jmc's classics
Today is the anniversary of the premiere of Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra (opus#33). It consists of 10 short pieces for solo cello and orchestra lasting about two minutes each. It is the closest that Tchaikovsky came to writing a full blown cello concerto. He wrote several other short It was pieces for solo cello and orchestra which I will get to later. The premier was in Moscow in 1877 with Nicolai Rubenstein conducting and William Fitzenhagen on the cello.
Rococo was a movement in the arts and architecture from approximately 1730-1760 from the end of the baroque period to the start of the classical period. It combined asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding and pastel colors to create the illusion of motion and drama. This movement was popular in France, Italy and parts of Germany. It spread to England and Russia. The art had an happy feel to it. Many of the German princes wanted to have a nice palace and church. This type of art was common in churches and palaces built at that time. In Music J.S. Bach and his sons as well as Couperin, Mozart, and others wrote in the Rococo style. It had a lot of Baroque influence in it. Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations does not have as much Rococo influence as is originally thought. It has 10 movements in it. He used Mozart as a role model for writing this piece. It is more of a theme of the Rococo style than Rococo in origin. Tchaikovsky used the help of German cellist and professor William Fitzenhagen in writing this piece. This piece has 10 movements: the first is the introduction and the finale. The eight movements in between is a variation on a different theme. Fitzenhagen assisted Tchaikovsky with writing the solo cello parts. The themes are: moderato semplice, tempo del tema, tempo del tema, andante sostenuto, andante grazioso, allegro moderato and andante. It typically lasts about 20 minutes. I have three copies. Two of which I purchased because of other works. The first two are on the Deutsche Grammophon label. The first is with the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich with Herbert Von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. The second is with cellist Mischa Maisky and the Orphreus Chamber Orchestra. This orchestra does not use a conductor. It also includes Lynsky's Aria (from his opera Eugene Onegin) for cello and orchestra, The Nocturn for Cello and Orchestra based on a solo piece from Six Morceaux (Opus#19) , his Andante cantabile for Cello and orchestra from his String Quartet #1 (Opus #11). The next work on it is Souvenir de Florence for string sextet (Opus#70). I purchased it for the Nocturn but I fell in love with the Andante cantabile. The next on I purchased recently. for Johan Svendsen's Cello Concerto (Opus#7). It is on Dang Cord label. It is a Danish label which I know very little about. It contains Svendsen's concerto plus five other cello concertos by composers who I have not heard of. It of of the cellist Erling Blondal Bengtsson. The conductor is Pierre Monteux. The variations is on one track instead of the 10 individual tracks. As I have mentioned, I like Svendsen's music. I like his Cello Concerto. There are only one or two CDs available of this work. I love the Andante cantabile. It lasts about 12 minutes. It was used in an episode of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater entitled "The Murder Museum". With CDs of classical music it is easy sometimes to double or triple up on a work. I am glad I found this piece.
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Today is the anniversary of the premier of the opera "Martha" By Fredrick von Flotow(1812-1883). The premier took place in 1847 in Vienna Austria. Flotow is a "one hit wonders" of classical music and opera. He wrote other operas. The only one that is rerly performed was "Alessandro Stradella" which I have wrote about. The CPO label has issued a CD off Flotow's two Piano Concertos. I know that
Flotow wrote other works. It was a recording from 1903 of Edouard De Reszke singing the Porter Song that got me hooked on this opera. I then purchased a CD of this opera. There are only a few CDs available of this opera. There are individual areas from Martha and Alesandro Stradella available. Other famous opera singers have recorded arias from this opera. In the 1943 version of Phantom of the Opera Nelson Eddy it opens with the Porter song. The other areas that are famous are "Ach so fromm" for tenors and the "Last rose of Summer" for sopranos. This opera has not been performed at the Met since 1960. I hope that it is revised soon along with Alesandro Stradella. The overture to Martha is one of the most appreciate works of Fredrick von Flotow. This is a comic opera in the Bel Canto tradition. "Bel Canto" is Italian for beautiful singing. I am not that in to serious operas. I like the comic operas much better. Bel Canto operas were popular in the 1800's. They were more of comic operas and not of a tragic or serious matter. There are many theories about why this opera fell in to obscurity. It is sometime referred to a "singer's opera" which means that the chorus has a bigger part. Flotow like Leoncavallo with I Pagliacci and Mascagni with Calveria Rusticanna are the biggest one hit wonders of opera. The Version that I have is that of Johannes Schuler with the Berlin Staatskapelle on the Berlin Classics label. It is from 1944. It is a good recording. I don't know much about any of his other works. I know that the two piano concertos exist. I doubt that there are any other recordings of them. The CPO label is a German label and they have released a lot of recordings of some of the obscure composers. I like their CDs. I applaud them for their work! Radio Stations are starting to play Christmas music. Soon it will be Ad Nauseam until December 25 at midnight. Especially with Mariah Carrey's song. I like the older Christmas carols much better. You don't hear it much after Christmas. It is the Christmas Season until January Sixth whichseventh is Epiphany Day. In Russia, Ukraine and other Orthodox countries, Christmas is celebrated on January
The 2024 Grammy nominations are out. I am not familiar with any of the Classical nominations. Females dominate the popular nominations. The awards will be on February 4, 2024. Taylor swift got nominations.
I write mainly about classical music. I do like some of Taylor Swift's Music. She is becoming too big. We do not need to make idols of these people. She may be bigger than the Beatles. I have never seen such a phenomenon before.
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