost all the press notices poor, yet there is unreserved praise for the orchestration.'' For his part, Respighi threw the score on the bed and exclaimed, ``Bah! This has been a failure! I'll write another.'' It was Toscanini who rescued the music in 1918 with a wildly successful performance in Milan.
Respighi was fairly specific about the program of the work. In the preface to the score, he wrote: ``In this symphonic poem, the composer has endeavored to give expression to the sentiments and visions suggested to him by four of Rome's fountains, contemplated at the hour in which their character is most in harmony with the surrounding landscape, or in which their beauty appears most impressive to the observer.
``The first part of the poem, inspired by the Fountain of Valle Giulia, depicts a pastoral landscape. Droves of cattle pass and disappear in the fresh, damp mists of a Roman dawn. A sudden loud and insistent blast above the trills of the whole orchestra introduces the second part. It is like a joyous call, summoning troops of naiads and tritons, who come running up pursuing each other and mingling in a frenzied dance between the jets of water.
``Next there appears a solemn theme, borne on the undulations of the orchestra. It is the Fountain of Trevi at midday. The solemn theme, passing from the wood to the brass instruments, assumes a triumphal character. Trumpets peal; across the radiant surface of the water there passes Neptune's chariot, drawn by sea-horses and followed by a train of sirens and tritons. The procession then vanishes, while faint trumpet blasts sound in the distance.
``The fourth part is announced by a sad theme which rises above a subdued warbling. It is the nostalgic hour of sunset. The air is full of the sound of tolling bells, birds twittering, leaves rustling. Then all dies peacefully into the silence of the night.''
The score calls for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, carillon, celeste, bells, 2 harps, piano, organ 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.
Tuesday November 17, 2009
Friends of Chamber Music
Sejong
Antonín Dvořák: Waltz in A major, Op.54 No. 1 4:09
Antonín Dvořák: Serenade in E major, Op.22 26:36 (9/23/08)
Also, Charley talks with The Playground's Conrad Kehn about their event Friday and their call for scores.
Steve Snowden: The Devil's Nine Tails
The Playground Ensemble
NCA 11:07
And, Charley anticipates Opus Two's appearance with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra this weekend.
Aaron Copland: "Andante semplice" (1st movement) from Sonata for Violin and Piano
Opus Two (William Terwilliger, violin; Andrew Cooperstock, piano)
Azica Track 10 7:50
Antonin Dvorák (1841-1904): Serenade for Winds in D minor,
Opus 44 (B.77)
I. Moderato quasi marcia
II. Minuetto: Tempo di minuetto
III. Andante con moto
IV. Finale: Larghetto molto
Early in January, 1878, Dvorák moved into a new apartment, rented a piano, and set to work on a Serenade for winds. He finished it on January 18. The first performance took place at the National Theater in Prague on November 17, 1878. Dvorák was making his conducting debut at that concert, which consisted entirely of his own works.
The Serenade is dedicated to Louis Erhlert, a German pianist, composer and critic, whose enthusiasm for Dvorák's music contributed to its popularity outside of Bohemia. Another promoter was the Budapest critic Max Schütz, who said ``only a master writes like this; only a poet by God's grace has such inspiration.''
Biographer Alec Robertson writes: ``This good-humoured work opens with a spirited march--repeated in the finale--and continues with a minuet in the form of a Sousedská (a national dance form for elderly folk). Then comes the most considerable number, a long and romantic slow movement preceding a gay finale.''
The score calls for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 3 horns, cello and double bass.
Sejong
Antonín Dvořák: Waltz in A major, Op.54 No. 1 4:09
Antonín Dvořák: Serenade in E major, Op.22 26:36 (9/23/08)
Also, Charley talks with The Playground's Conrad Kehn about their event Friday and their call for scores.
Steve Snowden: The Devil's Nine Tails
The Playground Ensemble
NCA 11:07
And, Charley anticipates Opus Two's appearance with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra this weekend.
Aaron Copland: "Andante semplice" (1st movement) from Sonata for Violin and Piano
Opus Two (William Terwilliger, violin; Andrew Cooperstock, piano)
Azica Track 10 7:50
Antonin Dvorák (1841-1904): Serenade for Winds in D minor,
Opus 44 (B.77)
I. Moderato quasi marcia
II. Minuetto: Tempo di minuetto
III. Andante con moto
IV. Finale: Larghetto molto
Early in January, 1878, Dvorák moved into a new apartment, rented a piano, and set to work on a Serenade for winds. He finished it on January 18. The first performance took place at the National Theater in Prague on November 17, 1878. Dvorák was making his conducting debut at that concert, which consisted entirely of his own works.
The Serenade is dedicated to Louis Erhlert, a German pianist, composer and critic, whose enthusiasm for Dvorák's music contributed to its popularity outside of Bohemia. Another promoter was the Budapest critic Max Schütz, who said ``only a master writes like this; only a poet by God's grace has such inspiration.''
Biographer Alec Robertson writes: ``This good-humoured work opens with a spirited march--repeated in the finale--and continues with a minuet in the form of a Sousedská (a national dance form for elderly folk). Then comes the most considerable number, a long and romantic slow movement preceding a gay finale.''
The score calls for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 3 horns, cello and double bass.
Monday November 16, 2009
Charley talks with Boulder Chamber Orchestra music director Bahman Saless about their concerts with Opus Two (William Terwilliger, violin; Andrew Cooperstock, piano) Friday and Saturday.
University of Colorado at Boulder Faculty Recital
William Terwilliger, violin; Andrew Cooperstock, piano
Manuel de Falla: Popular Spanish Suite
Luis Jorge González: Wanderer’s Songs
Astor Piazzolla: Tanguano
Paul Schoenfield: “Samba” & “Tango” from Four Souvenirs
Also, Charley anticipates the Newman Center Presents concert by Rebel tomorrow.
Georg Philipp Telemann: Suite in E flat major
Matthias Maute, recorder; Rebel/ Jörg-Michael Schwarz
Dorian 90302 1-7 21:15
University of Colorado at Boulder Faculty Recital
William Terwilliger, violin; Andrew Cooperstock, piano
Manuel de Falla: Popular Spanish Suite
Luis Jorge González: Wanderer’s Songs
Astor Piazzolla: Tanguano
Paul Schoenfield: “Samba” & “Tango” from Four Souvenirs
Also, Charley anticipates the Newman Center Presents concert by Rebel tomorrow.
Georg Philipp Telemann: Suite in E flat major
Matthias Maute, recorder; Rebel/ Jörg-Michael Schwarz
Dorian 90302 1-7 21:15
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