Lakewood Cultural Center Performing Arts Series
Claremont Trio
Paul Schoenfield: “Andante moderato” (2nd movement) from Café Music 4:35
Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op.8 34:45 (3/22/07)
Also, Charley anticipates the Albers Trio's appearance on the Lakewood Cultural Center Performing Arts Series.
Gregor Piatigorsky: Variations on a Paganini Theme
Julie Albers, cello; Orion Weiss, piano
Artek 22 Track 9 14:18
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Opus 8
I. Allegro con brio
II. Scherzo: Allegro molto
III. Adagio
IV. Allegro
Brahms started the B major Trio during the summer of 1853 and finished it the following January. He played it for Clara Schumann, whose opinion was mixed. ``I could only wish for another first movement,'' she said, ``as the present one does not satisfy me, although I admit that its opening is fine.'' Brahms published the work without revision in 1854, his first published chamber work. The first performance was given on November 27, 1855 in New York City by pianist William Mason, violinist Theodore Thomas and cellist Carl Bergmann.
In 1888 he confessed to Joseph Joachim that publishing it so soon after composition was a mistake. When publisher Fritz Simrock asked Brahms if he wanted to revise any of his earlier works, Brahms jumped at the chance and issued a revised version in 1891. ``I have written my B major trio once more,'' he wrote to Clara Schumann. ``It will not be so muddled up as it was--but will it be better?'' As he put it, he ``did not provide it with a wig, but just combed and arranged its hair a little.'' This was understatement; the revision is substantial.
According to Donald Francis Tovey, the revision is ``not an unmixed gain'' over the original. In the finale, he said, ``the experienced Brahms grips the young Brahms so roughly by the shoulder as to make us doubt whether a composer so angry with the sentimentalities of his own youth would not be over-ready to tease and bully, or, still worse, to ignore young composers anxious to learn but less sure of their ground.'' Brahms was the pianist at the premiere of the revision on February 22, 1890 in Vienna.
Biographer Karl Geiringer says the work ``impresses one by its youthful freshness and tenderness of conception, its soft and sensual tonality, and its rich variety of moods. Even in his later days, Brahms hardly composed anything more beautiful than the broad, swinging introductory theme of the first movemnt, the elves' dance of the Scherzo, the opening of the Adagio with its inspired religious pathos, and the Schubertian cantilena...of the Finale.''
Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday September 10, 2009
2-hour program
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor; Janice Chandler-Eteme, soprano; Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano; CSO Chorus
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C minor (Resurrection)
Also, Charley talks with pianist Ingrid Fliter about her appearance on the Colorado Symphony Orchestra's season opener.
Frederic Chopin: Piano Sonata No.3 in B minor, Op.58 & Waltz in D flat major, Op.64 No.1 (Minute)
Ingrid Fliter, piano
EMI 48922 1-4,10 31:05 + 1:54
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): Symphony No. 2 in C minor (Resurrection)
I. Allegro Maestoso. Mit durchaus ernstem feierlichem
Ausdruck
II. Andante moderato. Sehr gemächlich
III. Scherzo: In ruhig fliessender Bewegung
IV. Urlicht (Primal Light): Sehr feierlich aber
schlicht; Choral-mässig
V. Im Tempo des Scherzos. Wild herausfahrend.
``It is really inadequate for me to call it a symphony,'' Mahler said of his Second, ``for in no respect does it retain the traditional form. But to write a symphony means to me to construct a world with all the tools of the available techniques: the ever-new and ever-changing content determines its own form.''
Mahler had been struggling with the work since 1888. The opening movement was once a tone poem titled Totenfeier (Funeral Rite). The second and third movements were ready by 1893. The fourth movement was a setting of Urlicht (Primal Light) from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth's Magic Horn), an anthology of poems in German folk style that inspired him for some twenty years. He knew he wanted some kind of choral finale, along the lines of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, but couldn't decide on a text.
Then on March 28, 1894 there was a memorial service for Mahler's benefactor Hans von Bülow. ``The mood in which I sat there and thought of the departed one,'' he later recalled, ``was fully in the spirit of the work which then constantly occupied my mind. Then the chorus near the organ intoned the Klopstock chorale, Aufersteh'n! (Resurrection). It struck me like a thunderbolt and everything stood clear and vivid before my soul.'' The Klopstock ode would be the basis of the Second Symphony's finale, though Mahler could not refrain from deleting some lines and adding others of his own invention.
Richard Strauss conducted a performance of the first three movements on March 4, 1895 in Berlin. The first complete performance took place on December 13, 1895, with Mahler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic and Singakademie. Bruno Walter was there and reported ``the effect of an elemental event. I shall never forget my deep emotion and the ecstasy of the audience as well as the performers.''
Mahler at various times made elaborate programs for the Second Symphony, only to abandon them later. Nevertheless, he regarded the opening movement--once titled Funeral Rite--as an outgrowth of the First Symphony. ``It is the hero of my First Symphony whom I bear to the grave,'' he said. ``It poses the great question: To what purpose have you lived? To what purpose have you suffered? Has it all been only a huge, frightful joke? We must all somehow answer these questions, if we are to continue living, yes, if we are to go on to die. Anyone who has heard this question must answer, and this answer I give in the last movement.'' Reminiscences of Beethoven's Ninth dominate the movement, from the introduction's string tremolos to the anticipations of the choral finale in the concluding coda.
