jmc's classics
It is now the Lenten season in many Christian denominations. There is a lot of good choral music associated with the Lenten season. Among the pieces are J.S. Bach's St. Mathew and St. john passions plus Kristof Pendereckki's St. Luke Passion. Handel's Messiah is often played at this time. It is mainly associated with Christmas.
the only Easter songs that I can think of is "Peter Cottontail" and "The Easter Parade" (or In Your Easter Bonnet) made famous by Judy Garland
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I Was at the march 22 Coffee Concert. It Featured The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas (1865-1931), Edouard Lalo's (1823-1892) Cello concerto in D, and Cesar Franck's (1822-1890) Symphony in D. The conductor was Gilbert Varga who is the son of Hungarians violinist Tibor Varga. The solo Cello was German cellist Daniel Muller-Schott.
Paul Dukas was a French composer who has only left around a dozen or so works. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is his most famous one. It was used in Walt Disney's movie Fantasia. One of the inspiration for this work was Der Zauberlehring a poem by German writer Johan Goethe. I may have seen Fantasia when I was younger. I vaguely remember this music. I am not in to Disney fan. I liked the performance of Lalo's Cello Concerto. Lalo was a Frenchmen from northern France. His main work is Symphonie Espagnole which is actually a violin concerto in five movements. It as the title suggests is passed on Spanish songs. He wrote another violin concerto which is not as popular. I have a copy of this wok on the Deutsche Grammophon label. It is coupled with Camille Saint-Saens' Cello Concerto #2 (Opus#33) and Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei (opus#47) The later work is based on Hebrew Melodies sang at Yom Kippur. It features James Levine conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Matthew Haimovitz as the soloist. Overall I liked this performance it is not like the version that I am used to. Lalo wrote one surviving symphony. I like this work also. There are four versions available. I have the Giancarlo Andretta conducting the Basal Philharmoinc version which is on the CPO label which I recommend. the last version was Cesar Frank's Symphjony in D. He was a Belgian composer who made his living in France. He taught at the Paris Conservatory. this is his only symphony. The French of that gereration did not write as many sympnonies. His other famous work was Panis Angelicus which is part of the Catholic liturgical cycle. He also wrote the Symphonic Varations for piano and Orchestra. Franck wrote mostly organ music. The symphony fuses together both French and Austrian elements. It is only in three movements. The versiton that I have is that of Loren Maazel conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on the Duetsche Grammophon label which I recommend. Overall the concert was enjoyable. These works are not as known as they should be Classical music comes around. It does have influence on modern music. One example is the song "A Lover's Concerto" from 1965 by the Mowtwn group The Toys. It was written by Sandy Linzer and Denny Rendell. It features melodies from J.S. Bach's Minuet in G major (BWV Anh. 114). It comes from Bach's Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. It dates from 1725. Anna Magdalena was Bach's second wife. The Toys were a Black Female trio from Jamaica New York. Jamaica is a part of the borough of Queens and not to be confused with the island of Jamaica.
This song made it to number 2 on Billboard and number 1 on Cashbox which was Billboard's main competitor. The melody was made famous in the 1940's by big Band Leader Freddy Martin. I have now yet heard his version. Some big bands did play classical music. It would take too long to go in to. As I have stated I do like big band and swing music. It has also been recorded by other popular musicians. A Lover's concerto was also used in the movie Mr. Holland's Opus which I have not yet seen. Some music scholars now believe that this melodie was written by Christian Petzold. Who was another German Baroque era composer. I am not familiar with Petzold. This song is played on the Oldies radios stations a lot. I do like this type of music. It also goes to show that Classical Music is still relevant today! I just attended a performance of the SLSO. It featured Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D(Opus#61) and Second Romance in F for Violin (Opus#50) plus Hayden's 44th Symphony in E. The conductor and soloist was British Violinist Anthony Marwood. He is an internationally acclaimed violinist. He has recorded numerous CDs as a soloist. He has made a CD of the Violin concertos by Peritris Vasks and Kurt Wiell Where he is both the conductor and soloist with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
I liked the performance. I have a copy of the Beethoven Violin Concerto and Romances with Itzhak Perlman as the soloist with Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic. I am used to this performance. It is more fast paced than the performance tonight. Of Hayden's 44th I have a copy of This with his 45-19 Symphonies conducted by Jerzy Maksymiuk and the Polish chamber Orchestra. Both are on the EMI label. Beethoven's Violin concert is considered to be the "Crown of Violin Concerti". And one of the most popular along with those by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Sibelius, and Tchaikovsky. There are many other excellent Violin concertos. I like the ones by Richard Strauss(Opus#8) and Antonin Dvorak(Opus#53). This work was completed in 1806. It was commissioned by Franz Clement who was a friend of Beethoven's and the concertmaster of the orchestra at Theater an der Wien. It is lyrical and serious in nature. The Solo part is not easy for soloists. The first movement (Allegro ma non troppo) takes up over half of the work. There are two more movements (Larghetto and Rondo) I especially like the third movement. Beethoven wrote two romances which is a short one movement concerto. This piece has its roots in songs from 15th century Spain. It also has some influences of Mozart who Beethoven admitted. Beethoven was also influenced by the French School of Music Haydn was considered the "Father of the Symphony" and the "Father of the String Quartet". he was born in 1832 the same year as George Washington "The Father of His Country". it is now commonly called the "Trauer" or Mourning symphony. Later in life Hayden asked that the slow (adagio) movement