jmc's classics
It is almost the end of the Symphony season. The Muney and OTSL start soon.
Opera Theater has opera in English. It also has old favorites plus newer works.
0 Comments
The fire at Notre Dame is tragic. This church has been linked to French culture. It along with the Eiffel Tower are France's most famous landmark. France is a predominantly Catholic country. However along with most of Western Europe has became more secular in recent decades. It has been subject to many plays and works of art. The most famous is "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by Victor Hugo.
Notre Dame has had an important musical tradition. There have been many famous organists there. The most famous was Louis Vierne (1870-1937) who was the principle organist from 1900-1937. He was also a composer of organ and other types of music. I am not much of a fan of organ music. I like music of Charles Marie Widor's (1844-1937) music. He was the organist at the Church of St. Sulpice in Paris. The posts of organist at these churches are the most prestigious organist positions in France. Among Widor's students were Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965). He was a Nobel Peace Prize winner. He was an organist and a leading authority on Johan Sebastian Bach. Schweitzer cane from the Alcase Loraine region for France. It was part of Germany between the Franco-Prussian War and WWl. I hope that Notre Dame can be soon rebuilt or. It is an important part of the French culture and religion. It would be a tragedy if it is lost. I have never visited France. Paris along with Montreal are two cities that I would like to visit. Naxos is a Greek Island. It is also a CD label. They specialize in Classical. They also record some Jazz early Rock and Roll and World Music. Their CDs are cheaper. One the main reasons why is that they have used lesser known orchestras and performers. Many from former communist countries where the copy write laws are not as strict. They have been releasing some historic recordings do to copyrights expired.
They have recorded with American orchestras such as the Buffalo Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann a German expatriate who lives in Hong Kong. In 2005 they were awarded the Classic FM/ Gramophone label of the Year award. Since 2008 they have been distributed in Munich Germany. There are many other more prestigious CD labels such as RCA, Sony, EMI and Deutsch Grammophon. Most of the top orchestras and soloists have gone with these labels and a few others. Their CDs are generally more expensive than Naxos. Howerver, I think that the quality of Naxos CDs is just as good as the leading labels. I have many CDs from this label and I think that the quality is just as good as the other labels. The performers are not as famous as the more prestigious performers. They have release music of lesser known composers. There are a few that I wish that they would record in the future. I have just spoken of Edouard Lalo (1823-1892( a Frenchmen of Spanish origin. His most famous works the Symphonie Espagnole (Opus#21). it is a work in five movements for violin and orchestra. It has been popular with violinists.
My favorites works of his are his symphony in G Major(no opus number) and his Cello concerto (no opus number) As mentioned, I have recordings of both works. He also wrote a string quartet which I like. I have heard recordings of it on YouTube. Unfortunately, I can't find any CDs of this work. He also wrote a piano concerto which as of now, I have not yet heard. the French composer Maurice Jarre (1924-2009) used a theme from this work in the 1962 movie Lawrence of Arabia American author Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) (not to be confused with C.S. Lewis or Upton Sinclair) made reference to Lalo in one of his stories. Acutualy it was in a play I heard on a rerun of old time radio about two years ago. Lalo's music I think deserves more recognition. I hope that he will get that honor. |
Archives
April 2024
Categories |