Mahler regarded the second and third movements as interludes, or memories of the departed from the first movement. The second movement features a delicate waltz melody as the recurring refrain in a free rondo. ``Suddenly,'' Mahler said, ``the picture of a happy hour long, long past, arises in your mind like a ray of sun undimmed by anything--and you can almost forget what has just happened.''
The third movement is an orchestral treatment of the Wunderhorn song about St. Anthony preaching to the fishes, who listen attentively then return to their old carnal ways. The humor of the beginning becomes grotesque as the music progresses. Mahler said he was after ``the ceaseless motion, the restless, senseless bustle of daily activity (which) may strike you with horror, as if you were watching a whirling crowd of dancers in a brightly lighted ballroom--watching them from the darkness outside and from such a great distance that you cannot hear the music. Then life can seem meaningless, a gruesome, ghostly spectacle, from which you may recoil with a cry of disgust!''
The fourth movement, with its alto solo singing Urlicht from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, functions as a slow introduction to the finale. It is the perfect foil to the upheavals that follow.
After the initial outburst of the full orchestra, the finale dies down to silence, interrupted by horn fanfares. For Mahler, this was ``the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness'' (Isaiah, XL, 3). One of his programs mentions ``the Last Judgment is at hand and the horror of the day of days has broken forth. The earth quakes, the graves burst open, and the dead arise and stream on in endless procession. The great and the little ones of the earth--kings and beggars, righteous and godless--all press on; the cry for mercy and forgiveness strikes fearfully on our ears. The wailing rises higher--our senses desert us; consciousness dies at the approach of the eternal spirit. The Great Summons is heard--the trumpets of the apocalypse ring out; in the eerie silence that follows, we can just catch the distant, barely audible song of the nightingale, a last tremulous echo of earthly life! A chorus of saints and heavenly beings softly break forth: `Thou shalt arise, surely thou shalt arise.' Then appears the glory of God! A wondrous, soft light penetrates us to the heart--all is holy calm! And behold--it is no judgment. There are no sinners, no just. None is great, none is small. There is no punishment and no reward. An overwhelming love lightens our being. We know and are.''
The chorus intones the Klopstock Ode, with references to the opening movement. The movement ends with the rising ``Resurrection'' motive, first in the basses, then passing through the other sections of chorus and orchestra.
IV. Urlicht (Primal Light)
O Röschen rot!
Der Mensch liegt in grösster Not,
Der Mensch liegt in grösster Pein
Ja lieber möcht ich im Himmel sein.
Da kam ich auf einen breiten Weg,
Da kam ein Englein und wollt' mich abweisen.
Ach nein? Ich liess mich nicht abweisen.
Ich bin von Gott und will wieder zu Gott!
Der liebe Gott wird mir ein Lichtchen geben,
Wird leuchten mir in das ewig selig' Leben!
(O Rosebud red!
Man lies in greatest need,
Man lies in greatest pain.
I'd rather wished I were in heaven.
Then I came upon a broad road;
There came a little angel who wanted me to turn back.
Ah no, I would not be turned back.
I am of God and wish to return to God!
The dear God will give me a light,
Will light my way into eternal blissful life!)
V. Aufersteh'n (Resurrection)
Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n wirst du
Mein Staub, nach kurzer Ruh!
Unsterblich Leben
Wird, der dich rief, dir geben?
(Thou shalt arise, yea, arise
My dust, from brief repose!
Immortal life,
Shall He, who called thee, give thee?)
Wieder aufzublüh'n, wirst du gesät!
Der Herr der Ernte geht
Und sammelt Garben
Uns ein, die starben.
(Again to blossom thou art sown!
The Lord of the Harvest goes forth
Collecting sheaves,
We who have died.)
O glaube, mein Herz, es geht dir nichts verloren.
Dein ist, ja dein, was du gesehnt
Dein, was du geliebt, was du gestritten!
O glaube: du warst nicht umsonst geboren
Has nicht umsonst geliebt, gelitten.
(Have faith, my heart, for naught is lost to thee.
Thine, yes, thine is all you yearned for
Thine what you loved and what you fought for
Believe: thou wast not born in vain
Thou didst not live nor suffer in vain.)
Was enstanden ist, das muss vergehen
Was vergangen, auferstehen!
Hör auf zu beben!
Bereite dich zu leben!
(All that arose must perish
All that perished, rise again!
Cease thy trembling!
Prepare thyself to live!)
O Schmerz, du Alldurchdringer
Dir bin ich entrungen!
O Tod, du Allbezwinger,
Nun bist du bezwungen!
(O Pain all-pervading
I have escaped thee!
O Death, thou all-subduer,
Thou art now subdued!)
Mit Flügeln die ich mir errungen
In Liebesstreben
Werd' ich entschweben zum Licht,
Zu dem kein Aug' gedrungen.
(With wings which I have won
In ardent love's endeavor
I shall soar to light
Never pierced by eyes.)
Sterben werd' ich um zu leben!
Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n wirst du,
Mein Herz in einem Nu
Was du geschlagen
Zu gott wird es dich tragen.
(I shall die in order to live again.
