jmc's classics
Placido Domingo now has Coronavirus. So do Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. I hope that this thing is cured soon and everything gets back to normal.
Two positive things are that there are a lot of concerts being live streamed and traffic is lighter than normal.
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Today is Annunciation Day. Nine months before Christmas. When the Archangel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary that she would bare the Christ Child. In most Catholic and Orthodox countries it is a big event.
It is the Birthday of Bella Bartok (1881-1945) Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) and the anniversary of the death of Claud Debussy (1862-1918). This is the anniversary of the premiers of Dvorak's Fifth Symphony in F (Opus#76) in 1879 and his Sixth Symphony in D (Opus#60) in 1881. The sixth is fast becoming one of my favorite works of Dvorak's. His most famous are his Ninth, plus his Seventh and Eighth Symphonies. It was composed in the autumn of 1880 and was commissioned by Hans Richter who was the conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic. It is dedicated to Richter. It became popular after it premiered. the Sixth has a lot of influence from Brahms. There seems to be a dialogue between the instrument groups in this work (Strings, brass and winds). It also contains drums. It is in four movements: Allegro non tanto, Adagio, Scherzo and the finale Allegro con spirit. I lasts about 45 minutes. I am not familiar with the Fifth which also premiered on this day. There are several excellent recordings of this work. the version I have is of the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Istvan Kertesz It contains the eight other symphonys plus the Karnival overture (Opus#92), Scherzo capriccioso (Opus#66) and the Domov mus Overture (Opus #62) it is a six disc set. I would recommend this album. I hope to get familiar with the Fifth Symphony. My other favorite Dvorak works are his String serenade, and Violin Concerto I hope that this mess with the Coronavirus is over soon. Many theatres are closed. One good thing from it is that a lot of theatres, orchestras and opera companies are livestreaming performances for free.
This month is the anniversary of the Birth of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943). There are several spellings of his both first and last name. March 23 marks the anniversary of the premier of his Vespers (or All night Vigil) (Opus#37) The vespers or all night vigil is a service in the Orthodox Church. He is known for his symphonies and piano concertos and other piano works. He did write songs and a version of the Orthodox Liturgy (Opus#31). His most famous orchestra work in addition to his piano concertos is his Second Symphony (Opus#27). Which in the third movement themes from are featured in Carly Simon's song "Nobody does it Better" which is the theme song for the movie "The Spy who Loved Me" in the James bond franchise. This movie is from 1977.
The Vespers if in 15 movements or hymns from the vesper service. It was dedicated to Stepan Smolensky who was a choir director and expert on Ancient Russian chant. During that time WW l and the Russian Revolution were going on. many of his countrymen took solace in this piece. After the Revolution Russia then known as the Soviet Union was officially atheist. The piece was forgotten until 1965 when Alexander Sveshnikov and the USSR Academic Choir made a recording. It was then only available for export. During WW ll Restrictions on religion in The Soviet Union were eased. Stalin wanted a national hero on such was St. Alexander Nevsky. a 13th Century Russian prince who battled the Germans. This piece makes use of the bassso voice. Russian has had a long tradition of music featuring the basso voice and has produced many great baao opera singers such as Feodore Challiapin. This is bothe a concert piece and a church piece. There are many excellent recordings of it. The version that I have is with the Robert Shaw Festival singers on the Telark Label. I Njoy this piece and can be spiritually uplifting. It looks like Placido Domingo is in trouble again. The Los Angeles Opera is cutting ties with him after multiple acusations. Unfortunately, Him along with Charles Dutoit , Harvey Weinstein, etc will be remembered for this.
Domingo was also a conductor. He mastered various forms of operas including those of Wagner. He is Spanish. Many Spanish and Italian opera singers did not do Wager. This I don't think is conduct becoming of a gentlemen. If me or any ordinary man would have done some of these things or any of the other shenanigans that some of these Hollywood people or congressmen would be in jail. Many opera singers, conductors etc. also have to be superstars like the actors. it is not easy being famous like that. It is not all that it is cracked up to be. I just hope that Domingo's artistic career is not sullied. I was at the march 6th Coffee Concert. It featured Artur Honegger's pacific 231, John Adams' "Short Ride in a Fast Machine", Guillaume Connesson's "A kind of Trane", Albert Roussel's 3rd Symphony and Ravel's Bolero. Stephane Deneve was the conductor. Timothy McAllister was the Saxophone soloist on A kind of a Trane. The theme of this was trains and fast machines.
