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Roger Sessions (1896-1985): Concerto per violino e orchestra (1935)

I. Largo e tranquillo II. Scherzo (Allegro) III. Romanza (Andante) IV. Molto vivace e sempre con fuoco

Paul Zukofsky, violino --

Orchestre Philharmonique de l'O.R.T.F. - diretta da Gunther Schuller

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Poulenc : “Caprice”, en Ut majeur (transcription du final du “Bal masqué”, pour baryton et ensemble instrumental)

Eric Parkin (piano)

Enr. 1996

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Koechlin : Quintette pour piano et cordes, Op. 80 (III : “La Nature consolatrice”)

Centre national de Musique de chambre d'Aquitaine

(Micheline Lefebvre : violon I, Jacqueline Commenge : violon II, Pierre Lefebvre : alto, Robert Bex : violoncelle, Armand Bex : piano)

Enr. 1988

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Happy Pride Month everyone! No silence, no retreat. Fight, protect, celebrate! 

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Nikolay Myaskovsky, Cello Sonata n° 2 in A minor, op. 81 (I. Allegro moderato). Michal Kaňka, cello Jaromír Klepáč, piano

Me vieron, me vi, tanto aquí. No han cambiado mucho las cosas.

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John Alden Carpenter (1876-1951) - Violin Sonata (1912)

1. Larghetto 2. Allegro 3. Largo mistico 4. Presto giocoso

Sergiu Schwartz, violin and Paul Posnak, piano

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Cementerio, Tehuacán, México, 1990

Graciela Iturbide

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Josef Suk (1874–1935) - Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 8 (1893-1915)

1. Allegro energico (0:00) 2. Adagio religioso (8:34) 3. Scherzo. Presto (15:59) 4. Finale. Allegro con fuoco (21:51)

Pavel Štefan, piano and Suk Quartet

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Strauss - Eine Alpensinfonie

The last tone poem Richard Strauss wrote was also his most extravagant, calling for the largest orchestra of all his music [along with the typical orchestra the work calls for 12 horns, 2 trumpets, and 2 trombones offstage, as well as a heckelphone, cowbells, a wind machine, a thunder machine, glockenspiel, celesta, and organ]. An Alpine Symphony was inspired by a hike up the alps that Strauss took years before, and I can only imagine he had a Wordsworthian level of Romantic awe climbing the slopes. In writing music to reflect on his trip, he’d ended up with a glorious quarter hour at least of passionate music. The poem takes the listener through 24 hours in the alps, recreating the sense of majesty through the sunrise, peace through the pastures, violence through the storm, and indifference through the main descending theme; the cold, mysterious statement. For me, it’s one of those pieces that is easy to get lost in, to follow along with the delicious string, woodwind, and brass writing, to let the music flow over you, and to make you forget that any time has passed. Though the music is too warm at times, too dramatic to be an indifferent objective nature painting. Interesting enough, it could be considered an atheistic symphony. Strauss had been compelled by Mahler’s death to complete the work, and while he wanted to depict the alps, he also wanted to evoke Nietzsche after reading Der Antichrist. Strauss wrote, “Mahler, the Jew, could achieve elevation in Christianity… It is clear to me that the German nation will achieve new creative energy only by liberating itself from Christianity… I shall call my Alpine symphony: Der Antichrist, since it represents: moral purification through one’s own strength, liberation through work, worship of eternal, magnificent nature.” Though he dropped the atheist aspect in the final form, it makes sense to think that he is glorifying the natural world around us as is without evoking the supernatural. If I wanted to do a more postmodernist deconstruction, I’d argue the “true” program of the work is how humans project emotion and morality onto nature. It isn’t the sun and the trees and the mountains that are happy and full of wonder, it’s the viewer/listener. And it isn’t the mountain that is afraid when a storm passes through; we are afraid of the storm. In a way, this journey through the mountains is almost a journey through life, with it’s ups and downs, its most playful and most serious, the joys, anxieties, angers, sorrows, and few moments of peace. At this point I’m getting a little too Romantic, so I’ll stop typing now and let you sink into the music.