Thou shall arise, yea, arise,
My heart heart in an instant!
What you have conquered
To God it will carry you.)
The score calls for solo soprano, solo alto, 4 flutes, 4 piccolos, 4 oboes, 2 English horns, 5 clarinets, bass clarinet, 4 bassoons, 2 contrabassoons, 10 horns, 8 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, 2 harps, organ, strings and chorus.
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor; Janice Chandler-Eteme, soprano; Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano; CSO Chorus
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C minor (Resurrection)
Also, Charley talks with pianist Ingrid Fliter about her appearance on the Colorado Symphony Orchestra's season opener.
Frederic Chopin: Piano Sonata No.3 in B minor, Op.58 & Waltz in D flat major, Op.64 No.1 (Minute)
Ingrid Fliter, piano
EMI 48922 1-4,10 31:05 + 1:54
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): Symphony No. 2 in C minor (Resurrection)
I. Allegro Maestoso. Mit durchaus ernstem feierlichem
Ausdruck
II. Andante moderato. Sehr gemächlich
III. Scherzo: In ruhig fliessender Bewegung
IV. Urlicht (Primal Light): Sehr feierlich aber
schlicht; Choral-mässig
V. Im Tempo des Scherzos. Wild herausfahrend.
``It is really inadequate for me to call it a symphony,'' Mahler said of his Second, ``for in no respect does it retain the traditional form. But to write a symphony means to me to construct a world with all the tools of the available techniques: the ever-new and ever-changing content determines its own form.''
Mahler had been struggling with the work since 1888. The opening movement was once a tone poem titled Totenfeier (Funeral Rite). The second and third movements were ready by 1893. The fourth movement was a setting of Urlicht (Primal Light) from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth's Magic Horn), an anthology of poems in German folk style that inspired him for some twenty years. He knew he wanted some kind of choral finale, along the lines of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, but couldn't decide on a text.
Then on March 28, 1894 there was a memorial service for Mahler's benefactor Hans von Bülow. ``The mood in which I sat there and thought of the departed one,'' he later recalled, ``was fully in the spirit of the work which then constantly occupied my mind. Then the chorus near the organ intoned the Klopstock chorale, Aufersteh'n! (Resurrection). It struck me like a thunderbolt and everything stood clear and vivid before my soul.'' The Klopstock ode would be the basis of the Second Symphony's finale, though Mahler could not refrain from deleting some lines and adding others of his own invention.
Richard Strauss conducted a performance of the first three movements on March 4, 1895 in Berlin. The first complete performance took place on December 13, 1895, with Mahler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic and Singakademie. Bruno Walter was there and reported ``the effect of an elemental event. I shall never forget my deep emotion and the ecstasy of the audience as well as the performers.''
Mahler at various times made elaborate programs for the Second Symphony, only to abandon them later. Nevertheless, he regarded the opening movement--once titled Funeral Rite--as an outgrowth of the First Symphony. ``It is the hero of my First Symphony whom I bear to the grave,'' he said. ``It poses the great question: To what purpose have you lived? To what purpose have you suffered? Has it all been only a huge, frightful joke? We must all somehow answer these questions, if we are to continue living, yes, if we are to go on to die. Anyone who has heard this question must answer, and this answer I give in the last movement.'' Reminiscences of Beethoven's Ninth dominate the movement, from the introduction's string tremolos to the anticipations of the choral finale in the concluding coda.
Mahler regarded the second and third movements as interludes, or memories of the departed from the first movement. The second movement features a delicate waltz melody as the recurring refrain in a free rondo. ``Suddenly,'' Mahler said, ``the picture of a happy hour long, long past, arises in your mind like a ray of sun undimmed by anything--and you can almost forget what has just happened.''
The third movement is an orchestral treatment of the Wunderhorn song about St. Anthony preaching to the fishes, who listen attentively then return to their old carnal ways. The humor of the beginning becomes grotesque as the music progresses. Mahler said he was after ``the ceaseless motion, the restless, senseless bustle of daily activity (which) may strike you with horror, as if you were watching a whirling crowd of dancers in a brightly lighted ballroom--watching them from the darkness outside and from such a great distance that you cannot hear the music. Then life can seem meaningless, a gruesome, ghostly spectacle, from which you may recoil with a cry of disgust!''
The fourth movement, with its alto solo singing Urlicht from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, functions as a slow introduction to the finale. It is the perfect foil to the upheavals that follow.
After the initial outburst of the full orchestra, the finale dies down to silence, interrupted by horn fanfares. For Mahler, this was ``the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness'' (Isaiah, XL, 3). One of his programs mentions ``the Last Judgment is at hand and the horror of the day of days has broken forth. The earth quakes, the graves burst open, and the dead arise and stream on in endless procession. The great and the little ones of the earth--kings and beggars, righteous and godless--all press on; the cry for mercy and forgiveness strikes fearfully on our ears. The wailing rises higher--our senses desert us; consciousness dies at the approach of the eternal spirit. The Great Summons is heard--the trumpets of the apocalypse ring out; in the eerie silence that follows, we can just catch the distant, barely audible song of the nightingale, a last tremulous echo of earthly life! A chorus of saints and heavenly beings softly break forth: `Thou shalt arise, surely thou shalt arise.' Then appears the glory of God! A wondrous, soft light penetrates us to the heart--all is holy calm! And behold--it is no judgment. There are no sinners, no just. None is great, none is small. There is no punishment and no reward. An overwhelming love lightens our being. We know and are.''
