I’ve heard a number of recordings of Serenade for Strings by Tchaikovsky and Dvorak. Many of them are very good. None, however, quite compares to this one. Recorded in 1984, this recording by the English String Orchestra isn’t new by any means. I usually like to highlight the latest and greatest, but sometimes you gotta give props to an old standby.
The English String Orchestra plays these iconic works with complete ease, precision and emotion. It’s really quite incredible how effortless, yet completely beautiful and engaging this recording is. If you aren’t transported while listening to this recording, well, you aren’t listening!
Musical Style: Melodic, romantic
When to listen: Anytime you need to relax and escape but don’t know where to go.
Salon97 two word review: incredibly gorgeous
Whether you’ve heard these pieces a thousand times or never before you’re in for a treat. Enjoy!
Dmitri Shostakovich was a dynamic composer who delicately balanced performing in his preferred avant-garde fashion, writing commissioned communist-sympathetic works for films, plays and ballets, along with the overall requisite that he show Leninist support. How tiring it must have been! Shostakovich is our dynamo Composer of the Week.
b. September 25, 1906, St Petersburg
d. August 9, 1975, Moscow
Dmitri Shostakovich was regarded as the greatest symphonist of the 20th century and his musical talents were clear early on. Shostakovich had perfect pitch and was also well-acquainted with works by Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov by approximately age 10.
The success of his first symphony made him internationally famous. Composed between 1924 and 1925, it was his graduation piece at the Leningrad Conservatory.
Shostakovich’s true calling was to compose in avant-garde forms, however, the need to earn money and support his mother led him to accept contracts to compose for film, ballets and plays in the late 20s. He wrote music for 10 films, 8 plays and 3 ballets, all of which were propagandist works denouncing capitalism.
Additionally in this time, Shostakovich placed a strong emphasis on performing as a pianist. He placed 8th in the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.
His 1934 premiere of the opera Lady Macbeth was incredibly successful and well-regarded, until Stalin and some of his high-ranking officials attended a performance of the work and denounced it as leftist confusion. Shostakovich immediately lost his position of the leader in Soviet music. Throughout his life, Shostakovich endured the hypocracy of showing Leninist support. It is believed that he was only minimally supportive of this regime and instead showed support to avoid the ruin of his career. These difficulties took a toll on Shostakovich.
Though he managed to maintain his artistic voice while singing the praises of Lenin, he was also denounced several time for “formalism,” which means that he was accused of writing music that was too highly structured in lieu of providing simple uplifting music for the masses.
Against his will, Shostakovich was named First Secretary of the Soviet Composers Union and the many prizes he won included an honorary degree from Oxford and, ironically, the Lenin Prize.
We’ve decided to launch a monthly recommended recording segment in 2011. Each month we’ll feature a rockin’ classical recording selected especially for our Salon97 peeps. So without further ado, our first monthly pick!
Quincy Porter Complete Viola Works
Oh, so you’ve never heard of Quincy Porter. He was a super awesome American composer and was featured as a Salon97 Composer of the Week over the summer. Check it out!
So now that we’re all caught up, let’s get to the recording. This fantastic album presents Porter’s rarely-heard complete viola works. Eliesha Nelson is a fantastic violist who is joined by violinist, pianist, conductor extraordinaire John McLaughlin Williams. Each piece on the album is a joy to listen to and is wonderfully executed. It’s always a treat to hear such talented musicians perform, and all the better when they’re performing amazing works that have been heard by so few.
Also! This album has received nominations in four categories for the upcoming 2011 GRAMMY Awards. The artists are surely deserving of each one of these awards. We’ll have our fingers crossed!
Could we say a lot more about this amazing record? Yes. Lots. But please, just go listen. It’s incredible! Get a sneak peek with the videos below.
Musical style: romantic, impressionistic, melodic
When to listen: On a sunny weekend afternoon after a leisurely stroll in the park
Salon97 two word review: beautifully lush
Here’s a music video from the album! Blues Lointains for Viola and Piano:
George Crumb, American composer extraordinaire, engaged in quite an extensive musical education — he studied at the Mason College of Music in Charleston, the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the Berlin Conservatory. Crumb received a Rockefeller grant in 1964 and was a composer in residence at the Buffalo Center for the Creative and Performing Arts.