I have spoken of Bolero before. It was featured in the Movie "10" I remember this piece from my childhood. I had Koussevitzky conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra version on 78 rpm when I was younger. Honegger (1892-1955) was Swiss but lived in Paris. He is remembered for this piece and his music for a short film called Rugby. he wrote five symphonies the most famous are his second for trumpet and orchestra and his third "Liturgic" which was written in memory of his father. I have a copy of both works with Igor Stravinsky's Concerto in D for String Orchestra with Herbert Von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Pacific 231 is about a train. He was fascinated with trains and technology. It dates from 1924 and lasts about seven minutes The numbers refer to axels on the train engine. John Adams was born in 1947 and has written various genres of music. His most famous piece was the opera "The Chairmen Dances" which is about Nixon and Mao . Short Ride is about an Italian speed car. The Italians were known for their sports cars. It dates from 1986 and was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. It involves the traditional instruments of the orchestra plus xylophone, Woodblock, triangle and tambourine. It lasts about four minutes. Connesson was born in 1970 in France. A Kind of Trane is a saxophone concerto and is in memory of John Coltrane (1926-1967). Coltrane was an African-American jazz musician. This piece has some jazz elements in it. This piece has both French and American elements in it. Roussel (1869-1937) was French. This is his best known piece He fled the city chaos and went to the country which inspired him to write this work. It was written for the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930 and was a hit at once. Roussel considered it one of his best works. He is not as well known as Ravel or Debussy he is still an important figure in French music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Overall I Enjoyed the concert. It seemed to have a theme of trains and technology. It featured some contemporary composers this time. When you think of Classical Music you don't think fo contemporary composers. I heard on the radio last night Classical Gas by Mason Williams. It is an instrumental from 1968. it is considered Classical Crossover or Baroque Pop. I have spoken about Baroque Pop before. I like this piece of music. it made the pop charts. It is one of the few pieces of music that is considered to be "classical" to make the pop charts. I like this piece of music. It is played on the acoustic guitar and has orchestra accompaniment. It has elements of classical and baroque music in it. I lie this piece of music. Mason Williams was born in 1938 and is still alive as of now. He is a classical guitarist. he is associated with The Smothers Brothers and Glen Campbell. He was born in Abilene Texas and grew up in Oregon and Oklahoma Wikipedia lists him as a musician, composer, photographer, songwriter, poet and writer among his ocupations. I have recently read on the site classicfm.com that Adolph Hitler wrote an opera and parts of the manuscript are on display in Germany. It is a known fact that Hitler was a fan of Wagner's works. Also Stalin was a fan of Tchaikovsky. Stalin was just as bad as Hitler. He starved 8 Million Ukrainians in the 1930's. Stalin was not even Russian. He was from the Republic of Georgia. Not to be confused with the American state of the same name.
In Mein Kampf Hitler wrote That at the age of 12 he saw the opera Lohengrin and was addicted. Accordiong to this article, Hitler always overestimated his artistic abilities. He had applied for Vienna of fine Art and was rejected. Also, the article states that Hitler always needed a scapegoat. Hitler had taken piano lessons while he was young. According to this article The opera was called Wieland der Schmied (Weiland the Smith). It was based on an unfinished work of the same name by Wagner. I don't know what it was about. Wagner wrote mostly opera he wrote two early symphonies and several other pieces. His father in law was Franz Liszt. I am not much in to Wagner's Operas. They did have an influence on Hitler. A manuscript of this opera is about to go on display at a museum in Lower Austria. The exhibit deals with Hitler's formative years. He wrote sketches of the opera after he had taken piano lessons. The opera was never performed. I am not sure what it was about. There is no evidence that he tried to have it published. |
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