The chorus intones the Klopstock Ode, with references to the opening movement. The movement ends with the rising ``Resurrection'' motive, first in the basses, then passing through the other sections of chorus and orchestra.
IV. Urlicht (Primal Light)
O Röschen rot!
Der Mensch liegt in grösster Not,
Der Mensch liegt in grösster Pein
Ja lieber möcht ich im Himmel sein.
Da kam ich auf einen breiten Weg,
Da kam ein Englein und wollt' mich abweisen.
Ach nein? Ich liess mich nicht abweisen.
Ich bin von Gott und will wieder zu Gott!
Der liebe Gott wird mir ein Lichtchen geben,
Wird leuchten mir in das ewig selig' Leben!
(O Rosebud red!
Man lies in greatest need,
Man lies in greatest pain.
I'd rather wished I were in heaven.
Then I came upon a broad road;
There came a little angel who wanted me to turn back.
Ah no, I would not be turned back.
I am of God and wish to return to God!
The dear God will give me a light,
Will light my way into eternal blissful life!)
V. Aufersteh'n (Resurrection)
Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n wirst du
Mein Staub, nach kurzer Ruh!
Unsterblich Leben
Wird, der dich rief, dir geben?
(Thou shalt arise, yea, arise
My dust, from brief repose!
Immortal life,
Shall He, who called thee, give thee?)
Wieder aufzublüh'n, wirst du gesät!
Der Herr der Ernte geht
Und sammelt Garben
Uns ein, die starben.
(Again to blossom thou art sown!
The Lord of the Harvest goes forth
Collecting sheaves,
We who have died.)
O glaube, mein Herz, es geht dir nichts verloren.
Dein ist, ja dein, was du gesehnt
Dein, was du geliebt, was du gestritten!
O glaube: du warst nicht umsonst geboren
Has nicht umsonst geliebt, gelitten.
(Have faith, my heart, for naught is lost to thee.
Thine, yes, thine is all you yearned for
Thine what you loved and what you fought for
Believe: thou wast not born in vain
Thou didst not live nor suffer in vain.)
Was enstanden ist, das muss vergehen
Was vergangen, auferstehen!
Hör auf zu beben!
Bereite dich zu leben!
(All that arose must perish
All that perished, rise again!
Cease thy trembling!
Prepare thyself to live!)
O Schmerz, du Alldurchdringer
Dir bin ich entrungen!
O Tod, du Allbezwinger,
Nun bist du bezwungen!
(O Pain all-pervading
I have escaped thee!
O Death, thou all-subduer,
Thou art now subdued!)
Mit Flügeln die ich mir errungen
In Liebesstreben
Werd' ich entschweben zum Licht,
Zu dem kein Aug' gedrungen.
(With wings which I have won
In ardent love's endeavor
I shall soar to light
Never pierced by eyes.)
Sterben werd' ich um zu leben!
Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n wirst du,
Mein Herz in einem Nu
Was du geschlagen
Zu gott wird es dich tragen.
(I shall die in order to live again.
Thou shall arise, yea, arise,
My heart heart in an instant!
What you have conquered
To God it will carry you.)
The score calls for solo soprano, solo alto, 4 flutes, 4 piccolos, 4 oboes, 2 English horns, 5 clarinets, bass clarinet, 4 bassoons, 2 contrabassoons, 10 horns, 8 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, 2 harps, organ, strings and chorus.
Wednesday September 9, 2009
Friends of Chamber Music
Ingrid Fliter, piano
Franz Schubert: Impromptu in E flat major, Op.90 No. 2 (D.899) 4:47
Robert Schumann: Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 36:37 (4/1/09)
Also, Charley anticipates Ingrid Fliter's appearance on the Colorado Symphony Orchestra's season opener.
Frederic Chopin: Ballade No.4 in F minor, Op.52
Ingrid Fliter, piano
EMI 489922 Tracks 13 11:05
Ingrid Fliter, piano
Franz Schubert: Impromptu in E flat major, Op.90 No. 2 (D.899) 4:47
Robert Schumann: Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 36:37 (4/1/09)
Also, Charley anticipates Ingrid Fliter's appearance on the Colorado Symphony Orchestra's season opener.
Frederic Chopin: Ballade No.4 in F minor, Op.52
Ingrid Fliter, piano
EMI 489922 Tracks 13 11:05
Tuesday September 8, 2009
Friends of Chamber Music
Ingrid Fliter, piano
Johann Sebastian Bach: Italian Concerto in F major BWV 971 13:02
Frederic Chopin: Seven Waltzes 21:37 + 2:01 (4/1/09)
Also, Charley anticipates Ingrid Fliter's appearance on the Colorado Symphony Orchestra's season opener.
Frederic Chopin: Mazurka in A minor, Op.64 No.1 & Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op.60
Ingrid Fliter, piano
EMI 489922 Tracks 5 & 8 4:02 + 8:58
Ingrid Fliter, piano
Johann Sebastian Bach: Italian Concerto in F major BWV 971 13:02
Frederic Chopin: Seven Waltzes 21:37 + 2:01 (4/1/09)
Also, Charley anticipates Ingrid Fliter's appearance on the Colorado Symphony Orchestra's season opener.
