tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277102232656697042Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:05:58 +0000BeethovenBrahmsHaydnTchaikovskyRimsky-KorsakovSchumannBachMahlerMendelssohnBrucknerDvorakMozartcomparing worksSchubertSibeliusaboutlistening tipsChopinDebussyPaganiniRachmaninoffShostakovichhumorstarting your music collectionAnne-Sophie MutterBartokBerliozBorodinColumbus SymphonyDennis BrainDukasElgarFantasiaGriegHandelHolstLisztMussorgskyRavelRespighiSaint-SaensScarlattiStraussTelemannVaughan Williamsgratitudejargonlinksmodern classical musicreferencesslowing downt-shirts101 Classical Music CDs"The study of the history of music and the hearing of masterworks of different epochs will speediest of all cure you of vanity and self-adoration."noreply@blogger.com (Daniel)Blogger120125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277102232656697042.post-8020164385541422562Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:11:00 +00002009-11-10T03:11:00.251-08:00DebussyDebussy: Preludes for Piano, Disc 1It's cheating to use the word <em>impressionist</em> when describing Debussy's music, and yet it's a simple fact that Debussy's piano compositions sound just as impressionistic as his orchestral compositions. Today's Preludes are stunning and vivid--they have splashes of wild color, strange chords, strange melodies and weirdly unorthodox techniques.<br /><br />This guy is a true rule-breaker, no matter what instrument he works with.<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" >**********************<br />Krystian Zimerman, piano</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" >Claude Debussy (1862-1918)<br /><a href=" Debussy: Préludes</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Deutsche Grammophon, 1994 [2 CDs]</span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" ><br />**********************</span><br />Until today, I had only experienced Debussy's <a href=" Mer</em> and <em>Images</em></a>, both of which are orchestral works which are at times is so vivid that you can literally almost <em>see</em> the music (the first movement of <em>La Mer</em> is an excellent example of this).<br /><br />The Preludes for piano are equally vivid, but I'd argue that at times Debussy's special effects and musical gadgets interfere with the music itself. I'll cite some examples in the listener notes.<br /><br />One final word: don't buy this 2-CD recording expecting to hear <a href="; or <a href=" piano music. Be ready for something wildly different.<br /><br /><strong>Listener Notes for Debussy's Preludes (Disc 1): </strong><br />1) Prelude 1, <em>Danseuses de Delphes: </em>At the 1:44 and 1:48 marks, you'll hear dissonant chords that sound almost like mistakes (they're not). Man, this ain't Chopin. This music is much more challenging. Also, notice in this track how pianist Krystian Zimerman breathes so loudly that you can clearly hear it over the music. He's no doubt lost himself in his passion for the music.<br /><br />2) Prelude 2, <em>Voiles:</em> One word. Creeeeeeepy.<br /><br />3) Prelude 3, <em>Le vent dans la plaine</em>, is a particularly impressionist(ic?) sounding work.<br /><br />4) Prelude 5, <em>Les collines d'Anacapri:</em> Here's an excellent example of Debussy using musical gadgets and special effects to excess. All of the excited zings!, swoops! and pings! sound interesting, but they aren't music.<br /><br />5) Likewise, Prelude 7, <em>Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest,</em> is another effect-laden piece that quite frankly doesn't sound musical at all. It's full of banging chords and too much use of both extreme ends of the keyboard. Rumble-rumble, ping! ping!<br /><br />6) But then Prelude 8, <em>La fille aux cheveux de lin,</em> shows how Debussy, when he <em>doesn't</em> try to overstuff his compositions with special effects, can write stunningly beautiful music.<br /><br /><br /><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="; frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Please visit my other blogs!</strong></span><br /><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Casual Kitchen</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Cook More. Think More. Spend Less.<br /></span><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Quick Writing Tips</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Short posts on writing, twice a week. </span>2009/11/debussy-preludes-for-piano-disc-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Daniel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277102232656697042.post-4493601776949001666Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:11:00 +00002009-11-03T11:11:00.780-08:00SchumannSchumann: Second Symphony<em>I stood by the body of my passionately loved husband, and was calm. All my feelings were absorbed in thankfulness to God that he was at last set free, and as I <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">kneeled</span> by his bed I was filled with awe. It was as if his holy spirit was hovering over me--Ah! If only he had taken me with him.