Most of Crumb’s music can be described as eerie and bone-chilling, and he is certainly one of the more avant-garde composers featured in our Composer of the Week segment. His compositions reference art-music, hymns, folk music and non-western music, and they also commonly employ various vocal techniques along with symbolic, mystical and theatrical components.
Crumb taught at the University of Pennsylvania for over 30 years. He was a Fullbright scholar and won the Pulitzer prize for his work “Echoes of Time and the River” in 1968. Crumb is also a 2001 GRAMMY award winner and was the 2004 Musical America “Composer of the Year.”
b. June 29, 1911 in New York, NY
d. December 24, 1975 in Los Angeles, CA
Bernard Herrmann began studying composition and conducting at NYU while still in high school. He went on to Juilliard where he remained for two years, however, he found the school to be too conservative. In 1933, Herrmann formed the New Chamber Orchestra, which was comprised of unemployed musicians. He used this group to practice his conducting abilities as well as test his compositions. In 1934, Herrmann was hired as an assistant to Johnny Green, a conductor and composer with CBS. From 1936-40 he composed incidental music for episodes of “The Columbia Workshop” radio show, “The Mercury Theater on the Air” (directed by Orson Welles), and “The Campbell Playhouse” (also directed by Welles).
This work led to Wells commissioning Bernard Herrmann to write the score for Citizen Kane. Herrmann went on to compose for Fox studios for 12 years, and upon beginning to work with Alfred Hitchcock and MGM, his career became quite successful. He composed the score for Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), and also TV’s Rawhide, The Twilight Zone, and The Alfred Hitchcock Half Hour.
Herrmann was one of the few Hollywood composers of his time who orchestrated his own works. He saw this aspect of music as the composer’s musical thumbprint. That said, his orchestration was often unusual. In The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) he used two theremins, an electric violin, bass, guitar, 4 harps, 4 pianos, percussion and brass. In Journey to the Center of the Earth he used 5 organs. Herrmann’s concert and operatic works did not receive nearly as much attention as his film compositions.
Socially, he was known to be egotistical and difficult to get along with. Herrmann would only compose for films in which he was at liberty to write what he wished. As such, when Hitchcock once asked him to write a score with more “pop” sound and did not like Herrmann’s result, Herrmann refused to change the composition and never worked with him again. He won the 1941 Academy Award for The Devil and Daniel Webster. He received a GRAMMY and Oscar nomination for his score to Martin Scorsese’s film, Taxi Driver.
And now for some listening! A couple of Bernard Herrmann’s best known works are below.
Pachelbel’s Canon. Where would weddings, high school graduations or any public celebration of passage be without it? You’ve heard it if you’ve ever played in an orchestra. Heck, you know PC if you’ve ever seen an orchestra. It’s formal name is “Canon in D major”, its composer a German named Johann Pachelbel. But if you say “The song you always hear at weddings” most people will know what you mean.
That ubiquity is why I love Robert Redford’s choice of the piece to bookend his directorial debut, 1980s Ordinary People. It’s the first time I know of that the piece of classical music most yoked to celebrations has been the soundtrack to a divorce.
Redford adapted Ordinary People the movie from Ordinary People, the young adult novel by Judith Guest. Both concern the autumn and winter’s passing of a Chicago family in the wake of an older sons death and a younger son’s suicide attempt. The project was an orchard of beginnings–Guest had won the Janet Heidinger Kafka prize (for best first novel by an American woman) four years earlier, and Redford and star Timothy Hutton both received Oscars for their maiden trip in their respective screen roles.
Ordinary People itself is about one very sad march to an ending. The Jarrett family are in the early days of their own extinction as the sadness of the past reveals how ill-equipped they are to stand together in its aftermath. The clip I’ve included comes from the film’s final scenes where the mother, Beth Jerrett, leaves the family and is not coming back. Pachelbel’s Canon comes in at about 9:05 and is unmistakable.