Frederic Chopin: Mazurka in A minor, Op.64 No.1 & Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op.60
Ingrid Fliter, piano
EMI 489922 Tracks 5 & 8 4:02 + 8:58
Monday September 7, 2009
Colorado Music Festival Orchestra
Larry Rachleff, conductor
Claude Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun 11:52
Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite 25:21 (7/18/08)
Also, Charley anticipates this week's George Crumb Festival at CU Boulder.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op.109 18:32
Hsing-ay Hsu, piano
KVOD Performance Studio 110708 MS
Claude Debussy: Etude ("For Eight Fingers")
Hsing-ay Hsu, piano
Nutmeg "Hsing-ay Hsu 2008 Live" CD Track 12 1:38
Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à aprés-midi d'un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun)
In 1876, Stéphane Mallarmé published The Afternoon of a Faun, a dreamy evocation of a faun (half man-half goat) and his lusty pursuit of nymphs. One admirer of the poem was Claude Debussy, who planned a Prelude, Interlude and Paraphrase Finale on the work. Apparently he originally intended some sort of declamation of the text, along with the music.
What finally emerged in 1894 was the orchestral Prelude only. When Mallarmé heard it, he was unexpectedly pleased. "It is music that brings out the feeling of my poem, providing it with a warmer background than color," he said to Debussy. "Your illustration…presents no dissonance with my text; rather does it go further into the nostalgia and light with subtlety, malaise and richness."
The first performance of Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun took place on December 22, 1894 at a National Society of Music concert. The conductor, Gustave Doret, found the audience "completely captivated" by the new work and promptly encored it.
There were reports of scattered hissing and booing, though, and the more traditional musicians were not amused. Saint-Saëns, for one, admitted the music's "pretty sonority, but it contains not the slightest musical idea in the real sense of the word. It is as much a piece of music as the palette a painter has worked from is a painting."
In his preface to the score, Debussy described the music as "a very free illustration to Stéphane Mallarmé's beautiful poem. It does not follow the poet's conception exactly, but describes the successive scenes among which the wishes and dreams of the Faun wander in the heat of the afternoon. Then, tired of pursuing the fearful flight of the nymphs and naiads, he abandons himself to the delightful sleep, full of visions finally realized, of full possession amid universal nature."
The score calls for 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 harps, antique cymbals and strings.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): The Firebird Suite No. 2 (1919)
I. Introduction; The Firebird and Her Dance;
Variation of the Firebird
II. The Princesses' Round: Khorovod
III. Dance of King Kashchei
IV. Berceuse and Finale
When the great impresario Serge Diaghilev needed a new piece for his Russian Ballet, he turned to his former teacher Anatol Liadov, a notorious procrastinator. The subject was to be the Russian folk tale of the Firebird. Liadov estimated the composition would take a year. By mutual consent, the task was given to the twenty-seven-year-old Igor Stravinsky.
Stravinsky finished The Firebird music on May 18, 1910. A French critic described the composer playing through the score at an informal gathering in St. Petersburg: ``The composer, young, slim, and uncommunicative, with vague meditative eyes, and lips set firm in an energetic looking face, was at the piano. But the moment he began to play, the modest and dimly lit dwelling glowed with a dazzling radiance. By the end of the first scene, I was conquered: by the last, I was lost in admiration. The manuscript on the music-rest, scored over with fine pencilings, revealed a masterpiece.''
At one of the rehearsals, Diaghilev observed: ``Mark him well. He is a man on the eve of celebrity.'' Stravinsky's celebrity was assured at the first performance at the Paris Opera on June 25, 1910. Gabriel Pierné conducted. ``The first Firebird!'' Stravinsky recalled. ``I stood in the dark of the Opera through eight orchestral rehearsals....The stage and the whole theatre glittered at the première and that is all I remember.''
Tamara Karsavina danced the title role. The choreography was by Mikhail Fokine, ``easily the most disagreeable man I have ever worked with,'' said Stravinsky, who was modest about the work's success. ``The performance was warmly applauded by the Paris public,'' he said. ``I am, of course, far from attributing this success solely to the score.'' After the first performance, he went out to dinner with Debussy.
Stravinsky made three orchestral suites from The Firebird music. The first, in 1916, was followed by a version for smaller orchestra in 1919. A third suite appeared in 1945.
The story of the ballet concerns the young Prince Ivan hot in pursuit of the Firebird, finally capturing her in the garden of the ogre Kashchei. She begs him to set her free and gives him a magic feather when he does so. Ivan observes the dances of the captive princesses and is himself captured by the ogre, who tries to turn Ivan into a stone. But Ivan waves the magic feather, summoning the Firebird, who then reveals how to kill the ogre. This done, the princesses are freed and Ivan marries their leader, with the blessing of the Firebird. According to Stravinsky, Ivan succeeds ``because he yielded to pity, a wholly Christian notion which dominates the imagination and the ideas of the Russian people.''
The 1919 Suite is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion, timpani, xylophone, harp, piano and strings.
