jmc's classics
Thanksgiving is over will hear giving is over and until December 25 we hear Christmas Music for most of the time. many of us will get tired of it. There are many excellent but obscure Christmas carols. I have spoken of them in the past. Check some of them out on You Tube.
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After the assassination of President Kennedy there were many tributes to the slain president. One of them was the "Kennedy" piano sonata by Roger Sessions (1896-1985). It was completed in 1965. I have never heard this work. The final movement is an elegy to Kennedy. The climax is three sharp notes which is said to mimic the gun shots. An elegy is a sad or mournful musical composition or poem. Especially in lament for the deceased.
It has been said that his music is the type that you have to acquire a taste for. I do like his music. I am listening to his String Quartet as I write this. He wrote nine symphonies as well as chamber music as well as operas. He wrote 30 major works. His music is not played too much at concerts He started out as in the neo-classical school when he was young. He moved into the atonal school. Some of his music is said to be "gnarly". It can be emotional also. I have never heard any of his music played at 4th of July concerts or Memorial Day events. John Philip Sousa, Howard Hanson and John Williams come to mind when you think of American patriotic music. He descended from an old eastern family. He was a descendent of Samuel Huntington (1731-1796) who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Sessions studied music at Harvard and taught at Princeton University and the University of California Berkley. He wrote music well in to his 80's. There are only one or two recordings each of most of his works. This is the type of music that has to have an acquired taste for. I do enjoy listening to his music. I hope that will be appreciated and listened to in the future. e I attended an SLSO concert last night. I try to attend an SLSO concert this time of year The main work was The Planets (Opus #32) by English composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934). It also featured three short works by living composers: Asteria by Guillaume Connesson, Primal Passage by Nokuthula Ngwenyama and Sukkot through Orion's Nebula by James Lee lll. I am not familiar with these composers. All three works have a planetary theme.
I have never been that much into astronomy or astro-physics. This work was written between 1914-1917 during WW l. Its world premiere was on September 29, 1918 At Queen's Hall in England with Adrien Bolt conducting. This work has inspired film music for movies. It is in seven movements each representing a known planet at that time. Pluto was not yet discovered at that time. The First is Mars. Then Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and finally Neptune. It does not have a movement for Earth! the final movement has a wordless female chorus. The chorus last night was in the balcony of Powell Hall. Mars is the Roman god of war. The first movement was written in 1914 and Holst could probably for see a war. Each movement is about a specific planet and its supposed astrological character. Holst described the movements as "a series of mood pictures that foils one another with little contrast in any one of them". John Williams used melodies from the Mars and Venus movements for music in Star Wars. These are the Imperial March and Imperial Attack for Mars and the Force Theme from Venus. Unlike most other works which I have written about, I do not have a CD of this work. I enjoyed the concert. I have seen several versions of this on Spotify. Today is the anniversary of the first NBC broadcast of a music program in 1926. In 1936 they would create the NBC Symphony Orchestra for famed conductor Arturo Toscanini. Unfortunately, the orchestra disbanded after Toscanini's death in 1957. This is one of the first orchestras that I had heard of as a child.
There are some major radio symphony orchestras in Europe but to the best of my knowledge, there are not any in existence in America now. Before television some of the major broadcasting companies had their own studio orchestras. Some played on their own radio shows and for some of the other programs. NBC (National Broadcasting Company) started in 1926 and was owned by RCA. its major competitors were CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) which started in 1927 and MBC (Mutual Broadcasting Company which started in in 1934. Because of anti-trust laws, NBC was split in to the red and blue networks in 1943. The red became ABC (American Broadcasting Company), and the blue became NBC. The two operated closely for the next two years. MBC became Westwood One in 1999. They did not get into television like the others did. There may have been other networks in America- I am not sure. The Grand Ole Opry began in Nashville, TN in 1927. It followed a The Music Appreciation Hour which was broadcast by the NBC Red Network. This was a music appreciation show that played Classical Music and selections from Grand Opera. When the Grand Ole Opry began. The announcer said that you had been listening to grand opera but from now on you will be listening to Grand Ole Opry. The Grand Ole Opry is a big venue in Nashville. IN the Golden Age of Radio, many stations broadcasted live concerts of all music genres. This included Classical as well as Big Band and Swing. NBC broadcasted live performances from the Metropolitan Opera until recently. For years it had been sponsored by Texaco Oil. PBS broadcast a lot of Metropolitan Opera performances and Classical Concerts. NPR has a good line up of classical broadcasts. I wish that the NBC Symphony Orchestra would be recreated. There are a lot of recordings of the NBC Symphony Orchestra on CD. November Sixth is the birthday of Adolphe Sax (1814-1894) the inventor and namesake of the saxophone. He was a Belgian inventor, instrument maker and musician. He also invented several other instruments which are not popular now.
The saxophone is not usually associated with Classical Music. It has been associated with Jazz, Big Band and Swing Music. I like those types of music. Claude Debussy and several other Classical composers have written music for the Saxophone. Many orchestras have a position for a saxophone player. They are popular instruments for high school bands. There are nine types of saxophones: Sopranissimo, Sopranino, Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, Bass, Contrabass and Subcontrabass. The subcontrabass is very large and about six feet tall. The Bass, Contrabass and Subcontrabass are not as popular. The tenor, soprano and alto are more popular. Sax originally wanted to improve the bass clarinet. in the 1840's and 50's it became part of small classical ensembles. It also gained use in both French and British Military bands. it was still a novelty in the Classical Music world, it gained a following in Ragtime music and Vaudeville. In the 1920's it gained a following among Jazz musicians Until December 25 we will hear Christmas Music. The Holiday Season has started. And most things will stop on December 26.
October 28th is the anniversary of the primer of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony. It has been nicked named "Pathetique" or pathetic which took place in 1893, shortly before the composer's death. He wrote six numbered symphonies plus the Manfred Symphony.
Beethoven wrote a piano sonata also called Pathetique in 1799 (Opus#13). As of now I have not yet heard it. I am not into solo piano music. This piece may have been inspired by Mozart's Piano sonata (K457) from 1784. Both are in the C minor key. Although I have not heard either one as I understand that both are melancholy in nature. Tchaikovsky died nine days after the premier of this work. It is one of his most famous works along with his ballets: Swan Lake, Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty. His first three symphonies are not as popular. I like all of his symphonies. The reason for the title "Pathetic" remains a mystery. Tchaikovsky wanted to call it the "program" symphony. It is not known why it was given this name because Tchaikovsky never revealed it. He began working on it in 1891. He called the work "the best thing that he had composed". There are melancholy elements in it. The symphony is about death. It is in the standard four movements: Adagio: Allegro mon troppo, Allegro con grazia, Allegro molto vivace and Adagio lamentoso. It lasts about 45 minutes. There are many excellent recordings of this work. The one that I have is of Charles Munch conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It is coupled wiht Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture. It is on the RCA label and dates from 1967. |
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