The same cannot be said for its composer. Johann Pachelbel enjoyed considerable fame in his lifetime (the Baroque music era of the mid 17th century) both as a musician and a teacher (several of his students were the siblings of J.S. Bach). But his music wasn’t paid much attention by scholars until the early 1900s. Canon in D, the only canon Pachelbel ever composed, was thought to have been originally recorded for the wedding of Bach’s older brother. A 1970 recording by French composer Jean-Francois Pailliard brought it roaring back to popularity in the modern era.
It’s hard to believe that music as widely known as Pachelbel’s Canon needed a second chance at life. It’s fairly unlikely also that Robert Redford knew this about the piece when he chose it. Nonetheless the choice manages to both retell the piece’s own story and add another dimension to Ordinary People’s.
Redford selected the Pachelbel’s Canon as the film’s lead-in and coda. Like much great film music it doubles back on itself, commenting on the movie while still supporting its narrative. You might grin in recognition or nod when the piece underscores the film’s opening, a reverent yet melancholy montage of the falling leaves of late fall. But when it reappears at the end, your face might twist.
Why is a canon associated so permanently with celebration and marriage concluding a story of a family’s collapse? Perhaps the music hints at the ending also being about the rebirth of another family, between father and son, based on forgiveness more than regret. Perhaps Conrad and Calvin Jarrett have a another shot at a different kind of life. The canon that plays them off into that possibility certainly did.
Antonin Dvorak was basically a rock star. So much so that some computer keyboards were named after him.
b. September 8, 1841 in Prague
d. May 1, 1904 in Prague
Dvorak was an early musical talent and made quick gains on the violin upon beginning his studies at age 5. He studied at the only organ school in Prague and later became accomplished on the violin and viola. He played in the Bohemian Provisional Theater Orchestra until 1871 when he began composing.
In 1871 he wrote the song cycle “Cypress Trees” to woo one of his students, Josefina Cermakova. He ended up marrying her sister Anna instead since Josefina married another man. Dvorak had 9 children.
Dvorak began being recognized as an important composer in the early 1870s. He received an honorary degree from Cambridge and directed the National Conservatory of Music in NY from 1892 to 1895. He wrote Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” in winter and spring of 1893 and returned to Europe in 1895. He later directed the Conservatory in Prague until he died in 1904.
He wrote 9 symphonies, a set of symphonic poems, concerti, several operas and was greatly influenced by composers such as Smetana, Wagner and Brahms, who was the most influential for him. Brahms and Dvorak became friends after Dvorak won a composing competition three years in a row. Brahms was a judge at the competition. After the two became friends, Brahms had tremendous influence on Dvorak’s work. Brahms contacted the European publisher Simrock on behalf of Dvorak, and the following year a few of Dvorak’s works were published and became very successful. These included the Serenade for Strings, 5th Symphony, String Quartet No. 2 and Piano Trio No. 1.
Most of the Dvorak photos I found were either incredibly pixelated, or were of Dvorak keyboards. Composers first, keyboards second. Okay? Additionally I came across some strange images:
Mozart ≠ Dvorak. Just sayin’.
image courtesy of www.chinaoilpainting.com
Czechoslovakia (prior to becoming the Czech Republic) released a Dvorak coin. Way to represent!
Johannes Brahms was a star of the Romantic Era and was also really super cool. His emphatically expressive music is an absolute pleasure to listen to.
b. May 7, 1833 in Hamburg, Germany
d. April 3, 1897 in Vienna, Austria
Brahms began studying piano at age six and also studied cello and horn. As a young person he enjoyed romantic German poetry and the music of Bach and Beethoven. He also collected manuscripts of European folk songs in his teen years.
In the 1860s Brahms spent much of his time in Vienna but also went on many concert tours to supplement his income.
Brahms was very close with fellow composers Robert and Clara Schumann. Upon Robert’s eventual institutionalization, Brahms fell in love with Clara and pursued her after Robert’s death. She declined to be involved in a romance with Brahms.
