jmc's classics
There is a lot of good Christmas Music out there. However it seems that on the radio and television I am hearing the newer songs instead of the more traditional ones. Especially the religious ones. Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. Not about Santa Clause.
I do like Baby it's Cold out there. Many of the religious carols are of a classical nature. As I have mentioned, O Holy Night and Hark the Heralds were written by classical composers. The only New years song is Auld Lang Syne which I don't know much about. As Mentioned, I am not in to New Years. There are all kinds of weird instruments. One such is the Glass harmonica or armonica or bowl organ.
Benjamin Franklin invented an arrangement of glasses in 1761 after seeing water filled glasses being played in England. It looks like a group of clear glasses or bowls on a board. the player moves his fingers and rotates the bowls. It sounds like chimes. Some people say that playing it or listening to it can cause one to go mad. I don't know about that. Mozart wrote two pieces for it. the most famous is The Adagio and rondo for Glass Harmonica, Flute, oboe, viola And Cello (K617). Italian composer Geatano Donizett used it in his opera Il Castello di Kenilworth. I am not familiar with that Opera. Contemporary composer George Benjamin used it in his ballet Othello. The instrument can sound creepy but if you like to listen to chimes you may like this instrument. One of my favorite movies is Animal House. I was not in a fraternity in college I did have one opportunity to join one of those organizations. This movie should have got the Best Picture award. It had some memorable music in it. One of the pieces used in it was Brahms' Academic Festival overture (Opus #80). I still like watching that movie. There were many other movies that should have been awarded Best Picture. As I have said the Hollywood gives recognitions to Marxists pedophiles, Rapists etc. and People who run down this country, God, religion as a whole and traditional values but that is a different story.
Johannes Brahms (1833-1887) wrote this piece in 1880. He was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Breslau. He was asked to compose a symphony for the occasion. He wrote this piece for the occasion. It is for full orchestra and lasts about 10 minutes. It is often coupled with the Tragic overture (Opus#81). the Academic Festival Overture is based on some German drinking songs, of which I am not familiar with. In those days college students like to drink also. I did not do much drinking in collage. I was worried about studying. An overture is a concert piece played at the beginning of a work. In the 1800's concert overtures became popular. Tchaikovsky composed the 1812 Overture. Beethoven and Berlioz wrote several each. Bruckner wrote Overture in G minor. And Schubert wrote Overture in Italian Style (D590). Most of these except the 1812 overture I am not familiar with at this time. The Cd Of his work that I have is of Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic. it also contains the Tragic overture and the Fourth Symphony (Opus #98). The Second movement of the Fourth Symphony (Andante moderato) sounds similar to the second movement of Alexander Scriabin's Piano Concertro. That is a completely different story. Edward Tubin (1905-1982) is another obscure composer. he is from Estonia. When we think of Estonia we think of Arvo Part who is still alive at this time. Tubin lived out his life in Sweden. After WWll Estonia became part of the Soviet union along with Latvia and Lithuania and became independent in 1991. another famous Estonian musician is the famous conductor Neemi Jarvi. Tubin was not known or famous during his lifetime outside of his homeland. In the 1990's that orchestras and soloists began to explore and play his works. I have recently purchased a CD of his Second and Sixth Symphonies. They are both in three movements and they date from 1937 and 1954 respectively. There was a lot that happened in those 17 years. It is on the BIS label. It is the Swedish Radio Symphony orchestra conducted by none other that Neeme Jarvi himself! He wrote nine symphonies and a ballet called Kratt., two violin concertos, a concerto for double bass and a concerto for balalaika. A Balalaika is a Russian musical instrument used in Russian folk music. The Russian version of the guitar. Estonia has a population of a littile over one miullion with two thirds being Estonians. There are a lot of Russians living there. The Estonian language is not an Indo European language. it is part of the Fino- Uralic language family which includes Finish and Hungarian. The Estonians are mainly Lutheran but there is an Eastern Orthodox minority there. There are many similarities between Estonia and Finland. I have located a website on Estonian music site emic.ee which deals with the music of Estonia. It describes his music as nationalistic in spirit and the "strict spirit of neoclassicism" I would suggest that this page be checked out for more on Tubin and the music of Estonia. I hope that his music does become more popular. Estonia is a little known country to Americans. It is a secular state. In the past it has had a large population of Germans and Russians. which have influenced Estonian culture. |
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