Larry Rachleff, conductor
Claude Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun 11:52
Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite 25:21 (7/18/08)
Also, Charley anticipates this week's George Crumb Festival at CU Boulder.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op.109 18:32
Hsing-ay Hsu, piano
KVOD Performance Studio 110708 MS
Claude Debussy: Etude ("For Eight Fingers")
Hsing-ay Hsu, piano
Nutmeg "Hsing-ay Hsu 2008 Live" CD Track 12 1:38
Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à aprés-midi d'un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun)
In 1876, Stéphane Mallarmé published The Afternoon of a Faun, a dreamy evocation of a faun (half man-half goat) and his lusty pursuit of nymphs. One admirer of the poem was Claude Debussy, who planned a Prelude, Interlude and Paraphrase Finale on the work. Apparently he originally intended some sort of declamation of the text, along with the music.
What finally emerged in 1894 was the orchestral Prelude only. When Mallarmé heard it, he was unexpectedly pleased. "It is music that brings out the feeling of my poem, providing it with a warmer background than color," he said to Debussy. "Your illustration…presents no dissonance with my text; rather does it go further into the nostalgia and light with subtlety, malaise and richness."
The first performance of Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun took place on December 22, 1894 at a National Society of Music concert. The conductor, Gustave Doret, found the audience "completely captivated" by the new work and promptly encored it.
There were reports of scattered hissing and booing, though, and the more traditional musicians were not amused. Saint-Saëns, for one, admitted the music's "pretty sonority, but it contains not the slightest musical idea in the real sense of the word. It is as much a piece of music as the palette a painter has worked from is a painting."
In his preface to the score, Debussy described the music as "a very free illustration to Stéphane Mallarmé's beautiful poem. It does not follow the poet's conception exactly, but describes the successive scenes among which the wishes and dreams of the Faun wander in the heat of the afternoon. Then, tired of pursuing the fearful flight of the nymphs and naiads, he abandons himself to the delightful sleep, full of visions finally realized, of full possession amid universal nature."
The score calls for 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 harps, antique cymbals and strings.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): The Firebird Suite No. 2 (1919)
I. Introduction; The Firebird and Her Dance;
Variation of the Firebird
II. The Princesses' Round: Khorovod
III. Dance of King Kashchei
IV. Berceuse and Finale
When the great impresario Serge Diaghilev needed a new piece for his Russian Ballet, he turned to his former teacher Anatol Liadov, a notorious procrastinator. The subject was to be the Russian folk tale of the Firebird. Liadov estimated the composition would take a year. By mutual consent, the task was given to the twenty-seven-year-old Igor Stravinsky.
Stravinsky finished The Firebird music on May 18, 1910. A French critic described the composer playing through the score at an informal gathering in St. Petersburg: ``The composer, young, slim, and uncommunicative, with vague meditative eyes, and lips set firm in an energetic looking face, was at the piano. But the moment he began to play, the modest and dimly lit dwelling glowed with a dazzling radiance. By the end of the first scene, I was conquered: by the last, I was lost in admiration. The manuscript on the music-rest, scored over with fine pencilings, revealed a masterpiece.''
At one of the rehearsals, Diaghilev observed: ``Mark him well. He is a man on the eve of celebrity.'' Stravinsky's celebrity was assured at the first performance at the Paris Opera on June 25, 1910. Gabriel Pierné conducted. ``The first Firebird!'' Stravinsky recalled. ``I stood in the dark of the Opera through eight orchestral rehearsals....The stage and the whole theatre glittered at the première and that is all I remember.''
Tamara Karsavina danced the title role. The choreography was by Mikhail Fokine, ``easily the most disagreeable man I have ever worked with,'' said Stravinsky, who was modest about the work's success. ``The performance was warmly applauded by the Paris public,'' he said. ``I am, of course, far from attributing this success solely to the score.'' After the first performance, he went out to dinner with Debussy.
Stravinsky made three orchestral suites from The Firebird music. The first, in 1916, was followed by a version for smaller orchestra in 1919. A third suite appeared in 1945.
The story of the ballet concerns the young Prince Ivan hot in pursuit of the Firebird, finally capturing her in the garden of the ogre Kashchei. She begs him to set her free and gives him a magic feather when he does so. Ivan observes the dances of the captive princesses and is himself captured by the ogre, who tries to turn Ivan into a stone. But Ivan waves the magic feather, summoning the Firebird, who then reveals how to kill the ogre. This done, the princesses are freed and Ivan marries their leader, with the blessing of the Firebird. According to Stravinsky, Ivan succeeds ``because he yielded to pity, a wholly Christian notion which dominates the imagination and the ideas of the Russian people.''
The 1919 Suite is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion, timpani, xylophone, harp, piano and strings.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Friday September 4, 2009
National Repertory Orchestra,
Robert Moody, conductor; Tallie Brunfeld, violin Arturo Márquez: Danzón No. 2 10:21
Antonín Dvořák: Violin Concerto in A minor, Opus 53 30:59 (7/27/08)
Also, Charley anticipates the weekend concerts at the Moab Music Festival
Francis Poulenc: Divertissement from Piano Sextet
Steven Mayer, piano; Tim Day, flute; Marilyn Coyne, oboe; Eric Thomas, clarinet; John Steinmetz, bassoon; Neil DeLand, horn
Toru Takemitsu: “Moby Dick” (2nd movement) from Toward the Sea II
Tim Day, alto flute; Lysa Rytting, harp; Festival Strings/ Michael Barrett (9/7/01)
Moab Music Festival
Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904): Violin Concerto in A minor, Opus 53
I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Adagio ma non troppo
III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo
Two people prompted Dvořák to compose his only violin concerto. One was his publisher, Fritz August Simrock, who was so excited about the sales of the first set of Slavonic Dances that he suggested that the composer write a violin concerto.