Movements:

1. Nacht (Night) 2. Sonnenaufgang (Sunrise) 3. Der Anstieg (The Ascent) 4. Eintritt in den Wald (Entry into the Forest) 5. Wanderung neben dem Bache (Wandering by the Brook) 6. Am Wasserfall (At the Waterfall) 7. Erscheinung (Apparition) 8. Auf blumigen Wiesen (On Flowering Meadows) 9. Auf der Alm (On the Alpine Pasture) 10. Durch Dickicht und Gestrüpp auf Irrwegen (Through Thickets and Undergrowth on the Wrong Path) 11. Auf dem Gletscher (On the Glacier) 12. Gefahrvolle Augenblicke (Dangerous Moments) 13. Auf dem Gipfel (On the Summit) 14. Vision (Vision) 15. Nebel steigen auf (Mists Rise) 16. Die Sonne verdüstert sich allmählich (The Sun Gradually Becomes Obscured) 17. Elegie (Elegy) 18. Stille vor dem Sturm (Calm Before the Storm) 19. Gewitter und Sturm, Abstieg (Thunder and Tempest, Descent) 20. Sonnenuntergang (Sunset) 21. Ausklang (Quiet Settles) 22. Nacht (Night)

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Richard Strauss ( 11 June, 1864 - 8 September, 1949 )

Happy Birthday, Rick! 

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Adams - The Chairman Dances (1985)

Subtitled “a Foxtrot for Orchestra”, it was originally going to be part of the last act of his opera Nixon in China, and would involve Madame Mao inviting her husband to dance, and the music here tries to reflect her time as a movie star in Shanghai film. So we get upbeat, “minimalist” inspired orchestral pulses and constant modulations, along with soaring 30s film score type melodies swelling and waning. It’s a cool piece that is a lot of fun full of orchestral color and rhythmic exploration. Like most of Adams’ music, there aren’t any memorable ‘melodies’ because the focus is on the rhythm and the orchestral texture as chords progress.

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Robert Schumann

( 8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856 )

Happy Birthday, Robert!

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Ligeti - Musica Ricercata (1953)

This is a set of 11 short pieces that Ligeti wrote wanting to find a new idiom for his own compositions, and he imposed limits on himself writing the works. The high brow concept behind them was that in the first piece he could only use 2 pitches, in the second he could use 3, in the third, 4 pitches, and etc. until the very last piece, the only Ricercar, that uses all 12 tones. Each one varies in character and atmosphere, ranging from very playful and humorous to deeply solemn, depressed, or disturbing. The first work only uses the pitch A, and is full of octaves and jumps, a lighthearted ‘curtain raiser’ that for extra laughs holds the second pitch, D, for the very end. The second piece is a very dark work focusing on the instability between a half-step, and it’s open spaces make the work very creepy. It was used in Stanley Kubrick’s last film, Eyes Wide Shut, about a mysterious sex cult of elite members of society and the dark implications of what happens to people who step out of line. The third piece is a fun romp, kind of bluesy. The fourth is a short dance, kind of mysterious, makes me think of upbeat Satie. The fifth is like a lament, and it’s opening could easily open a Lisztian Hungarian Rhapsody, and has a powerful middle section. The sixth is on the opposite end, very sunny and almost childish and silly with its melody and rhythm. The seventh is a gorgeous pastoral, a delicate melody plays over a rapid but hushed repeating left-hand pattern, and eventually becomes a duet. The eighth plays like a Bartók dance, very happy and up beat with subtle dissonances and jabbing rhythm.  The ninth is dedicated in memory of Bartók and starts with a slow melody over dull “bells”, then contrasted with clanging chords. The tenth is a chromatic dance, reminiscent of early Prokofiev [like a suggestion diabolique perhaps]. And finally, the eleventh is a dense ricercata, that is a fugue, off of an unnerving 12 tone theme, and while it breaks up a bit as it develops, in a poetic gesture it ends on A, the single pitch that the collection began with.

René Magritte - Golconda (1953)

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György Ligeti

( 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006 )

Happy Birthday, György!

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Rachmaninoff - Variations on a Theme of Chopin, op.22

These variations, written in 1903, are based on Chopin’s Prelude op.28 no.20 in c minor. These variations take the prelude and run it through as many patterns as in a kaleidoscope: drama, tragedy, syncopated rhythms, pianistic flourishes, canons, triumphant marches, chorales, 20th century etudes on harmony, nocturnes, romances, all with Rachmaninoff’s unmistakable style. Despite the source material, Rachmaninoff exemplifies his ability as a composer by injecting his personal style into another’s work; the hallmark of great variation writing.

