jmc's classics
When Beethoven died hw was working on a 10 th symphony. He also wrote a Wellington's Victory Symphjony (Opus#91).
They want to make artificial intelligence (AI) finish the 10th. They have for Schubert's unfinished Eigth Symphony. This sounds too creepy for me
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The Newsmagazine 60 Minutes does some interesting stories on music. This past Sunday, they had a two part story on music in the concentration camps and an Italian composer who was trying to reconstruct music played and written in concentration camps. I applaud him for his efforts.
During Christmas time one of the pieces that we here a lot is the Nutcracker Ballet by Tchaikovsky(Opus#71). It is one of the most iconic pieces of music from any genre. One of the more famous pieces is the "Waltz of the Flowers". other scenes are "Dance of the Sugar Plum Ferry". It has been used in countless movie scores and commercials.
I remember when I was 11, I got to see a production of it at Powell Hall. I remember seeing it on TV when I was around five and a few years later seeing a children's book on the Nutcracker. It is featured at many children's concerts. The plot centers around a little girl who is given a toy nutcracker at Christmas during a Christmas Eve party. Her brother does some damage to the nutcracker. She becomes angry. She has a dream about the nutcracker doing battle with the Mouse King. that is a synopsis of the plot. The fact that it is on Christmas Eve is the only thing that I see that it has to do with Christmas. It is based on a story by German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann(1776-1822) His stories are the basis of the opera "The Tales of Hoffmann by French composer Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880). Much of Hoffmann's stories are gothic in nature and more suited for Halloween than Christmas. It first premiered on December 6, 1892 at the Mariinsky theatre in St. Petersburgh along with Tchaikovsky's last opera Iolanta (Opus#69). It was not a success at first. Tchaikovsky's other ballets are The Sleeping Beauty (Opus#66) and Swan Lake (Opus#20). They are still as popular as Nutcracker. I enjoy the music from all three ballets. I am not in to Ballet lessons. I never took them. Charles Dutoit has made recordings of recordings of Nutccker and Sleeping Beauty with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. I attended the December Seventh SLSO concert. It featured Bach and Handel. Both Baroque giants. They were both born in 1685 in Germany but never met. Also born that year was Domenico Scarlatti another Baroque giant who was Italian. The concert featured Handel's Water Music a, his sonata #5 and Royal Fireworks Music. From J.S. Bach it featured the Brandenburg Concerto #5 and his Orchestral suite #3. Scottish harpsichordist /conductor was both the conductor and harpsichord soloist. SLSO musicians Andrea Kaplan was the soloist on the flute and Angie smart was the violin soloist.
The Baroque period lasted from 1600-1750. It featured more ornamentation in music and more elaborate music. The most famous composer of that period was Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). Many new forms and innovations of music were from that period. Handel was in service to The elector of Hanover Prince George who would become King George l of England. Handel wrote music for him. He is mainly remembered for his oratorio "Messiah" which is performed around this time of year. He wrote other oratorios and operas. His operas are not popular today. The Brandenburg Concertos were a set of six concertos which Bach wrote for the Margrave of Brandenburg. My two favoretes are the second and fifth. His third orchestral suite is famous for its "Air on a G String. I have a copy of the Brandenburg concertos with conductor /violinst Yehudi Menuhin as the conductor with the Bath Festival Orchestra on EMI. It also features his concerto for flute, violin (Bwv#1044) on EMI. The version of the Orchestra suites that I have is of Christopher Hogwood conducting the Academy of Ancient Music on EMI. it also features two of his concertos for two harpsichords. Bach wrote four surviving orchestras suites. Alll of the pieces that I have mentioned have been transcribed for guitar, jazz, big band etc. Much of the music from the Baroque era has been played in various forms. Overall I enjoyed the concert. When we think of Classical Music we do not associate it with Oklahoma. Roy Harris (1998-1979) was a classical composer from Oklahoma. He is mainly known for his Third Symphony which dates from 1939. It was originally commissioned by Hans Kindler. It was premiered by Conductor Serge Koussevitzky. It only lasts 18 minutes and is in one movement. I have recently purchased a CD of it on the Deutsche Grammophon label with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. It is coupled with William Schumann's third Symphony. This is the most famous CD of this work.
He wrote about a dozen other symphonies which are not as popular. Some have choral parts. He wrote a violin concerto which I am not familiar with. He also wrote chamber music and songs. He along with Roger Sessions (1896-1985) and Peter Mennin (1923-1983) founded the American composers Alliance in 1958. This is a group that promotes and publishes works of American contemporary Classical composers. It is known as the ACA composers.com is their web page. Oklahoma is is known for Country Music and has produced a lot of Great singers of that Genre. It also produced Woody Guthrie the Father of Arlo Guthrie. I am not as much in to Country Music. I do like some songs. Much of the lyrics in country Music are depressing. Much of Mahler's music is also depressing. I have never been to Oklahoma. There are a lot of good American Classical composers. Much of them are not as famous or well-known. |
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