In addition to his love for Clara Schumann, Brahms also had deep infatuation for Julie Schumann, Robert and Clara Schumann’s daugther. He also nearly proposed to a young singer, and he quit teaching piano lessons to another young student because he was so deeply in love with her.
In 1872 Brahms became the music director of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. He remained there for three years. In general, Brahms tried to avoid taking official positions so that he could remain dedicated to composing. Much of Brahms’ career was spent trying to master two genres dominated by Beethoven — the string quartet and the symphony. Over the course of his career, Brahms conducted concerts in major cities in Germany, Poland, The Netherlands and Switzerland. He later became known in England and the US.
As he became more well-known he began receiving honors which included the Bavarian Order of Maximilian for Science and Art (1873, with Wagner), the Gold Medal of the Philharmonic Society in London (1877), a knighthood in the Prussian Order ‘Pour le Mérite’ for Science and Art (1887), the Knight’s Cross of the Imperial Austrian Order of Leopold (1889), honorary membership of the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn (1889), and the Austrian Order for Art and Science (1895). In 1876 he declined an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge because he was unwilling to travel to England.
Brahms became wealthy as a result of payment for compositions and performances and his habit of leading a modest lifestyle. He was very generous and supported scholarly projects, young musicians and family. Brahms had tons of friends, including musicians, writers, artists, scholars and music-loving members of the professional and wealthy business classes. He was good friends with composers Karl Goldmark and Johann Strauss, German poet Klaus Groth, Swiss poet and writer Josef Victor Widmann. German poet, novelist, and Nobel Prize winner Paul Heyse and Swiss writer Gottfried Keller were friends who also supplied Brahms with texts for his songs. Despite having a multitude of friends, Brahms became prickly with those who invaded his privacy or were not sincere in their associations with him.
Posthumously, Brahms’ music was very influential. Some composers had trouble developing past what Brahms created and other, mostly younger, composers such as Busoni, Hindemith, Schoenberg and Weill utilized Brahms’ idioms to pave the path for the beginning of modernism.
Where to start
Brahms has a brilliant collection of Romantic Era symphonic and chamber music. His symphonies are a great place to start. Symphony No. 2 is a personal favorite, but all are wonderful to listen to. You’ll also find a bit of comedic value in his Academic Festival Overture, as it was written as a thank you to the University of Breslau after he received an honorary doctorate from the institution and contains many college drinking songs, according to Brahms. Of course, his chamber music is great too. Check out his trios and string quartets and see what you think.
We’re squeezing in one last Fantasia salute before the month ends! Beethoven’s segment of the film truly rocks, so we couldn’t pass this one up. Yay Beethoven and yay Fantasia!
b. December 16, 1770 in Bonn, Germany
d. March 26, 1827 in Vienna, Austria
Ludwig van Beethoven was regarded as the most important composer in the transition between the Classical and Romantic period of music and is also thought to be the most important composer ever to live.
He came from a musical family — both his father and grandfather sang in choruses. After the death of his grandfather, Beethoven’s father declined into alcoholism and Beethoven became the breadwinner for the household.
Though his father tried to turn young Ludwig into a piano prodigy like Bach, the effort was unsuccessful. Obviously, Beethoven’s career did not lack success though, as we well know. He began working as an assistant court organist in 1782 and in 1783 became a continuo player for the opera in Bonn. He also studied in Vienna with Mozart, who was very impressed with Beethoven’s capabilities. In fact, Beethoven’s improvisation skills were so good that he surpassed the great Mozart with his abilities in this genre.
We owe gratitude to Beethoven for many things. Prior to his career, instrumental music was considered inferior to vocal music. Many of the amazing chamber works and orchestral works we’ve come to know and love may not have been written if it wasn’t for Beethoven’s great influence.
Beethoven is famous for many wonderful compositions, but today we focus on his Symphony No. 6, Pastoral. Here’s Beethoven’s clip from Disney’s Fantasia:
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