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Rimsky-Korsakov - Capriccio espagnol (1887)

Kaprichchio na ispanskiye temï, or Capriccio on Spanish Themes. Alongside nationalism, Russian composers had a penchant for the “exotic”. And of “The Five”, Rimsky-Korsakov was the most exotic influenced composer. Many of his beloved works are inspired by Middle Eastern folktales, and this popular concert piece is based on Spanish folk melodies. But the irony about Rimsky-Korsakov’s music is, despite the foreign subject matter, his music is always characteristically Russian. And maybe that could be used to make a poetic statement about the universality of folk music. Originally, Rimsky-Korsakov wanted to write the suite for violin and orchestra, but decided to make it more of an ensemble pieces. The way he writes for orchestra here is almost like a baroque concerto-grosso, in that we often get solos, duos, trios, or quartets of instruments or instrument sections that add to the textural variety throughout. It opens with a rowdy fanfare with unadulterated joy. The violinist has a few solos here, coming off like a rustic fiddle. The next movement opens with a theme from the horns that is then used as the basis for a set of variations. Again, the tones here are rich, and in the middle we get the strings playing out brazen and warm. It ends softly with the flute playing chromatics up and down. The opening aubade returns, harps and clarinet supporting the violin. Then we get a scene with a “gypsy” song. The brass plays a procession, the violin plays a rugged cadenza. The strings are plucked like guitars as the flute enters with its cadenza. And then the clarinet takes the spotlight. Then the harp. Then the whole team comes together playing the seductive melody. The music builds up more and more, until we get a new theme that sounds like the opening a bit, now we are in a sunny fandango. The ensembles shine outward as the piece plays with the kind of unapologetic sentimentality you’d expect from folk songs. Rimsky-Korsakov includes a large palette of percussion instruments here; castanets are finally introduced. The music breaks out in a rush, and we are thrown into the coda, the same material that opened the piece.

Movements:

1. Alborada

2. Variazioni

3. Alborada

4. Scena e canto gitano

5. Fandango asturiano

Orchestra: Frankfurt Radio Symphony Conductor: Pablo Heras-Casado

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Haydn - Symphony no. 80 in d minor (1784)

I may have said this before, but something that I'm semi-surprised by is how Haydn has kind of fell out of popular taste. While he was alive during the second half of the 18th century, he was a cosmopolitain composer loved by the public across Europe. And he couldn't be dismissed as a 'populist' or whatever; the music critics and intelligentsia of the day also hailed him as the greatest living composer. And yet his reputation has been kind of dwindling in comparison to Mozart and Beethoven. I've wondered why that is, and I think what really hurts Haydn is that he wasn't as much of a "melody writer" like Mozart was. HIs interest was in motivic development and breaking up musical ideas, like Beethoven. But unlike Beethoven, Haydn's contrasts and dramatic expressions aren't nearly as intense and theatrical. He is much more subtle, and prefers light-heartedness and comedy over tragedy. So our post-romantic world would much rather listen to angsty Beethoven, or lusciously melodious Mozart, than more 'straightforward' Haydn. Which is a shame because in some regards, Haydn is underrated. It can be hard to get into him because of the sheer amount of music he wrote. When there are over 100 symphonies, where do you start? Especially if the last one is the most popular...that implies the earlier ones aren't worth the attention and time. This by itself can be detrimental to appreciating Haydn, especially because not everything is going to be a masterpiece or super gripping. I first came across this symphony through the finale, which is a lot of fun and is one of my favorite of his symphony movements. The opening is dramatic by its immediacy, throwing us into the 'action' of the music right away. What interests me here is how at the end of the exposition, what starts out as a frantic and anxious theme gets turned into a thinner, calmer, and pretty quaint melody with the flutes. It's a reminder of where Beethoven got some of his ideas from: instead of only developing the motivic elements with pitch, harmony, counterpoint, Haydn is developing the sound of the initial musical idea as well. The atmosphere is developed from restless/serious into something tame/lighthearted. The second movement is a long adagio that's also in sonata form. What stood out the most to me here is how it exemplifies the way Haydn wrote for orchestra, which made him unique compared to other composers of the day. While winds were usually used for coloring, or where a lot of instruments were doubling each other to keep the focus on pitch and counterpoint etc., Haydn wrote instrumental groups "against" each other to have them stand out, and to make the contrast of sounds become part of the music. Rimsky-Korsakov (hailed as one of the great orchestrators of the 19th century) loved Haydn for this reason. And in retrospect we can now see that Haydn's attitude to orchestral writing was closer to 20th century composers than it was to the composers of his day. As I mentioned above, the finale is my favorite part of the symphony. It also sounds like an 18th century 'audience pleaser' with its fun syncopated rhythm, contrasts of instrumental color, and folksy drones. No this symphony doesn't have a nickname to draw in a listener's curiosity, but it's still a great symphony from the Father of the Symphony.

Movements:

Allegro spiritoso

Adagio

Menuetto

Finale: Presto