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.
Okay, so the new to me Schulhoff guy is a smash hit, what a fantastic symphony! That military march that comprises the first movement is just extraordinary in its powerful projection and propulsive force! I cant sa as i generally like marches in my music, but this one ROCKS! At under five minutes, it goes by quick, acting more like an extended introduction than a full fledged opening movement, and that works perfectly for this symphony.
The second movement abandons the march for some more traditional drama, and high drama it is. But its what's ticked away in the corners of the score that really make this movement stand out, like periodic fanfare-like brass calls superimposed on the dramatic foundation, present but not fully in the forefront where you'd normally expect a fanfare to be, lending an air of a heroic common man theme to hreat effect. That is, if youre engaged in active listening; this is not background music!
The third movement brings us a most tempestuous storm, which is executed as a genuine force of nature; man alone can not stand against it... but you never get the sense that he can not survive it. You just have to ride it out... but you realize that while it's gonna be a bumpy ride, it's gonna be a good one and youre gonna emerge stronger than you entered.
Now there was a little unnecessary wandering in the fourth movement, and a theme or motif repeated once or twice too much, but overall thats a very minor quibble, and after scarcely a minute off track, Schulhoff executes a brilliant transition to get us back in the identifiable arc og the musical argument, and we finish strong and solid.
After listening to, and deriving quite exquisite pleasure from this symphony, i did some reading on Schulhoff and I was reminded of the importance of separating the artist from the art. It turns out Schulhoff was a dyed in the wool communist (he died in a concentration camp after having been arrested not for his Jewish heritage, but rather for his being a Soviet sympathizer). Had I known that ahead of time, it might have colored my appreciation.
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Leoš Janáček - Folk Poetry of Hukvaldy in Songs Year: 1898
Rating: 3.75 Stars
Leoš Janáček - Six Folk Songs Sung bt Eva Gabel Year: 1909
Rating: 3.5 Stars
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I grabbed this disc based on a recommendation to Czech out some písně (písně being Czech for lieder). It was a good suggestion. I expected to like the Janáček, but I'd never heard of Jeremiáš, and his písně were also quite enjoyable. These písně were so good, I even liked the male vocals.
Of the four sets, my favorite was the Silesian Songs. Okay, so maybe I was influenced by my recent trip to Central Europe where I fell in love with the Silesian countryside.
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John Williams - Concerto for Violin and Orchestra Year: 1978
Detroit Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Slatkin
Emmanuelle Boisvert/violin
Rating: 4.5 Stars
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Here's an astonishingly good concert piece from the ultimate film score composer!
Musically, this may telling a story unlike any I've ever heard before. It opens with the solo instrument a capella, all alone, totally exposed, and apparently trying to offload some existential angst. Another string enters, and the two play together.... well not actually together.... this is where things get really interesting. Its not really a musical conversation such as we might expect so much as teo different entities inhabiting the same space but approaching and experiencing it differently. Two different characters, two different ethos, beautifully coalesced not in their relationship to each other but in their shared environment. It really is quite brilliant.
And then the full orchestra stomps in and promptly drowns out both! No wonder our little violin was so nervous. Eventually, the orchestra relents, and we can hear our solo personality tentatively return but it's clear its not going to be allowed full partnership. The struggle is real.
Here, we have John Williams being incredibly evocative without being at all cinematic.
In the second movement, we have our solo personality tentatively trying to find their way through this challenging world. This is not a great hero pushing their way to conquest, but rather a rather unsure individual poking around here and there, searching for a way out of this unfamiliar musical wilderness. That's the next really amazing thing about this conceto... that we can so clearly get to know this character when they're in such a subordinate role.
David Hurwitz classifies concertos in two categories: virtuoso concerto or justification concerto. The virtuoso concerto is easy to understand: we know all along the soloist is the show, and the orchestras purpose is to set up and support the soloist. The justification concerto is a little harder to understand; here the soloist must earn their way in the piece. They have to do something to establish their credibility; to justify their existence in this musical world. Of course it's not so binary as that; there's a continuum.... and this particular concerto may be the purest example of the justification concerto. In verbal description, it doesn't sound like my favorite approach, but here, Williams delivers a piece that absolutely amazes me.
If the second movement was about our solo personality trying to find their way, the third is about them trying to find their footing. Over those last 10 minutes, our little violin gradually gains gonfidence, ultimately finding their place in this musical landscape and establishing a presence there. Again, this is not a conquest; instead it becomes a sympathetic cohabitation... a consonance of sorts. Despite the lack of any explicit heroic victory, it's surprisingly satisfying.
Even though there's no obvious recurring melody or musical theme as we proceed from movement to movement, the piece feels strongly cyclical with the exceptionally well argued story ark establishing clear links from I to II to III.
I love being amazed.
This was amazing.