</em><br /><strong>--Clara Schumann, after the death of her husband Robert Schumann</strong><br /><br />We return to George <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Szell</span> and the Cleveland Orchestra's exceptional recording of <a href=" Four Symphonies</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /> to hear his Symphony #2.<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" >**********************<br />George <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Szell</span> and the Cleveland Orchestra</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" >Robert Schumann (1810-1856)<br /><a href=": Symphonies 1-4; Manfred Overture</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">CBS, 1958/Sony, 1996</span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" ><br />**********************</span><br />When I sat down to listen to Schumann's Second Symphony, I assumed it would sound as Mozart-like as his First Symphony. I couldn't have been more wrong: these two symphonies sound strikingly different.<br /><br /><strong>Listener Notes for Schumann's Symphony #2:</strong><br />1) You can tell right away that this symphony is far more Romantic in style. If Schumann wrote his First Symphony in a style following Mozart, he wrote his Second following Beethoven.<br /><br />2) Excellent examples of classic Romantic style: the passage beginning at 1:58 in the first movement; also the passage at 2:46 in the first movement.<br /><br />3) The closing major chords of the first movement could be cribbed right out of a Beethoven symphony!<br /><br />4) At 1:36 in the second movement, there's a tempo change that the Cleveland Orchestra doesn't get quite right.<br /><br />5) The second movement is one of the more unusual scherzos I've ever heard. Quite frankly, it's odd enough that the second movement is a scherzo in the first place. And good lord, you sure wouldn't be able to dance to it. But wow, does it ever have an exciting ending!<br /><br />6) The third movement is widely considered one of the most beautiful orchestral works Schumann ever wrote. I can't say I disagree. And nice to hear a beautifully played, <em>in-tune</em> clarinet solo at 2:59-3:10 (it repeats at 7:40).<br /><br />7) I found the fourth movement to be somewhat of an anticlimax. It felt like the first movement had a much more rousing (and conclusive) ending.<br /><br /><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="; frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Please visit my other blogs!</strong></span><br /><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Casual Kitchen</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Cook More. Think More. Spend Less.<br /></span><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Quick Writing Tips</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Short posts on writing, twice a week. </span>2009/11/schumann-second-symphony.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Daniel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277102232656697042.post-6781435984351321502Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:11:00 +00002009-10-27T11:11:00.230-07:00ShostakovichShostakovich: First SymphonyI can't help it. I just don't like Shostakovich.<br /><br />This is the second time I've tried my hand at a Shosty symphony, after listening to and <a href=" disliking his Eleventh Symphony</a>.<br /><br />Unfortunately, I felt no emotional connection to his First Symphony either. The music seems random and arbitrary to me--and to be honest, I even caught myself rolling my eyes at a few of Shosty's musical devices. And as I'll show in the listener notes, it's more film score music than symphony.<br />**********************<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Leonard Bernstein and the Chicago Symphony</span> <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><br />Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)</span><br /><a href=": Symphonies Nos. 1 & 7</strong></a><strong><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /></strong><br />Deutsche Grammophone, 1989</span><br />**********************<br />Lucky me: I've still got three more of his symphonies left to listen to: his Second, Seventh and Twelfth.<br /><br />A little historical background before we get to the listener notes: Shostakovich wrote his First Symphony in 1925 at the shockingly young age of 18. It was his graduation piece at the Leningrad Conservatory.<br /><br />Audiences loved it. In the words of my <a href=" Canon of Classical Music,</strong></a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /> the First Symphony "was an unexpected triumph, and overnight Shostakovich became a hero of Soviet music, lauded as the first illustrious child of the [1917 Russian] Revolution."<br /><br />Eventually, the Soviets would come to their senses and decide classical music was a petty bourgeois pretension, and the Soviet regime turned on Shostakovich in the 1930s. The composer drifted in and out of favor with his government over the remainder of his life.