Benedict Anton Aufschnaiter - Serenade Della Pace Year: 1778
Cοncerto Armοnicο Budаpest
Rating: 3.75 Stars
This is a very nice classical serenade, but it can easily fall into the trap of becoming a little too staid. A great choice for when you want something fairly straightforward and proper.
Bohuslav Martinů - Piano Concerto #4, Incantation Year: 1956
Rudolf Firkušný/Piano
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Libor Pešek
Rating: 4.5 Stars
This piece is unusual in that it is only two movements, but that's appropriate here. The first movement is full of that patented Martinu tension and his unique harmonic palette. The transition to the start of the second movement is magical; Martinů eases the tension considerably, but somehow still maintains the drama and the mysteriousness actually increases a bit. I listened to a performance by Rudolf Firkušný/piano and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Libor Pešek from a Naxos CD and they do a wonderful job bringing out various subtleties in the score and enhancing the nuances that can easily get lost in a Martinu composition.
As I listened to the first movement, I was struck early on as to how American it sounded which quickly evolved into "this is what an American Martinu would sound like!" and "this could be a cross between Martinu and Piston (great company to be in!). That first movement was fairly short, which is probably just as well since it had such a relentless angular rhyhtmic drive to it. The second movement started off totally beautiful and gradually got darker, but did so without losing its foundational beauty, ultimately taking on a very American film noir soundtrack vibe (not always something that would excite me, but it did here) The final movement was a perfectly balanced bookend to the first movement, and brought everything to a most rousing close! A magnificent work.
As this started, I was thinking "this is pretty." But that initial loveliness quickly evolved into something very Finnish. The specific way the strings make a very northern sounding foundation, and then the way the high brass provides punctuation over that foundation is distinctly Finnish to my ear.
But the beauty remains in place of the more austere vibe that permeates most Finnish music. A lot of Finnish music seems to be informed by the sparce arctic landscape, more specifically the long arctic winter night. But this seems to give us more of the equally long Arctic summer's day. There is light, but not bright light. There is the life brought by the low but constant arctic sun, a sort of gentle but persistent and hardy, understated life. The long second movement really makes this point beautifully. In a rather unusual structure, the grand heroic drama shows up in the third movement, which stirs the blood to a solid climax. That that happens in the third movement seems odd at first until you see that the fourth movement is labeled "Epilogue," and it effectively serves as an extended resolution to the entire piece. Quite brilliant if you ask me.
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Fischman