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Leoš Janáček - The Cunning Little Vixen Year: 1923
Rating: 4.25 Stars
Sharp-Ears (Vixen)- Elena Tsallagova
Forester- Jukka Rasilainen
Forester's Wife/ Owl- Michèle Lagrange
Fox- Hannah Esther Minutillo
Schoolmaster- David Kuebler
Parson- Roland Bracht
Harsta- Paul Gay
Director: André Engel.
Opéra national de Paris, Dennis Russell Davies
While I've never been big on opera, today, I decided to do a little experiment.
I love the Czech language. I find the rhythm of the Lang fascinating and its pacing is a delight to my ear.
Although I am a relative neophyte to vocals in my classoal music, I have come to love art song sung in Czech
So why not make a run at a Czech opera? Maybe I'll get into the vocals more if they're in my favorite language? Janáček specifically wrote The Cunning Little Vixen to capitalize on the natural inflection and rhythm of the Czech language.
Well, it turns out that the natural rhythmic meter of the Czech language gets a little lost in the richness of operatic singing. Just a little. So I didn't get quite as much a bump in appreciation based on the language as I anticipated.
So was the experiment a failure?
Not at all.... I just loved the opera!
From the onset, the music was stunningly gorgeous. The pastoral music in the opening act was almost incomprehensively beautiful. Janáček eschews has usual moderism/angular melodies for the most glorious swirling melodies and impressionistic musical picture painting, and it's undeniably glorious!
I liked the story, especially the social themes and especially the defiant strength of character of the central characterthat gives the opera its name. I liked the sets. I loved the acting. And yes, I very much enjoyed the singing. Even when I kinda like some opera singing at the outset, it reaches a point of annoyance long before the theatrical presentation is over. Not here! I loved the third act as much as the first.
I can't deny that I was emotionally struck when the cunning little vixen met her end. Of course it didn't hurt that soprano Elena Tsallagova is herself naturally stunning.
Y'know, I'm not sure I can yet say with absolute certainty that there is undeniable objective proof justifying a 4.5/5 for this work. If anything, I could more easily point to elements that could just as easily argue the contrary. But it definitely struck me as such, so I'm happy to score it thusly.
There are no strings here. "You can't write a whole symphony without any strings!", you say? Kabeláč says "Hold my pilsner."!
At the tactical level, his juxtaposition of borderline sinister organ and heroic brass is unusual, and he uses it to great effect. At the strategic level, his subtle shifting of the roles of each, and especially the power dynamic between them makes their employment rather brilliant.
But the most amazing thing about this symphony at the macro level is the sustained intensity. Any time a piece is one thing throught, that one thing invariably loses its effect, right? We all know that 20+ minutes of unrelenting virtuosity is problematic... if all the notes are fast, then none of the notes are fast. If every measure of a piece is over the top climax, there is no climax. And so on.
Again, Kabeláč says "Czech this out!"
For over 20 minutes, the intensity (again packaged without the benefit of a full orchestra) never relents. But somehow, Kabeláč achieves enough contrast to keep the intensity from ever losing its potency from the opening fanfare right up through the final horn call. Astonishing.
Okay, now that I think about it, I'm going to retract my opening statement and say unequivocally that this piece earns every bit of those four and a half stars.
Either that or I'm just being a Caechophile fan of again.... nah, I'm sticking with the rave without excuse.
Jean Françaix — Clarinet Quintet Year: 1977
The Gautier Ensemble
Richard Hosford/Clarinet
Rating: 4 Stars
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This delightful bit of chamber music has an interesting structure. The five parts, including both the strings and solo instrument, start out simultaneously and in complete harmony. There's no struggle between voices whatsoever. It's beautifully pleasing to the ear, but left me wondering where we might go from here; it was as if we started with the resolution.
Two minutes in, the clarinet makes a brief solo statement that completely changes the pace of the piece. The strings then take over and create an environment for the clarinet to inhabit, which it does mostly through bouncy intersections. What I really like about the balance of this movement is how the environment created by the strings seems complete with or without the bubbly character of the clarinet bouncing through. The relationship seems superficial, but its funny the movement leaves the listener wondering if this is a fleeting event, or will the protagonist actually inhabit the environment or just dance above it.
In the second movement, the strings seem to try to draw the clarinet in, first with little success as the clarinet continues on its frivolous way. But eventually, our main character has to respond to the environment, and in doing so, starts to meld with that environment despite its original bias.
Through the first two movements, soloist Richard Hosford made the most of that light and lively tone, but in the third, our first fully proper slow movement, is where he really shines. Slow often comes with low, and when Hosford takes his clarinet into its lower register, the frivolity transitions to sublime beauty. So this is what we (strings and soloist) can accomplish when we work together! The third movement runs just over 5 minutes: about 15 seconds before the end, I could hear it getting ready to close and all I could think was "noooooo.... it's too soon!"
Of course in the final movement, a lively rondo, we're nack to rapid, lively figures from both the strings and wind, but now, they're more fully inhabiting the same space, but fortunately keeping their personalities intact.
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