<br /><br /><strong>Listener notes for Shostakovich's First Symphony:</strong><br />1) Right from the opening moments of this work, I have misgivings about this symphony and the fact that it sounds like incidental music for a film. As we've seen before, this is <a href=" common criticism of Shostakovich's symphonies</a>.<br /><br />2) Regarding the arbitrariness of this music: the first movement features passages of strangely loud and then strangely soft music that seem to follow each other for shock value rather than any structural or musical reason. It all seems directionless and emotionless.<br /><br />3) "Buh, buh-buh-buh buhhhh, budup, budup, buh-dahhhhh." I suppose that's the primary melody of the first movement? Yeesh.<br /><br />4) Cinematic music alert in the second movement: at the 0:58 mark in the second movement, there's a flute duet with a a snare drum, triangle and strings playing in the background. This passage could <em>easily</em> be background music for an episode of the original <em>Star Trek</em>. In fact, I'm thinking specifically of <a href=" episode,</a> and the scene when Kirk gets zapped after he falls into the obelisk (view from 4:50-5:07).<br /><br />5) Interesting to hear the piano appear out of nowhere to play a solo part at the 3:07 mark in the second movement. Unfortunately, that part later devolves into really cheesy movie music from 3:58 until the end of the movement.<br /><br />6) There is an admittedly fun trumpet part at 3:35 in the second movement. I'll give Shosty credit for that.<br /><br />7) There's yet another passage in the fourth movement (it runs from the 2:00 minute mark to about the 2:48 mark) that is in my view a perfect example of Shostakovich's movie music. Listen to it and tell me why you don't agree.<br /><br />8) And finally, as if to prove my case, there's a <em>classic</em> cinematic flourish at 6:30 in the fourth movement: a melodramatic sfrorzando from the entire orchestra, followed by.... solo tympani! If that isn't self-caricaturing music, I don't know what is. Consider me a petty bourgeois listener, but I'm just not sure what the Soviet regime saw in this symphony.<br /><br /><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="; frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Please visit my other blogs!</strong></span><br /><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Casual Kitchen</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Cook More. Think More. Spend Less.<br /></span><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Quick Writing Tips</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Short posts on writing, twice a week. </span>2009/10/shostakovich-first-symphony.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Daniel)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277102232656697042.post-4041417840826852619Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:11:00 +00002009-10-20T11:11:00.204-07:00SchumannThe Piano Music of Robert Schumann: Klavierwerke: Sonata #2 for Piano, Night Visions, Three Romances and Forest ScenesToday, at long last, I'll finally cover the fourth and final disc of my four-CD recording of Schumann's piano works performed by Wilhelm Kempff. Here are discs <a href=";, <a href="; and <a href="; if you missed them.<br /><br />I've really missed Schumie and his incomparable solo piano compositions. And what's amazing to me about these works is how complex they are. It's actually easier for me to follow a symphony--with all its dozens of different instruments--than it is for me to follow a single pianist performing one of Schumann's works.<br /><br />Despite repeated listens to each of the CDs in this four disc collection, I feel like I've only scratched at the surface of this music.<br /><span style="font-size:85%;">**********************<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Robert Schumann (1810-1856)<br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Performed by Wilhelm Kempff (1895-1991)</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><a href=": Piano Works</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /></span><br />Deutsche Grammophone, 1975<br />**********************</span><br />Before we get into the listener notes, let me say without reservation that I highly, <em>highly</em> recommend this exceptional recording to anyone interested in classical piano music.<br /><br /><strong>Listener notes for Schumann's Sonata for Piano #2 in G minor:</strong><br />1) Once again, it's amazing how many voices can sing out from just ten fingers and one piano. Fortunately, this extremely complex music doesn't have the uniform, machine-made sound of <a href=" Well-Tempered Clavier</a>.<br /><br /><strong>Listener notes for Nachtstucke (Night Visions):</strong><br />2) I can't help but imagine ghouls or zombies traipsing to and fro when I listen to the first movement of Night Visions (Track 5, Disc 4).