The other factor in Dvořák’s decision to write the Concerto was a direct commission. Joseph Joachim had introduced the Brahms Violin Concerto on New Year’s Day in 1879. Later in the year he asked Dvořák to write a concerto for him.
Settling in at a friend’s country estate, Dvořák began the Violin Concerto on July 5, 1879. By fall, he sent the score off to Joachim, who suggested some changes.
Dvořák made the changes. By 1882 he could report: “I have played over the Violin Concerto twice with Joachim. It pleased him….As for me, I am glad that at last the whole business is finished. The revision had been in Joachim’s hands for at least two years. He was so kind as to make over the solo part, and only in the Finale have I to make a few alterations and in some places to lighten the instrumentation.” The final revision was made in October, 1882.
Despite Joachim’s involvement in the Concerto’s composition and the inscription “composed and dedicated to the great Master Joseph Joachim with deepest respect” in the published score, Joachim never performed the work in public.
Instead, the first performance was entrusted to Franz Ondřicek, who played it in Prague on October 14, 1883. Moric Anger conducted the Orchestra of the Czech National Theater. In December, Ondřicek was again the soloist when the Vienna Philharmonic performed the work under Hans Richter’s direction. Critics called the piece “violinistic,” praising its “skillful workmanship and admirable style.”
Biographer John Clapham writes: “Having composed a piano concerto on orthodox lines a few years before, Dvořák was determined to break fresh ground in his A minor Violin Concerto. There were strong precedents for dispensing with an initial orchestral statement, but none, it would seem, for proceeding towards a slow movement without a quasi sonata-type first movement being permitted to run its course. Dvořák’s movement, enriched by ideas that are ideally suited for a solo violin, is to a large extent rhapsodic and improvisatory, and so attempts to analyze it on the basis of sonata form are unhelpful. The justification for the composer’s experiment lies in the beauty of what he wrote. The Adagio is the first of Dvořák’s symphonic slow movements to follow Haydn’s example of introducing a stormy episode in a minor key. The principal theme of the finale is in furiant rhythm, and a dumka is introduced later in this movement.”
The score calls for solo violin, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings.
Robert Moody, conductor; Tallie Brunfeld, violin Arturo Márquez: Danzón No. 2 10:21
Antonín Dvořák: Violin Concerto in A minor, Opus 53 30:59 (7/27/08)
Also, Charley anticipates the weekend concerts at the Moab Music Festival
Francis Poulenc: Divertissement from Piano Sextet
Steven Mayer, piano; Tim Day, flute; Marilyn Coyne, oboe; Eric Thomas, clarinet; John Steinmetz, bassoon; Neil DeLand, horn
Toru Takemitsu: “Moby Dick” (2nd movement) from Toward the Sea II
Tim Day, alto flute; Lysa Rytting, harp; Festival Strings/ Michael Barrett (9/7/01)
Moab Music Festival
Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904): Violin Concerto in A minor, Opus 53
I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Adagio ma non troppo
III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo
Two people prompted Dvořák to compose his only violin concerto. One was his publisher, Fritz August Simrock, who was so excited about the sales of the first set of Slavonic Dances that he suggested that the composer write a violin concerto.
The other factor in Dvořák’s decision to write the Concerto was a direct commission. Joseph Joachim had introduced the Brahms Violin Concerto on New Year’s Day in 1879. Later in the year he asked Dvořák to write a concerto for him.
Settling in at a friend’s country estate, Dvořák began the Violin Concerto on July 5, 1879. By fall, he sent the score off to Joachim, who suggested some changes.
Dvořák made the changes. By 1882 he could report: “I have played over the Violin Concerto twice with Joachim. It pleased him….As for me, I am glad that at last the whole business is finished. The revision had been in Joachim’s hands for at least two years. He was so kind as to make over the solo part, and only in the Finale have I to make a few alterations and in some places to lighten the instrumentation.” The final revision was made in October, 1882.
Despite Joachim’s involvement in the Concerto’s composition and the inscription “composed and dedicated to the great Master Joseph Joachim with deepest respect” in the published score, Joachim never performed the work in public.
Instead, the first performance was entrusted to Franz Ondřicek, who played it in Prague on October 14, 1883. Moric Anger conducted the Orchestra of the Czech National Theater. In December, Ondřicek was again the soloist when the Vienna Philharmonic performed the work under Hans Richter’s direction. Critics called the piece “violinistic,” praising its “skillful workmanship and admirable style.”