be played at his funeral. It is in four movements as with most of his symphonies Allegro con brio, Menuet, Adagio and Presto. It dates from around 1770 or earlier. The date is not sure. It is one of his more popular symphonies. The later symphonies are more popular than the earlier ones. Hayden was one of Beethoven's teachers. In fact Beethoven was Hayden's most famous student. Hayden was also a friend of Mozart. So there is a connection with all three composers. Over4all the concert was enjoyable. As previously mentioned Penderecki wrote St. Luke's Passion. he is among several recent generations of Polish composers among others are Hinrich Gorecki(1933-2010) and Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1995). The Most famous of Polish composers was Fredrick Chopin(1810-1849) He wrote mostly music for the Piano. Among his most famous is his Piano Sonata (opus #35) of which the famous "Funeral March" comes from Penderecki has written many genres of classical music including chamber music and symphonies. The St. Luke Passion was written in 1966 to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of Poland adapting Christianity. It is based on the Gospel of St. Luke's. It also includes elements from the Book of Psalms and the Catholic Stabat Mater. It involves a full orchestra, chorus and soloists. Like St. Matthew's passion and St. John's Passions it uses a tenor as the evangelist and a bass or baritone for Jesus. The Stabat Mater is the Catholic Station of the Cross. Poland is a traditionally Catholic country Among other works is the Polish Requiem which was commissioned by Solidarity in 1980 in honor of the workers killed in the 1970. The events in 1980 coupled with the election of Pope John Paul ll in 1978 led to an eventual downfall of the Polish communist government. It was dedicated to Lech Walesa. A requiem is a service for the dead. Berlioz, Faure, Mozart and Verdi have all written famous requiems. Also Brahms wrote A German Requiem(Opus#45) based on scripture. Both Old and New Testament. Some of Penderecki's music is also used in Film. The Exorcist features his string Quartet. The Shining features several pieces of his music including Utenja ll. I am not in to the music of Gustav Mahler(1860-1911) I find his music to be somewhat depressing. He wrote nine completed symphonies and an unfinished Tenth Symphony. Several people have mad an attempt to finish it. His second, Third, Fourth and Eighth symphonies make use of human voice. He also wrote several song cycles. He also wrote a piano quartet. His songs were about all aspects of life.
He was born in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) to Jewish parents and grew up in Austria. During that time Bohemia was part of the Austria-Hungry Empire. He was also a conductor who had briefly conducted for the Met in New York City. During his lifetime hw was mainly known as a conductor. Much of his music is used in film. His Fifth Symphony was used in the Movie Death in Venice. His Piano quartet was used in the movie Shutter Island. Neither of which I have seen. Many Hollywood Composers such as Erick Korngold (1897-1957) and Micklos Rosza (1907-1995) were influenced by Mahler's music and borrowed from it. Both men were born in the Austria Hungry Empire and moved to America and wrote for Hollywood. As I have mentioned many of the Hollywood movies have used Classical music in their scores. there were a lot of good Hollywood composers. Mahler 's output is short for an important composer but his music has had an impact. English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was known as the Black Mahler. He was born to and English mother and a Sierra-Leon Father. he is known for his ballet Hiawatha. It is now Lent and is a good time to listen to many good choral pieces such as St. Matthew and St. John Passions by J. S. Bach. Also Kristof Penderecki's St. Luke Passion which I have not yet listened to. As of now he is still living. He is a Polish composer. He has written many genres in music. J.S. Bach also wrote an unfinished St. Mark Passion. I Like J. s. Bach's Easter Oratorio (BWV249) Handel also wrote a version of St. John Passion. I could only find one version of this work on Arkiv.com. Handel is mostly known for his oratorio "Messiah" plus his Water Music. Both J.s. Bach and Handel were born in 1685 but never met.
Mardi Gras and St. Pat's Day are just excuses to get drunk like New Years Eve. New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz. It has a lot of classical elements in it. I do like jazz but do not know much about it. Jazz has influence of Blues and other music of the south. Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday" it is the last hurrah before lent begins which is on Ash Wednesday. It is a time for rebel rousing. Ireland is known for its folk music and Irish dancing. Some Catholic Church hierarchs are not sure if St. Patrick even existed. He is the saint who is credited for bringing Christianity to Ireland. Ireland has produced some great opera tenors such as John McCormack (1884-1945) who had an excellent voice. There are the Three Irish Tenors who also sing Popular Music. Andre Previn one of the conducting giants passed away last week. Previn (1929-2019) was born in Germany to a Jewish family who fled because of the Nazis. He had also conducted Jazz Music. he had served as music director of the Houston, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles Orchestras. I have numerous recordings of his. He had also collaborated with Hollywood. He was a composer and had wrote numerous film scores. Most conductors these days have to be able to play various genres besides classical.
In 1938 his family applied for a visa to America. They had to wait six months in the mean time he studied at the Paris conservatory. While in high school he was a conductor for MGM Studios. He was in the U.S. Army and had conducted an Army Band. He was also a composer and had composed numerous works including about 50 film scores. Also, he was a Jazz arranger. I like Jazz Music but am not as much of an expert on Jazz. Like most conductors and opera singers today you have to be more versatile and work with other genres of music. His personal life was interesting also. He was married five times. Among his wives were American actress Mia Farrow (1945-) who was also married to Frank Sinatra who was 30 years her senior and his last wife was German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter who was 34 years his junior! |
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