<br /><br />3) In the second movement (Track 6), I can see happy little sprites traipsing all over the place. And <em>then</em> in the third movement (Track 7), it sounds like the ghouls, spirits <em>and</em> sprites are all holding hands and doing some sort of frolicsome dance together in a field in some kind of a creepy dreamworld. Or something.<br /><br />4) The fourth movement is so sad and mournful, and such a contrast to the first three movements that it hardly seems to belong.<br /><br /><strong>Listener notes for Drei Romanzen (Three Romances):</strong><br />5) Interesting use of dissonant chords in many parts of the main theme of the first movement (Track 9). You can hear them right away in first minute, and they are repeated in the final minute.<br /><br />6) I wonder what love state Schumann had in mind for each of these movements. Perhaps the first movement with all the dissonance was a lover's quarrel, and the second movement (Track 10) is the mournful separation, and the third and final movement (Track 11) is the playful reunion of the lovers?<br /><br /><strong>Listener notes for Waldszenen (Forest Scenes):</strong><br />7) The first of the Forest Scenes, <em>Entritt</em> ("entry" in English, Track 12) is possibly the most beautiful and elegant piece of music I've ever heard in my entire life.<br /><br />8) At the 0:17 mark of Track 14 (<em>Einsame Blumen/Lonely Flowers</em>) it sounds like Kempff makes a bad mistake. However, the same note pattern recurs at 1:01, so unless he deliberately made the mistake twice, Schumann probably wrote it that way. For a piece about flowers, it's a bit jarring.<br /><br />9) I'm wondering what Schumann meant, exactly, by naming the fourth Forest Scene "Place of Evil Fame" (<em>Verrufene Stelle</em>).<br /><br />10) Finally, Wilhelm Kempff's playing is extremely clean throughout this disc. I didn't hear a single error or missed note--in contrast to the (admittedly few) stray mistakes on <a href=" 1</a>.<br /><br /><br /><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="; frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Please visit my other blogs!</strong></span><br /><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Casual Kitchen</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Cook More. Think More. Spend Less.<br /></span><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Quick Writing Tips</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Short posts on writing, twice a week. </span>2009/10/piano-music-of-robert-schumann.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Daniel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277102232656697042.post-6387669642170237618Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:11:00 +00002009-10-13T11:11:00.308-07:00SchumannSchumann: First Symphony<em>To be sure, a Schumann score is not as foolproof, as "self-rising," as a score of Wagner or Tchaikovsky or Richard Strauss, nor has the musical substance of a Schumann symphony the kind of inexorable propulsion of some Beethoven symphonies, which will survive even a shabby performance relatively unharmed. But is it really Schumann's fault that it takes a little trouble on the part of the conductor and orchestra to make his symphonies come off?</em><br /><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">--George Szell, conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, 1946-1970</span></strong><br /><br />Schumann didn't just write <a href=" for the piano</a>, obviously. But there is a bit of a debate as to the importance of his four symphonies.<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" >**********************<br />George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" >Robert Schumann (1810-1856)<br /><a href=": Symphonies 1-4; Manfred Overture</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">CBS, 1958/Sony, 1996</span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" ><br />**********************</span><br />Fortunately, George Szell worshipped Schumann's four symphonies, and he conducted and recorded with the Cleveland Orchestra what is widely considered to be <a href=" of the best recordings ever of Schumann's First Symphony.</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" />Today's post is dedicated to that recording, which I highly, <em>highly</em> recommend.<br /><br />A few introductory words about the Cleveland Orchestra: While Cleveland might be better known these days for its appallingly bad pro football team, this underappreciated city actually has a world-class orchestra. And Clevelanders have George Szell to thank for this--under Szell's direction (<a href=" might say dictatorial control</a>), Cleveland transformed from a competent regional symphony into one of the world's finest orchestras.<br /><br /><strong>Listener notes for Schumann's First Symphony:</strong><br />1) It's almost shocking to go back to a "traditional-sounding" classical music symphony immediately after experiencing the overwhelming power and weight of <strong>Mahler's Third.</strong> Only some 55 years separate the compositions, but they sound centuries apart, don't they? I will say it's more relaxing to listen to a symphony when you don't have to keep a fearful grip on the volume dial.