Biographer John Clapham writes: “Having composed a piano concerto on orthodox lines a few years before, Dvořák was determined to break fresh ground in his A minor Violin Concerto. There were strong precedents for dispensing with an initial orchestral statement, but none, it would seem, for proceeding towards a slow movement without a quasi sonata-type first movement being permitted to run its course. Dvořák’s movement, enriched by ideas that are ideally suited for a solo violin, is to a large extent rhapsodic and improvisatory, and so attempts to analyze it on the basis of sonata form are unhelpful. The justification for the composer’s experiment lies in the beauty of what he wrote. The Adagio is the first of Dvořák’s symphonic slow movements to follow Haydn’s example of introducing a stormy episode in a minor key. The principal theme of the finale is in furiant rhythm, and a dumka is introduced later in this movement.”
The score calls for solo violin, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings.
Thursday September 3, 2009
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor; Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Opus 83 (5/29-31/09)
Also, Charley talks with Garrick Ohlsson about his origins.
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C sharp minor, Op.3 No.2
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
KVOD Performance Studio 052809 MS
Johannes Brahms (1883-1897): Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Opus 83
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Allegro appassionato
III. Andante
IV. Allegretto grazioso
After an early performance of his First Piano Concerto, Brahms remarked that the ``second will sound quite different.'' Over twenty years later, he began a Second Piano Concerto. This was during the summer of 1878, after his first visit to Italy and at about the same time that he began growing his famous beard. He set the piece aside to work on the Violin Concerto and finally completed the Piano Concerto during May of 1881, after a second Italian trip.
``I don't mind telling you that I have written a tiny, tiny piano concerto with a tiny, tiny wisp of a scherzo,'' Brahms wrote to a friend. The composer was fond of extreme understatement, for the Second Piano Concerto is one of the longest piano concertos ever. Brahms himself called it ``the long terror'' and warned that it was ``not for little girls.'' It has four movements, he said, because the first is too ``simple.''
The first performance took place in Budapest on November 9, 1881, with Brahms as soloist and Alexander Erkel conducting. Not long after, Brahms played it with Hans von Bülow and the Meiningen Court Orchestra.
Franz Liszt found the work ``at first reading, a little gray in tone. I have, however, gradually come to understand it. It possesses the pregnant character of a distinguished work of art, in which thought and feeling move in noble harmony.''
``Of all existing concertos in the classical form this is the largest,'' wrote Sir Donald Francis Tovey. ``It is true that the first movement is shorter than either that of Beethoven's E flat Concerto (the Emperor) or that of his Violin Concerto; shorter also than that of Brahms' own first concerto. But in almost every classical concerto the first movement is as large or larger than the slow movement and finale taken together, and there is no scherzo. Here, in his B flat Concerto, Brahms has followed the first movement by a fiery, almost tragic allegro which, though anything but a joke, more than fills the place of a symphonic scherzo: the slow movement is the largest in any concerto since Beethoven's C minor (No. 3, Op.37), while the finale, with all its lightness of touch, is a rondo of the most spacious design. We thus have the three normal movements of the classical concerto at their fullest and richest, with the addition of a fourth member on the same scale.''
The work is scored for solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings.
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor; Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Opus 83 (5/29-31/09)
Also, Charley talks with Garrick Ohlsson about his origins.
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C sharp minor, Op.3 No.2
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
KVOD Performance Studio 052809 MS
Johannes Brahms (1883-1897): Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Opus 83
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Allegro appassionato
III. Andante
IV. Allegretto grazioso
After an early performance of his First Piano Concerto, Brahms remarked that the ``second will sound quite different.'' Over twenty years later, he began a Second Piano Concerto. This was during the summer of 1878, after his first visit to Italy and at about the same time that he began growing his famous beard. He set the piece aside to work on the Violin Concerto and finally completed the Piano Concerto during May of 1881, after a second Italian trip.
``I don't mind telling you that I have written a tiny, tiny piano concerto with a tiny, tiny wisp of a scherzo,'' Brahms wrote to a friend. The composer was fond of extreme understatement, for the Second Piano Concerto is one of the longest piano concertos ever. Brahms himself called it ``the long terror'' and warned that it was ``not for little girls.'' It has four movements, he said, because the first is too ``simple.''
The first performance took place in Budapest on November 9, 1881, with Brahms as soloist and Alexander Erkel conducting. Not long after, Brahms played it with Hans von Bülow and the Meiningen Court Orchestra.
Franz Liszt found the work ``at first reading, a little gray in tone. I have, however, gradually come to understand it. It possesses the pregnant character of a distinguished work of art, in which thought and feeling move in noble harmony.''
``Of all existing concertos in the classical form this is the largest,'' wrote Sir Donald Francis Tovey. ``It is true that the first movement is shorter than either that of Beethoven's E flat Concerto (the Emperor) or that of his Violin Concerto; shorter also than that of Brahms' own first concerto. But in almost every classical concerto the first movement is as large or larger than the slow movement and finale taken together, and there is no scherzo. Here, in his B flat Concerto, Brahms has followed the first movement by a fiery, almost tragic allegro which, though anything but a joke, more than fills the place of a symphonic scherzo: the slow movement is the largest in any concerto since Beethoven's C minor (No. 3, Op.37), while the finale, with all its lightness of touch, is a rondo of the most spacious design. We thus have the three normal movements of the classical concerto at their fullest and richest, with the addition of a fourth member on the same scale.''
The work is scored for solo piano, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings.
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