<br /><br />2) I can see how this symphony could sound like a Mozart knockoff to a first-time listener (this is one of the criticisms leveled at Schumann's symphonies), but give it a chance and a few extra listens. To paraphrase Woody Allen, it's more complex and original than it sounds.<br /><br />3) At 5:17 in the second movement (Track 2) what should be a beautiful passage played by the trombones gets mangled by poor intonation. Note that according to this CD's liner notes, this recording took place over two days--I'm surprised they didn't notice and re-record that passage. Cleveland is a better symphony than that.<br /><br />4) A few comments about the particularly enjoyable third movement (the <em>Scherzo</em>): The main theme/motif of the third movement is quite interesting, especially when Schumann morphs it though major and minor keys. That creates quite a bit of tension and release.<br /><br />5) Further, there are also several quite interesting meter changes in the third movement. At 1:19 in Track 3, the third movement shifts from 3/4 meter (that's the typical meter for a scherzo movement) into an unexpectedly lively 2/4 meter. At 2:42, it switches back to the original theme and meter. Then, at 3:21, we switch yet <em>another</em> meter, before returning back to the original theme once again at 4:24. Finally, there's a soft coda at very end of the movement, during which Szell takes all sorts of liberties with the tempo. This is one of the more interesting Scherzo movements I've ever heard.<br /><br />6) The opening to the fourth movement sounds almost like a major scale! Admittedly, this movement sounds quite Mozart-like--at first. But listen at the 4:14 mark, when an entirely different theme with a very un-Mozart like tension begins.<br /><br />7) Readers who are familiar with my <a href=" on the Philadelphia Orchestra</a> will know that it's a sadly rare pleasure for me to listen to clarinet solos that are played completely in tune.<br /><br />8) Finally, getting back to the criticism that this symphony sounds like a Mozart knockoff, the very last minute of the fourth movement sounds, unfortunately, exactly like something Mozart would write. I'll be quite curious to see if Schumann's other symphonies (I'll be writing posts on all four) share this trait at all.<br /><br /><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="; frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Please visit my other blogs!</strong></span><br /><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Casual Kitchen</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Cook More. Think More. Spend Less.<br /></span><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Quick Writing Tips</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Short posts on writing, twice a week. </span>2009/10/schumann-first-symphony.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Daniel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277102232656697042.post-1210301370438238288Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:11:00 +00002009-10-06T11:11:00.795-07:00MahlerMahler: Third Symphony<em>But I have surely written you that I am at work on a large composition. You cannot believe how this claims one's entire being, and how one is often so deep in it that for the outer world one is as if dead. Try to conceive a work so vast that in it the entire world is mirrored--one is, so to speak, only an instrument on which the whole universe plays. (I have explained this to you often, and you must accept it, if you really wish to understand me. Everyone who wishes to live with me must learn this. In such moments I no longer belong to myself.) ...These are fearful birth pains the creator of such a work suffers, and before all this organizes itself, builds itself up, and ferments in his brain, it must be preceded by much preoccupation, engrossment with self, a being dead to the outer world. My symphony will be something the world has not as yet heard!</em><br /><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">--Gustav Mahler, in a letter to his lover Anna von Mildenburg, describing the gestation of his Third Symphony--and responding to her complaints that he was not writing to her often enough (quote thanks to </span></strong><a href=" style="font-size:85%;">The Essential Canon of Classical Music</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size:85%;"><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /> and </span></strong><a href=" style="font-size:85%;">Composers On Music: Eight Centuries of Writings</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size:85%;"><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" />). </span></strong><br /><br />I've been looking forward to listening to this monster of a symphony for a long time, but in a way I had to get up the courage to do so:<br /><br />* It takes up 2 CDs.<br />* It has six movements (initially, Mahler considered a <em>seventh</em>).<br />* It lasts more than 90 minutes.<br />* And the first movement alone is a symphony in itself, at more than 33 minutes.<br /><br />I can't imagine the courage it must have taken to <em>write</em> it.<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" >**********************<br />Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker<br /></span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" >Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)<br /><a href=": Symphony No. 3</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Deutsche Grammophon, 1999</span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" ><br />**********************</span><br />There is a fine line, however, between earth-shattering drama and melodrama, and in this symphony Mahler repeatedly stomps over that line--especially in the first movement.<br /><br />And that flair for melodrama apparently infected the producers of this recording too: the final track on this CD (Track 19) is entitled "Applause"--<em>and it is three minutes and twenty seconds long.</em> Yes, you heard that right. There's a more than three-minute-long track, deliberately placed at the end of this symphony, that contains applause. Clapping.<br /><br />And yet I love this symphony like very few in my collection. That's how it is with Mahler--you have to embrace the melodrama. What a fool I've been <a href=" let this CD sit on my shelf, collecting dust</a>, for so long!<br /><br /><strong>Listener Notes for Mahler's Third Symphony:</strong><br />1) The Berlin Philharmonic must have some monster French horn players. They really let it rip in the opening passage.<br /><br />2) An occupational hazard of a live recording: somebody on stage accidentally drops something during the pianissimo section at 0:42 in Track 1. I'm sure we'll hear a more than typical number of mistakes, as well as--shudder--<a href=";, from the audience.<br /><br />3) There's a big trumpet mistake late in the first movement (at 1:39 in Track 8 on CD 1). In his "buh buh buh buhhhhhh!" part, he really whiffs the last note.<br /><br />4) This first movement is truly a symphony within a symphony. At 32 minutes, it's materially longer than Beethoven's entire <a href=" Symphony</a>. Heck, <a href="; could fit three or four "symphonies" into 32 minutes! But it does beg a question: How many times, for example, should you incorporate major musical climaxes, um, in your first movement? And after three, four, or even five major climaxes, what could possibly be left to say for the remaining hour of the symphony? After I finished the first movement, I couldn't believe that I had only heard one-third of this work.<br /><br />5) Whoo. Onto the second movement--only 64 minutes to go! This is not a symphony for the attention-span-challenged.<br /><br />6) The second movement is so quaint and beautiful, and so radically different in tone and style from the first movement, that it seems preposterous that the same composer could have written both.<br /><br />7) The third movement has to be the kookiest Scherzo movement I've ever heard. It sounds like something out of <a href=" Symphonie Fantastique</a>.<br /><br />8) A piece of trivia regarding the off-stage trumpet in the third movement (begins at 0:12 in Track 7 of Disc 2): That's actually not a trumpet, or at least it's not supposed to be. It's a <em>flugelhorn</em>, a brass instrument very similar to a trumpet but slightly larger and more mellow-sounding. At the beginning of Track 9, you'll hear a trumpet come in with a gentle call which is immediately answered by the off-stage flugelhorn--those two passages give you a good sense of the difference in sound between the two instruments.<br /><br />9) I'm very pleased with the cough-related behavior of this audience. I noticed just a few barely-audible stray coughs during the third movement, another couple in the fourth movement, and that was about all. Further proof that the Europeans behave better than Americans in the symphony hall.<br /><br />10) Lots of elements of the fourth movement are downright ghoulish. The vocal soloist singing in an unusually low register (the singer, Anna Larson, is a contralto, which is the lowest of female singing registers--if she were a man she could sing a mean tenor part), the really low notes from the bass viols, the odd glissandos (first the oboe, then the saxophone), the lyrics (drawn from Nietsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra), and then a children's choir entering with cheery major chords--that then warp into creepy-sounding minor keys. This movement is almost too much to take.<br /><br />11) I think if you want to understand why musicians and audiences worldwide have deep affection for Mahler, listen to the fourth and fifth movements of this symphony. It's hard to believe that this much emotion and tension can take place in music.<br /><br />12) Holy cow on the ripping brass parts in the final movement, especially towards the end of Track 16, and at the very end in Track 18. No brass player on earth would feel anything but love for this symphony.<br /><br />13) And I have to eat my words from earlier in this post when I picked on the "Applause" track. It belongs there. It totally does. I understand now.<br /><br /><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="; frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="; frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="; frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Please visit my other blogs!</strong></span><br /><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Casual Kitchen</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Cook More. Think More. Spend Less.<br /></span><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Quick Writing Tips</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Short posts on writing, twice a week. </span>2009/10/mahler-third-symphony.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Daniel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277102232656697042.post-426057433556315465Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:11:00 +00002009-09-29T11:11:00.814-07:00RachmaninoffRachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances<em>The older we get, the more we lose that divine self-confidence which is the treasure of youth, the fewer are those moments when we believe that what we have done is good.</em><br /><strong>--Sergei Rachmaninoff, in an interview, at age 56.</strong><br /><br />The Symphonic Dances was the last work Rachmaninoff ever composed. He completed it some four years after his Third Symphony, during a period in his life when <a href=" had become increasingly dissatisfied with himself as a composer and even as a pianist."</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /><br /><br />Yet more compelling evidence that the profession of classical music brings misery to the vast majority of those who enter it. The more I learn about the lives of major classical music composers and musicians, the more I'm relieved that, at age 17, I gave up any serious idea of becoming a professional trumpet player. I can only think how miserable and self-critical I'd be now at age 40.<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" >**********************<br />Mikhail Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra<br /></span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" >Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)<br /><a href=" No. 3 in A minor</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /><br /><a href=" Dances</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Deutsche Grammophon, 1998</span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" ><br />**********************</span><br /><strong>Listener Notes for Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances:</strong><br />1) Strange, and disappointing, to hear idiosyncratic instrumentation again--a classic symptom of dreaded <em>film score music disease</em>. Examples abound in the early minutes of the first movement: low-register piano notes, percussion used for effect, warbling saxophones solos, harp/piano duets, chimes, piano/flute unison parts, gongs, etc.<br /><br />2) According to the liner notes with this CD, Rachmaninoff had never used a saxophone in a composition before (thus making my guess last week of the instruments used in the first moments of his Third Symphony incorrect, apparently), but he was influenced by Alexander Glazunov's Saxophone Concerto. Yep, despite the catastrophe that happened when Glazunov drunkenly conducted Rachmaninoff's First Symphony, these two men somehow managed to remain friends.<br /><br />3) At 6:22 in the first movement there's a stunningly beautiful passage played by strings and piano. It lasts until about 8:40, and then, unfortunately, the film score music comes back.<br /><br />4) The second movement has to be one of the weirdest, most macabre waltzes I've ever heard.<br /><br />5) And then it's back to directionless film score music for the third and final movement.<br /><br />6) I know I'm being a bit harsh on my boy Rachy here. But it's okay to not like a given classical music composer. You can't love everybody. Give everyone a fair listen or two and feel free to decide who you like best and least. You'll have better context, then, for where to invest your time and attention. And once you have enough context know which of the major composers or works you like or don't like, you'll never have to worry about buying the wrong classical music CD, or paying up for symphony tickets that you won't enjoy. You'll know in advance to bias your time towards composers you really like, or composers you don't yet know.<br /><br />7) And while this CD is admittedly not a favorite of my collection, it <em>is</em> cleanly played. Thus if you're a fan of Rachmaninoff's symphonic works, this is a good CD to buy.<br /><br /><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="; frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="; frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Please take a look at my other blogs!</strong></span><br /><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Casual Kitchen</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Cook More. Think More. Spend Less.<br /></span><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Quick Writing Tips</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Short posts on writing, twice a week. </span>2009/09/rachmaninoff-symphonic-dances.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Daniel)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277102232656697042.post-914949527229578166Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:11:00 +00002009-09-22T11:11:00.626-07:00RachmaninoffRachmaninoff: Symphony #3Thanks to a drunk conductor and some harsh criticism, Rachmaninoff's Third Symphony came very close to never being written.<br /><br />In 1897, at the young age of just 23, Sergei Rachmaninoff's career as a composer nearly ended before it began with the premiere of his First Symphony. He had already built a reputation for himself as a master pianist, and he had already composed an opera as well as a few other significant works. But the premiere of his First Symphony, which was poorly performed, badly conducted (by an allegedly drunk Alexander Glazunov) and excoriated by critics, nearly destroyed him.<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" >**********************<br />Mikhail Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra<br /></span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" >Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)<br /><a href=" No. 3 in A minor</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /><br /><a href=" Dances</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Deutsche Grammophon, 1998</span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" ><br />**********************</span><br />Rachmaninoff fell into a period of deep depression. It would be four years before he would compose again, and it would be twelve years before he would write another symphony. Fortunately, that symphony, his Second, was very well received by critics and audiences alike.<br /><br />Rachmaninoff completed his Third Symphony much later, in 1936, and he considered it among his greatest works. However, once again, <a href="(Rachmaninoff)#Composer">a lukewarm reception from audiences</a> deeply discouraged him, and it would be another four years before he summoned the courage to write his next (and last) work: his Symphonic Dances, which I will discuss in my next post.<br /><br /><strong>Listener Notes for Rachmaninoff's Third Symphony:</strong><br />1) I love the how the introductory soft passage (it sounds like a unison saxophone and clarinet) gets you to lean forward, ear cocked, and then <em>whammo!</em>--the whole orchestra comes in and blasts you right back into your seat.<br /><br />2) I kept asking myself throughout the first movement, "where is this symphony going?" It's good music, and it has a beautiful 14 note melodic motif, but it has too many Shostakovitch-like film score accoutrements. This symphony doesn't really speak to me yet.<br /><br />3) The opening few minutes of the second movement are another good example of film-score-itis: It sounds beautiful, yes, but at the same time it could be background music for <em><a href=" Blue Lagoon.</a><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none" border="0" alt="" src="; width="1" height="1" /></em> The use of the harp, the glockenspiel, the soft triple-tonguing trumpets, the idiosyncratic use of percussion--they all sound like film-score gadgets to me.<br /><br />4) Note the reprise of the opening "whammo chord" at the beginning of the third movement. At least this time I wasn't leaning forward in my chair!<br /><br /><iframe style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 240px" marginheight="0" src="; frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Please take a look at my other blogs!</strong></span><br /><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Casual Kitchen</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Cook More. Think More. Spend Less.<br /></span><a href=" style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Quick Writing Tips</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>:</strong> Short posts on writing, twice a week. </span>2009/09/rachmaninoff-symphony-3.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Daniel)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2277102232656697042.post-746122439126518588Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:11:00 +00002009-09-15T11:11:00.495-07:00SibeliusSibelius: Fifth SymphonyForget the snotty music critics who berate Sibelius as a simpleton who wrote "<a href=" complex</a>" music. I consider him a truly gifted composer who can create a wide range of emotions in his beautiful, grand and all-too-brief symphonies. In this journey of mine through my dusty classical music collection, Sibelius is turning out to be one of my most pleasurable discoveries.<br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" >**********************<br />Paavo Berglund and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra<br /></span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" &